Writing Glossary

Active voice means that the subject of the sentence is doing the action of the verb.

Analysis writing breaks a subject into parts, explores each part, and shows how they connect.

Appeals are methods for persuading readers, including showing integrity (ethos), creating an argument (logos), and touching emotion (pathos).

Arguments are a series of logical statements that lead toward proving or supporting a specific point.

Audience refers to those who read writing—whether they are the intended or unintended readers.

Brainstorming is the process of rapidly gathering as many ideas as possible.

Cause-effect writing explores why something occurred and the results of its occurrence.

Chronological order is time order—first, next, then, later, and so on.

Citing sources means indicating where ideas in writing have come from.

Classification writing sorts a subject into groups and shows how the groups are distinct and related.

Clauses are groups of words that include a subject and verb; some clauses express a complete thought and can stand alone (independent), but others do not express a complete thought and cannot stand alone (dependent).

Coherence means that ideas “stick together”—they logically belong.

Comparatives show how one thing exceeds another, using –er, better, worse, more, or less (funnier, older, less spindly).

Compare-contrast writing focuses on two topics, showing how they are similar and how they are different.

Context refers to the situation in which a message is created, transmitted, and received.

Conventions of language are the rules for using words, sentences, and punctuation (grammar, usage, spelling).

Coordination refers to connecting equal ideas using a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) .

Deductive reasoning ensures its conclusion by beginning with a general principle and ending with a specific circumstance.

Definition writing explores the meaning of a term, including denotation, connotation, etymology, usage, synonyms, antonyms, and other such details.

Descriptive writing creates a mental picture of a person, place, or thing.

Design is the seventh trait of writing, referring to the use of headings, white space, lists, colors, and graphics to communicate ideas.

Details support the thesis or topic sentence in writing and should follow a clear order.

Dialogue refers to the spoken words in narrative writing, usually set off with quotation marks; internal dialogue refers to the unspoken thoughts of a character.

Diary writing is a periodic personal reflection on the events in one’s life.

Documentation indicates where ideas in writing have come from: a list of sources of information following a standard style.

Drafting is the step in the writing process in which the writer creates a beginning, middle, and ending, organizing ideas into a first draft.

Editing is fine-tuning a piece of writing, checking for errors in conventions.

Editorializing means expressing a personal opinion; this term is often used to describe bias in an article that is meant to be objective in nature.

Editorials are opinion pieces written by staff writers for newspapers, magazines, and blogs.

Essays are multiparagraph compositions that develop a thesis by using a variety of details.

Expository writing explains a topic or tells how to do something.

Fictional writing tells a story set in a specific place and time, with characters that must overcome some sort of conflict.

Five W’s and H are the journalist’s questions that focus on the key features of a situation: who, what, where, when, why, and how.

Form refers to the type of writing; for example, editorial, article, report, proposal, business letter, or short story .

Fragments are groups of words that lack a subject or verb or do not express a complete thought; fragments can’t stand alone as sentences.

Freewriting is a prewriting technique that involves writing nonstop for a period of time about a given topic.

Graphic organizers visually represent ideas in the form of a T-bar, a Venn diagram, a time line, and so on; graphic organizers engage thinking during prewriting and aid analysis during reading.

How-to writing provides instructions for accomplishing a task or tells readers how something works.

Ideas, the first trait of writing, share the thesis, main points, and supporting details in a piece.

Idioms are casual expressions that cannot be understood by looking at the individual words (for example, “up in arms” means “upset”).

Imperative sentences are commands with an implied subject (you) and a command verb.

Indicative statements express facts or ask questions.

Inductive reasoning begins with specific observations and ends with a general conclusion, or hypothesis, whose truth is not guaranteed.

Interrogative sentences are questions, often in an inverted order (verb before subject).

Intransitive verbs express a complete action without requiring a direct object.

Jargon is technical language used by a specific group but not easily understood by those outside the group.

Journals are personal reflective writing often connected to a specific experience or period in the writer’s life.

Learning logs are personal reflective writing focused on what the writer is learning in a course of study.

Logic is using reasoning to examine a topic.

Logical fallacies are mistakes of reasoning that should be avoided in writing and identified in reading.

Medium is the form that communication takes.

Metaphorical thinking searches for connections between two ideas or topics, often through metaphors, similes, or symbolism.

Multimedia refers to a presentation that incorporates words, images, video, audio, and other forms of media.

Narration is writing that tells a story, whether real or imagined.

Nonfiction is writing that focuses on facts and true-life experiences.

Objections are disagreements that readers may have with a writer’s position.

