Download Active voice: The main focus of the sentence (the person, place, or

A
Active voice: The main focus of the sentence (the person, place, or thing) carries out
the action.
Ad hominem: A type of logical fallacy where the author of an argument is discredited
instead of the argument.
Adjective: A part of speech that describes a noun or a person, place, or thing.
Adverb: A part of speech that describes the verb or action of the sentence.
Analogy: A writing tool that compares two unrelated things: an idea that is not
tangible to something that is tangible and easy for the reader to understand.
Anthology: A book that contains many works of the same type, such as short stories
or poems, by many different authors.
Argumentation: A style of writing that seeks to inform and prove a specific position
on a topic.
Argumentative Approach: A method of writing that reasons or argues that an idea
or perspective is right.
B
Bandwagon fallacy: A type of logical fallacy that states an argument is correct
because everyone believes it.
Begging the question: A type of logical fallacy where an argument is supported by
false evidence or no evidence at all.
Body: The core of the essay, divided into three supporting paragraphs.
Book stack: A shelf found in a library that houses books.
C
Call number: The number on a book that indicates where it can be found in a library.
Catalog: A complete listing of all the materials found within a library.
Chronological order: The method of arranging the details in the essay according to
when they occur. Also known as time order.
Citing: The standardized method of stating the specific identifying details of a source
used as support in a paper.
Clause: A part of a sentence that is a complete thought on its own.
Cliché: A recognizable expression.
Clustering: A technique of creating a visual diagram linking your ideas together. Also
called mapping.
Colloquialism: A casual expression used within a specific environment or by a
particular group
Colon: A piece of punctuation that is primarily used to introduce information.
Comma: The type of punctuation that gives the reader a short break between parts of
a sentence.
Compare: To evaluate two things and conclude what is alike between them.
Compare and contrast technique: The method of writing an essay when two things
are examined for similarities or differences.
Compound adjective: Two adjectives that are joined by a hyphen.
Compounding: To merge more than two ideas into the same sentence.
Conclusion: The final paragraph that brings together the principal idea and evidence
of the essay.
Conjunction: A part of speech that links pieces of a sentence together.
Connective: Also known as transitions, they are the joining words or phrases
between sentences and paragraphs.
Constructive criticism: Providing a balance between positive and negative
feedback to help people improve upon their strengths and diminish their weaknesses.
Contraction: A word that is the combination of two words in which the eliminated
letters are replaced by an apostrophe.
Contrast: To evaluate two things and conclude what is not the same between them.
Conversing: To read a text and make notes on it based on your questions and
comments surrounding the author's ideas, evidence, and organization.
Coordination: The equal presentation of two ideas that have the same weight within
the same sentence.
Critiquing: Also known as evaluating, it is to question and include your positive and
negative reactions to a written piece.
D
Dangling modifier: A type of modifier error that is found at the beginning of the
sentence, which does not clearly state who performs the action in the phrase.
Dash: A piece of punctuation used before attention-grabbing information.
Dead-end statement: A thesis statement that is too specified and therefore cannot
be developed.
Definition: Explaining the meaning of a concept or thing.
Description: Providing details to paint a picture for the reader.
Descriptive approach: A method of writing that focuses on describing.
Descriptive writing: A style of writing used to accurately portray people, places, and
things.
Dewey Decimal System: A library system that organizes books using a number
system.
Direct quotation: The exact wording of the author placed inside quotation marks.
Dissertation: An essay written by a graduate student to obtain a degree.
Domain name: The official term used for a website address.
Drafting: Creating versions of your essay, with each new version improving upon the
previous.
E
EBSCOhost: A popular computerized periodical index used in libraries today.
Edit: To correct errors in grammar.
Editing: The process of correcting errors in grammar.
Educational non-fiction: A type of non-fiction that educates the reader.
Either…or fallacy: A type of logical fallacy that provides only two options for an
issue, when there may be three or more available.
Elibrary: A large database of articles available online for a fee.
Emphatic order: The approach that organizes the details based on importance.
Engaging: The second step of understanding written material where you take notes
to see the different levels of meaning expressed in the text.
Entertaining non-fiction: A type of non-fiction that entertains the reader.
Erroneous cause: A type of logical fallacy that presents two situations that happen
one after the other and the events are incorrectly defined as being causal.
Evaluating: Also known as critiquing, it is to objectively assess and analyze a text.
Explanatory approach: A method of writing that provides an explanation. Also
known as expository writing.
Expository writing: A method of writing that makes an idea or concept clear. Also
known as the explanatory approach.
F
False analogy: A type of logical fallacy that creates an ineffective comparison
between two unrelated things.
Fiction: A piece of writing that is imagined by the author.
