The changes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF0Vc3WIEZM
citing a book http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F90n7_2XYcY
citing an article http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EziHO_psqWw
S’more tips
Parallelism
Professional writers often string together a number of items, activities, numbers, etc. in one sentence. For example, a writer may list a number of goals for a team: “By the end of the day, we should calculate all sales figures, decide on a report format, and divide up the remaining work.” The previous sentence is parallel because each goal is stated in the same way – that is, each goal is stated in a phrase beginning with a verb: “calculate,” “decide,” and “divide.” Thus, the three phrases are grammatically the same, or parallel. A sentence is unparallel when it fails to present similar items in the same grammatical fashion. Consider examples below.
| FAULTY My degree, my work experience, and learning to do complicated projects have given me the qualifications necessary to work for your firm. PARALLEL FAULTY PARALLEL FAULTY COMPARISON PARALLEL COMPARISON |
Conciseness
Conciseness is an important stylistic quality of professional writing—and an extremely high priority in technical writing. Say things as concisely as possible. In short, be brief.
The opposite of concise writing is verbose, wordy, redundant, rambling writing, using more words than necessary to communicate a message, or saying the same thing more than once. For instance, if you write in a report that:
| During the time period of 2008, our company registered an increase in sales, despite the fact that, overall, the US economy was in a state of serious recession. (28 words) |
then you are being fairly wordy. A more concise way to say almost exactly the same thing is
| In 2008, our company increased sales, even though the US economy was in recession. (14 words) |
You just chopped the original wordy sentence in half, mainly by changing wordy phrases into more concise equivalents: “during the time period of 2008” = “In 2008”; “in a state of serious recession” = “recession.”
Conciseness refers to the appropriate, efficient use of words. This includes using words that your reader will understand and, in many cases, avoiding phrases when one word will do. Conciseness is often affected by the following factors:
| • Redundant/Verbose Prose
Verbose: When a defective product is discovered, a minimal amount of time should occur between locating the defective product and recording the product as defective so that the product can be reordered. Concise Revision: When a defective product is discovered, a record should be made as quickly as possible so that the product can be reordered. Verbose: A characteristic that renders the system development life cycle unpopular with programmers is the fact that it forces heavy documentation at all stages. Concise Revision: Programmers dislike this cycle because it requires frequent documentation. (Source: Lanham, Richard A. (1992). Revising business prose, 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan.) • Inflated Diction —> Making an idea more pompous than it deserves to be Inflated: Short-term planning is foremost in the prioritization of the planning loop. No BS Revision: Short-term planning comes first. (Source: Lanham, Richard A. (1992). Revising business prose, 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan.) • Verbose Nominalizations —> Using a longer noun phrase instead of a single verb “come to the conclusion that” = “conclude” |
wordiness
| due to the fact that because of the fact that at this point in time at that point in time he is a man who in today’s world this day and age has the ability in order to during the same time that during the time that until such time as in spite of the fact that by means of be of the opinion that disappear from view |
tall in height
blue in color
small in size
short in length
in a hasty manner
this is a subject that
the reason why is that
the question as to whether
be under the impression that
given the fact that
each and every one
put forth an effort
empty void
past experiences
debate format
Introduction
- You are experts who have been assembled to address a particular issue in debates that have been organized by the Parliamentary Research Service.
- Your audience is composed of parliamentary staff members who will be advising their bosses. Thus, the debates will be judged primarily on the cogency and relevance of the arguments rather than on technical debating skill.
Learning Objectives
- Present and structure a coherent oral argument
- Learn how to debate a point using logic and factual citation
- Learn how to prepare arguments for both sides of an argument.
Topics for the Debate
1. Human cloning should be legal
2. Steroid use should be legalized in sports
Debate Mechanics
- A debate team should consist of four people.
- All members of the debate team must participate (speak). A single member of the team should take each segment.
- The debate format will be as follows:
1 minute opening from affirmative
1 minute opening from negative
3 minutes of detailed argument from affirmative
3 minutes of detailed argument from negative
2 minute rebuttal from affirmative
2 minute rebuttal from negative
3 minutes class questions and open debate
1 minute closing from affirmative
1 minute closing from negative
Audience evaluation: feedback and vote from the audience.
Suggestions for Debating
- You have to be prepared to argue both sides. This means that your team must have researched both sides extensively from good reputable sources.
- Listen very carefully to your opponents. Rebuttals are only as strong as your ability to undermine their arguments with evidence or carefully constructed counterarguments of your own.
- Arguments should be made from logical constructions, almost like a mathematical proof. You should avoid emotional argumentation, that is “I’m right because everyone knows that it’s right.”
- Arguments should be supported with expert opinions, gathered from your research. Also avoid citing sources that seem dubious or that are unsupportable unless they are personal anecdotes designed to create the foundation for a point.
- You will be cut off at the end of the time limit. This means that you need to practice timing your responses to ensure that you’ve made your argument within the time allowed. Otherwise the audience will be left hanging.
- The first and last impressions are most important. Make sure that you have good openings and closings for your debate. Make sure your closing statements address the arguments of your opponents.
- Don’t worry about getting every little bit of information out there. Your listeners will respond much better to clear argumentation.
