GLOSSARY OF USEFUL TERMS

Abstract - nouns, such as truth or beauty, are words that are neither specific nor definite in meaning; they refer to general concepts, qualities, and conditions that summarize an entire category of experience. Conversely, concrete terms, such as apple, computer and French horn, make precise appeals to our senses. The word abstract refers to the logical process of abstraction, through which our minds are able to group together and describe similar objects, ideas, or attitudes. Most writers use abstract terms cautiously in their essays, preferring instead the vividness and clarity of concrete words and phrases.

Allusion is a reference to a well-known person, place or event from life or literature. In “Summer Rituals”, for example, R.Bradbury alludes to Herman Melville's great novel Moby Dick when he describes an old man who walks on his front porch “like Ahab surveying the mild mild day”.

Analogy is an extended comparison of two dissimilar objects or ideas.

Analysis is examining and evaluating a topic by separating it into its basic parts and elements and studying it systematically.

Argumentation is an appeal predominantly to logic and reason. It deals with complex issues that can be debated.

Attitude describes the narrator's personal feelings about a particular subject. Attitude is one component of point of view.

Cause and effect is a form of analysis that examines the causes and consequences of events and ideas.

Characterization is the creation of imaginary yet realistic persons in fiction, drama, and narrative poetry.

Chronological order is a sequence; of events arranged in. the order in which they occurred.

Classification is the analytical process of grouping together similar subjects into a single category or class; division works in the opposite fashion, breaking down a subject into many different subgroups.

Cliches are words or expressions that have lost their freshness and originality through continual use. For example, “busy as a bee”, “pretty as a picture” and “hotter than hell” have become trite and dull because of overuse. Good writers avoid cliches through vivid and original phrasing.

Climactic order refers to the organization of ideas from one extreme to another, for example, from least important to most important, from most destructive to least destructive, or from least promising to most promising.

Cognitive skills are mental abilities that help us send and receive verbal messages.

Coherence is the manner in which an essay “holds together” its main ideas. A coherent theme will demonstrate such a clear relationship between its thesis and its logical structure that readers can easily follow the argument.

Colloquial expressions are informal words, phrases, and sentences that are more appropriate for spoken conversations

Comparison is an expository writing technique that examines the similarities between objects or ideas, whereas contrast focuses on differences.

Conclusions bring essays to a natural close by summarizing the argument, restating the thesis, calling for some specific action, or explaining the significance of the topic just discussed. If the introduction states your thesis in the form of a question to be answered or a problem to be solved, then your conclusion will be the final "answer" or "solution" provided in your paper. The conclusion should be approximately the same length as your introduc­tion and should leave your reader satisfied that you have actually "concluded" your discussion rather than simply run out of ideas to discuss.

Conflict is the struggle resulting from the opposition of two strong forces in the plot of a play, novel, or short story.

Connotation and Denotation are two principal methods of describing the meanings of words. Connotation refers to the wide array of positive and negative associations that most words naturally carry with them, whereas denotation is the precise, literal definition of a word that might be found in a dictionary.

Content and Form are the two main components of an essay. Content refers to the subject matter of an essay, whereas its form consists of the graphic symbols that communicate the subject matter (word choice, spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, etc.).

Deduction is a form of logical reasoning that begins with a general assertion and then presents specific details and examples in support of that generalization. Induction works in reverse by offering a number of examples and then concluding with a general truth.

Definition is a process whereby the meaning of a term is explained. Formal definitions require two distinct operations: (1) finding the general class to which the object belongs and (2) isolating the object within that class by describing how it differs from other elements in the same category.

Description is a mode of writing or speaking that relates the sights, sounds, tastes/smells, or feelings of a particular experience to its readers or listeners. Along with persuasion, exposition, and narration, description isone of the four dominant types of writing.

Development (27—30) concerns the manner in which a paragraph of an essay expands on its topic.

Diction is word choice. If a vocabulary is a list of words available for use, then good diction is the careful selection of those words to communicate a particular subject to a specific audience. Different types of diction include formal (scholarly books and articles), informal (essays in popular magazines), colloquial (conversations between friends, including newly coined words and expressions), slang (language shared by certain social groups), dialect (language typical of a certain region, race, or social group), technical (words that make up the basic vocabulary of a c area of study, such as medicine or law), and obsolete (words no longer in use).

Documented essay is a research or library paper that integrates paraphrases, summaries, and quotations from secondary sources with the writer's own insights and conclusions. Such essays normally include references within the paper and, at the end, a list of the books and articles cited.

Dominant impression in descriptive writing is the principal effect the author wishes to create for the audience.

Editing is an important part of the rewriting process of an essay that requires writers to make certain their work observes the conventions of standard written English.

Emphasis is the stress given to certain words, phrases, sentences, and/or paragraphs within an essay by such methods as repeating important ideas; positioning thesis and topic sentences effectively; supplying additional details or examples; allocating more space to certain sections of an essay; choosing words carefully; selecting and arranging details judiciously; and using certain mechanical devices, such as italics, underlining, capitalization, and different colors of ink.

