Writing On and Offline

These writing prompts are followed by text boxes for your input. If you are working online and your instructor has given you the go-ahead, you can send your work to him or her by clicking the "Submit Answers" button. If you are working offline, you will have to copy your answers (CTRL-C on most systems) and paste them (CTRL-V) into a text document to retain a record of your work.


1		Activity 1: Directions: Surf to one of the following sites: CNN.COM MSNBC.COM ABCNEWS.COM Read through several of the articles on the site you choose, looking for the various kinds of openers the authors use to begin their sentences. Do the authors vary their openers? If they did, do you feel this helped keep your interest? Did the authors use any adjectives series? What about verb series?



2		Activity 2: Directions: Find an article on the internet that is of interest to you. It might be an article about sports, about fashion, or about movies. Just pick something you would enjoy reading. Here are some sites at which you might begin your search: ESPN.com Cosmopolitan Magazine Internet Movie Database Once you've read the article, briefly rewrite the article in one paragraph--but try to make the writing as boring as possible. What strategies did you use to make the writing boring? Does this exercise help you understand the difference between boring and interesting writing? What lessons will you take from it for your own writing?

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