Objective writing shares information without adding personal feelings or opinions.

Opinion is a personally held belief that cannot be directly proven to be true but can be supported by evidence.

Opinion or position statements express an opinion in persuasive writing.

Organization refers to the overall structure (beginning, middle, ending) of writing as well as the arrangement of details by a pattern such as time order.

Outlines list the thesis, main points, and key support for a piece of writing.

Paragraphs are groups of sentences that relate to a single topic.

Parallel structure is using the same grammatical form for ideas that are connected with coordinating conjunctions.

Paraphrasing means expressing another’s idea in one’s own words.

Passive voice occurs when the subject of the sentence receives the action of the verb instead of doing the action of the verb.

Person indicates whether someone is speaking (first person—I, me), is spoken to (second person—you), or is spoken about (third person—he, she, they).

Personification is giving human traits to nonhuman things.

Persuasive writing supports an opinion in order to convince readers or call them to act.

Phrases are groups of words that function together as a part of speech (for example, prepositional phrases function as adjectives or adverbs).

Point of view is a writer’s position; or, in fiction, point of view refers to who is telling the story, either a character within the tale (first person) or someone outside of it (third person).

Portfolios are collections of a writer’s work over a period of time, often accompanied by reflection and analysis.

Possessive words indicate ownership.

Predicate is the part of the sentence that contains the verb and tells what the subject is doing or being.

Prewriting refers to the thinking and research that a writer does prior to drafting.

Primary sources provide a researcher with first-hand information; for example, experiments, surveys, interviews, or events.

Problem-solution writing explains a problem and then advocates for a solution to fix the problem.

Process writing tells how to do something or explains how something works.

Proofreading means carefully checking a final draft for conventional errors.

Publishing is the process of making ideas public.

Purpose is the reason for writing; for example, to inform, persuade, entertain, or reflect.

Questions are sentences that request information.

Quotations are someone’s exact words.

Reasoning is the use of logic to connect statements and arrive at a true conclusion.

References are sources used to create a piece of writing, often presented in a list.

Reflective writing looks back at an experience and thinks about its significance.

Reports provide detailed information about a topic.

Research is finding information and tracking sources of information.

Response to literature is writing that reflects on a work of literature.

Revising is making large-scale improvements to writing, focusing on ideas, organization, and voice.

Rhetoric is the use of language to persuade.

Rhetorical devices are special uses of language to make a point; for example, metaphor, understatement, or irony.

Rhetorical situation, or the communication situation, refers to the source, message, medium, receiver, and context.

Rubrics list goals and are used to score sets of desired traits.

Secondary sources provide secondhand information; for example, articles, books, or documentaries.

Semantics is the study of meaning.

Sentences are groups of words that include a subject and a verb and express a complete thought.

Series refers to a set of three or more items connected with commas or the conjunctions and or or.

Similes compare two things using like or as .

Source refers to the origin of information.

Story is a narrative with a specific setting, characters, and conflict, leading to a climactic situation.

Storyboards use graphic frames to plan an audio-visual presentation.

Style refers to a writer’s individual way of writing.

Subject is the general topic for a piece of writing; or, in a sentence, the subject is the noun, pronoun, or noun form that names the topic.

Subjective writing shares information with personal feelings or opinions.

Subordination uses subordinating conjunctions (though, unless, because) to show that one idea depends upon another.

Superlatives compare one thing to two or more others, using –est, best, worst, most, or least .

Support refers to the details used to develop and explore a thesis.

Syntax is the way in which words are put together into sentences.

Synthesis is combining two or more things to make something new.

Tables present information in rows and columns.

Tense refers to the time (past, present, or future) of a verb’s action.

Thesis refers to the specific main point of a piece of writing, indicating the topic and particular emphasis.

Thesis statements provide the main point in essays.

Titles name pieces of writing.

Tone refers to the writer’s attitude toward the topic; for example, serious, whimsical, or annoyed.

Topic is the specific subject of a piece of writing.

Traits refer to the seven qualities of writing—ideas, organization, voice, words, sentences, conventions, and design.

Transitions are words or phrases that connect ideas in writing.

Transitive verbs require a direct object to express a complete action.

Unity occurs when all the ideas in a piece of writing relate to the topic and follow a logical order.

Usage refers to selecting the correct word from a pair of commonly misused words.

Verbs are words that express action or state of being.

Voice is a trait of writing that reflects the writer’s personal interest in the topic/communication situation.

Word choice is a trait of writing that focuses on selecting the best words for a particular purpose.

Writing process refers to the series of steps that writers go through in order to go from the blank page/screen to a finished document.