Essay is a relatively short prose composition on a limited topic. Most essays are five hundred to one thousand words long and focus on a clearly definable question to be answered or problem to be solved. Formal essays are generally characterized by seriousness of purpose, logical organization and dignity of language; informal essays are generally brief, humorous, and more loosely structured.

Etymology is the study of the origin and development of words.

Evidence is any material used to help support an argument, including details, facts, examples, opinions, and expert testimony.

Exposition is one of the four main rhetorical categories of writing (the others are persuasion, narration, and description). The principal purpose of expository prose is to “expose” ideas to your readers, to explain, define, and interpret information through one or more ofthe following modes of exposition: example, process analysis, division/classification, comparison/contrast, definition, and cause/effect.

Figurative language is writing or speaking that purposefully departs from the literal meanings of words to achieve a particularly vivid, expressive, and/or imaginative image.Other principal figures of speech include metaphor, simile, hyperbole, allusion, and personification.

Flashback is a technique used mainly in narrative writing that enables the author to present scenes or conversations that took place prior to the beginning of the story.

Free association is a process of generating ideas for writing through which one thought leads randomly to another.

General words are those that employ expansive categories, such as animals, sports, occupations, and clothing; specific words are more limiting and restrictive, such as koala, lacrosse, computer programmer, and bow tie. Whether a word is general or specific depends at least somewhat on its context: Bow tie is more specific than clothing.

Generalization is a broad statement or belief based on a limited number of facts, examples, or statistics. A product of inductive reasoning, generalizations should be used carefully and sparingly in essays.

Hyperbole, the opposite of understatement, is a type of figurative language that uses deliberate exaggeration for the sake of emphasis or comic effect (e.g., “hungry enough to eat 20 chocolate éclairs").

Hypothesis is a tentative theory that can be proved or disproved through further investigation and analysis.

Idiom refers to a grammatical construction unique to a certain people, region, or class that cannot be translated literally into another language.

Imagery is description that appeals to one or more of our five senses. Imagery is used to help bring clarity and vividness to descriptive writing.

Inference is a deduction or conclusion derived from specific information.

Introduction refers to the beginning of an essay. It should identify the subject to be discussed, set the limits of that discussion, and clearly state the thesis or general purpose of the paper. In a brief (five-paragraph) essay, your introduction should be only one paragraph; for longer papers, you may want to provide longer introductory sections. A good introduction will generally catch audience's attention by beginning with a quotation, a provocative statement, a personal anecdote, or a stimulating question that somehow involves its readers in the topic under consideration.

Irony is a figure of speech in which the literal, denotative meaning is the opposite of what is stated. J. Brady's “Why I Want a Wife” is heavily ironic: What she really wants is for women to be treated as equals to men.

Jargon is the special language of a certain group or profession, such as psychological jargon, legal jargon, or medical jargon. When jargon is excerpted from its proper subject area, it generally becomes confusing or meaningless, as in “I have a latency problem with my backhand” or “I hope we can interface tomorrow night after the dance”.

Logic s the science of correct reasoning. Based principally on inductive or deductive processes, logic establishes a method by which we can examine premises and conclusions, construct syllogisms, and avoid faulty reasoning.

Metaphor is an implied comparison that brings together two dissimilar objects, persons, or ideas. Unlike a simile, which uses the words like or as, a metaphor directly identifies an obscure or difficult subject with another that is easier to understand. In G.Orwell's “Shooting an Elephant” the author metaphorically describes the great beast as having a “preoccupied grandmotherly air” — a vivid comparison that should be of great help to those of us more familiar with grandmothers than with mad elephants.

Mood refers to the atmosphere or tone created in a piece of writing.

Narration is storytelling: the recounting of a series of events, arranged in a particular order and delivered by a narrator to a specific audience with a clear purpose in mind. Along with persuasion, exposition, and description, it is one of the four principal types of writing.

Objective writing is detached, impersonal, and factual; subjective writing reveals the author's personal feelings and attitudes. Most good university-level essays are a careful mix of both approaches, with lab reports and technical writing toward the objective end of the scale and personal essays in composition courses at the subjective end.

Organization refers to the order in which a writer chooses to present his or her ideas to the reader. Five main types of organization may be used to develop paragraphs or essays: (1) deductive (moving from general to specific), (2) inductive (from specific to general), (3) chronological (according to time sequence), (4) spatial (according to physical relationship in space), and (5) climactic (from one extreme to another, such as least important to most important).

Paradox is a seemingly self-contradictory statement that contains an element of truth.

Paragraphs are groups of interrelated sentences that develop a central topic. Generally governed by a topic sentence, a paragraph has its own unity and coherence and is an integral part of the logical development of an essay.

Parallelism is a structural arrangement within sentences, paragraphs, or entire essays through which two or more separate elements are similarly phrased and developed.