Figurative language: Language that creates an association between two unrelated
concepts or things, to provide a more accurate description of one of the concepts or
things.
Figurative writing: Also called a figure of speech, is a method used to make clearer
ideas in writing.
Figure of speech: Also known as figurative writing, it is a tool to make the writer's
concepts more understandable and real to the reader.
Final outline: The detailed outline of what the body of your essay will look like,
usually building upon the scratch outline.
First-person: A narrative written through the perspective of the pronoun "I" or "we."
Focused freewriting: A five to ten minute exercise where you write down any
thoughts and ideas you have in connection to your topic.
Fragment: A phrase that is not a proper sentence because it is missing one of the
key elements: a subject, a verb, or a complete idea.
Freewriting: A five to ten minute exercise where you write down any thoughts and
ideas to stimulate the writing process.
G
Generality: A non-specific description.
Gerund: A verb that ends in "ing."
H
Homonym: A word that is identical in sound to another word but has different
significance and spelling.
Hyphen: A piece of punctuation that is used to join words together, such as
adjectives and two- word numbers.
I
Indefinite pronoun: A general pronoun that does not specifically state a person or
thing.
Indirect quotation: Words that were changed or paraphrased but retained the
meaning of the original statement.
Inference: A conclusion you make based on the text that is not stated explicitly.
Infinitive: A verb in its base form that always starts with the word "to."
InfoTrac: A common electronic periodical index.
Informal outline: A simple plan of the text's thesis and primary supporting details.
Informative non-fiction: A type of non-fiction that provides information to the reader.
Internal citation: The citation found within the body of an essay enclosed in
parentheses. Also known as a parenthetical citation.
Introduction: The first paragraph that presents the major theme of the essay.
Irregular verb: A type of verb that is conjugated in a specialized way.
K
Keyword: The important words you enter in a search engine in a library catalog or on
the Internet to locate information about a specific topic.
L
Library of Congress System: A library system that classifies and organizes books
using a combination of letters and numbers.
Linking sentence: A sentence that is written to flow well between paragraphs. Also
referred to as a transitional sentence.
Listing: All possible thoughts connected to your central idea formatted into a list.
Literal: The actual meaning of a text.
M
MLA: The acronym for the Modern Language Association.
MLA style: The manner in which the Modern Language Association dictates how the
sources of your evidence must be cited in a paper.
Mapping: A technique of creating a visual diagram linking your ideas together. This is
also called clustering.
Metaphor: A type of figurative language that links two unrelated concepts or things.
Misplaced modifier: A type of modifier error that does not clearly state who performs
the action in the phrase.
Modern Language Association: A group of people that includes members from the
teaching profession and educational sector who provide support and encouragement
to those instructing and learning language and literature.
Modifier: A phrase that is part of a whole sentence that adds meaning to the
sentence.
Modifier error: A sentence that does not have a direct and obvious connection
between the subject in the modifying phrase and the rest of the sentence.
N
Narration: The type of writing that recounts a fictional or non-fictional story.
Narrative: A story written in sequential order.
Narrative approach: A method of writing that recounts events as they happened.
Non-fiction: A piece of writing that outlines real events.
Non-sequitor: A type of logical fallacy where the conclusion is not preceded by
concrete evidence.
Noun: An individual, location, or thing.
O
Outlining: Creating the basic structure of your essay into groups and sub-groups.
P
Paradox: Providing a contrary view of the way something is in reality.
Parallelism: To arrange details in the same way within a sentence.
Paraphrase: To restate another person's direct words into a different statement while
preserving the original meaning.
Paraphrasing: Taking the resource's ideas or direct words and re-writing them in
your own words.
Parentheses: Punctuation that is used on either side of non-essential information.
Parenthetical citation: The information contained within parentheses that indicates
the source of original material.
Passive voice: To have the main focus of the sentence, the person, place, or thing,
being acted upon.
Period: The type of punctuation that ends a sentence.
Periodical: The category that includes newspapers, magazines, and journals.
Periodical index: The system that classifies articles from newspapers, magazines,
and journals.
Personification: A type of figurative language that gives human qualities to a plant,
animal, or object.
Persuasion: A style of writing that aims to convince readers of a particular viewpoint
as well as motivate them to take action to support it.
Pivot: A way of developing an explanatory or argumentative paper that starts with
one idea and suddenly changes perspective and presents a contrary or different idea.
Plagiarism: The failure to cite exact words or ideas, direct quotations, and
paraphrased or summarized material in your paper.
Plan of development: It is an early look at the details supporting the thesis, found in
the introduction.
Plot: The expression of the different events in a narrative and how they are
organized.