Paraphrase is a restatement in your own words of someone else's ideas or observations.

Parody is making fun of a person, an event, or a work of literature through exaggerated imitation.

Person is a grammatical distinction identifying the speaker or writer in a particular context: first person (I or we), second person (you), and third person (he, she, it, or they). The person of an essay refers to the voice of the narrator.

Personification is figurative language that ascribes human characteristics to an abstraction, animal, idea, or inanimate object.

Persuasion is one of the four chief forms of rhetoric. Its main purpose is to convince a reader (or listener) to think, act, or feel a certain way. It involves appealing to reason, to emotion, and/or to a sense of ethics. The other three main rhetorical categories are exposition, narration, and description.

Point of view is the perspective from which a writer tells a story, including person, vantage point, and attitude. Principal narrative voices are first-person, in which the writer relates the story from his or her own vantage point; omniscient, a third-person technique in which the narrator knows everything and can even see into the minds of the various characters; and concealed, a third-person method in which the narrator cannot look into the minds of the other characters.

Prereading is thoughtful concentration on a topic before reading an essay. Just as athletes warm up their physical muscles before competition, so, too, should students activate their “mental muscles” before reading or writing essays.

Prewriting which is similar to prereading, is the initial stage in the composing process during which writers consider their topics, generate ideas, narrow and refine their thesis statements, organize their ideas, pursue any necessary research, and identify their audiences. Although prewriting occurs principally, as the name suggests, “before” an essay is started, writers usually return to this “invention” stage again and again during the course of the writing process.

Process analysis one of the seven primary modes of exposition, either gives directions about how to do something (directive) or provides information on how something happened (informative).

Proofreading an essential part of rewriting, is a thorough, careful review of the final draft of an essay that ensures that all errors have been eliminated.

Purpose in an essay refers to its overall aim or intention: to entertain, inform, or persuade a particular audience with reference to a specific topic.

Revision meaning “to see again”, takes place during the entire writing process as you change words, rewrite sentences, and shift paragraphs from one location to another in your essay. It plays an especially vital role in the rewriting stage of the composing process.

Rewriting is a stage of the composing process that includes revision, editing, and proofreading.

Rhetorical questions are intended to provoke thought rather than bring forth an answer.

Rhetorical strategy or mode is the plan or method whereby an essay is organized. Most writers choose from methods discussed in this book, such as narration, example, comparison/contrast, definition, and cause/effect.

Sarcasm is a form of irony that attacks a person or belief through harsh and bitter remarks that often mean the opposite of what they say.

Satire is a literary technique that attacks foolishness by making fun of it. Most good satires work through a “fiction” that is clearly transparent. J.Brady claims she wants a wife, for example, yet she obviously does not; she simply uses this satiric “pose” to ridicule the stereotypical male view of wives as docile, obedient creatures who do everything possible to please their husbands.

Setting refers to the immediate environment of a narrative or descriptive piece of writing: the place, time, and background established by the author.

Simile is a comparison between two dissimilar objects that uses the words like or as.

Slang is casual conversation among friends; as such, it is inappropriate for use in formal and informal writing, unless it is placed in quotation marks and introduced for a specific rhetorical purpose: “Hey dude, ya know what I mean?”

Style is the unique, individual way in which each author expresses his or her ideas. Often referred to as the “personality” of an essay, style is dependent on a writer's manipulation of diction, sentence structure, figurative language, point of view, characterization, emphasis, mood, purpose, rhetorical strategy, and all the other variables that govern written material.

Summary is a condensed statement of someone else's thoughts or observations.

Symbol refers to an object or action in literature that metaphorically represents something more important than itself. In G.Orwell's “Shooting an Elephant” the beast symbolizes the British Empire, which, despite its immense size, is dying in influence throughout the world.

Synonyms are terms with similar or identical denotative meanings, such as aged, elderly, older person, and senior citizen.

Syntax describes the order in which words are arranged in a sentence and the effect that this arrangement has on the creation of meaning.

Thesis statement or thesis is the principal focus of an essay. It is usually phrased in the form of a question to be answered, a problem to be solved, or an assertion to be argued. The word thesis derives from a Greek term meaning “something set down” and most writers find that “setting down” their thesis in writing helps them tremendously in defining and clarifying their topic before they begin to write an outline or a rough draft.

Tone is a writer's attitude or point of view toward his or her subject.

Topic sentence is the central idea around which a paragraph develops. A topic sentence controls a paragraph in the same way a thesis statement unifies and governs an entire essay.

Understatement, the opposite of hyperbole, is a deliberate weakening of the truth for comic or emphatic purpose. Commenting, for example, on the great care funeral directors take to make corpses look lifelike for their funerals, Jessica Mitford explains in “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain”: “This is a rather large order, since few people die in the full bloom of health”.

Unity exists in an essay when all ideas originate from and help support a central thesis statement.

Usage refers to the customary rules that govern written and spoken language.

Sample 1

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