Point by point method: Comparing or contrasting each aspect of the thesis and
another subject in the essay alongside each other.
Possessive pronoun: A word that indicates ownership.
Prefix: A word that is placed before a noun to change the meaning of it.
Prepositional phrase: A part of a sentence that always begins with a preposition,
which helps describe a person, place, or thing.
Previewing: To quickly go over a text to find the main ideas. Also known as
surveying.
Prewriting: Exercises used to collect and roughly organize the necessary information
required before the actual writing of your paper.
Process Analysis: A list of instructions or steps.
Pronoun: A word that replaces a noun.
Proofread: To look for and correct errors in spelling and typing.
Proofreading: The process of looking for and correcting errors in spelling and typing.
Proper noun: The official name of an individual, location, or thing.
Q
Questioning: A process of generating ideas through creating questions and answers
in relation to your theme. It can be done alone or in groups.
R
Readers' Guide: A periodical index in book form that provides a monthly listing of
magazine articles.
Regular verb: A type of verb that is conjugated in a standardized way.
Revise: To rewrite parts of an essay to ensure good flow, organization, and
cohesion.
Revising: The process of rewriting parts of an essay to ensure good flow,
organization, and cohesion.
Rhetorical question: A question in which the answer is not necessary.
Rogerian approach: Based on Carl Rogers' work in psychology, it's a method used
in persuasive writing where the writer calms possible strong opposing arguments to
more effectively convince the reader of the thesis.
Rough draft: The first version of your essay.
Run-on sentence: A sentence that contains more than one thought, but where the
ideas have no identifiable indicator to separate them.
S
Scratch outline: The first simple outline you create to get an idea of what the body of
your essay will look like.
Search engine: An Internet tool that searches and locates information based on the
words you enter into the program.
Semi-colon: The type of punctuation that gives the reader a longer break than a
comma and a shorter break than a period.
Sentence fragment: A sentence that lacks a subject, verb, or a complete thought.
Sexist language: The use of language that shows a preference for one gender over
another.
Simile: A type of figurative language that compares two unconnected items,
employing the use of the words "like" or "as."
Skim: To quickly scan or review written material to obtain only the most important
points.
Slang: Unofficial words that are used within particular groups and mutate frequently.
Subject: The person or thing that carries out the primary action of the sentence.
Subject by subject method: Comparing or contrasting each aspect of the thesis and
another subject in the essay apart from each other.
Subject verb agreement: A proper sentence that conjugates the verb as singular or
plural, so that it matches the singular or plural subject.
Subject-verb agreement: The subject and verb in each sentence must agree in that
they are both plural or both singular and not a combination of plural and singular.
Subordination: Emphasizing one detail more over another detail within the same
sentence.
Summarizing: Succinctly re-wording a large amount of information or a complete text
into your own style.
Summary: The main points of a text are rephrased into a succinct synopsis.
Surveying: To scan a text to understand its primary points. Also known as
previewing.
Synonym: A word that has a similar meaning to another word.
Synthesizing: A combination of the author’s ideas, perspectives from other sources,
and your perspective.
T
The 5Ws and the H: The six basic question words: what, where, who, when, why
and how.
The red herring: A type of logical fallacy that is used to redirect the reader's attention
from the real issue at hand.
The straw man: A type of logical fallacy where an argument is not well-supported
and can be negated without much effort.
Theme: The main concept or driving force of a narrative.
Thesis: The primary idea of an essay.
Third-person: A narrative written through the perspective of the pronouns "he,"
"she," "it," or "they."
Time order: The approach that organizes the essay's details sequentially. Also
referred to as chronological order.
Topic sentence: The sentence in each paragraph of the body of an essay that
outlines one supporting detail.
Transition: The words or phrases used to create flow between sentences and
paragraphs. Also known as connectives.
Transitional devices: Words and phrases that join different ideas throughout the
essay. Also referred to as transitions and connectives.
Transitional sentence: A sentence that facilitates flow between paragraphs. Also
known as a linking sentence.
Transitional sentences: Sentences that create flow between the paragraphs by
tying them together. Also referred to as linking sentences.
Transitional word: A word that facilitates flow between sentences.
Transitions: Word and phrases that demonstrate the connections between
sentences and paragraphs. Also known as transitional devices and connectives.
U
URL: The complete website address beginning with "http."
V
Verb: The part of speech that describes the action of the sentence.
Verb tense: A variation of a verb that reflects time.
W
Wordiness: The presence of too many words in a sentence, paragraph, or full text
that makes it difficult to understand.
Works cited list: The complete listing of all the sources used as evidence in a paper,
found at the end of the essay.
Writer’s block: The experience of not knowing what to write at any point during the writing process