The first step I use in my own writings is to identify my audience. Vocabulary, articulation and imagery are all dictated by the targeted audience, such as age, culture, religion and professional discipline. Until a few years ago, I seldom read fiction. I’d quip to a friend that I didn’t have time for some of that mess. My friend would say, “you take life way too seriously, lighten up; read a good romance or a good mystery, sometimes”. I finally took her advice and it opened up a whole new way of engaging with text through the use of the senses and imagination. The use of imagery is a second focus, which is one of the most important methods to get readers to engage. Examples of imagery include words such has “happy”, “sad”, “smile”, “crying”, “running”, and “jumping”. I call these the “attention getters”. The right placement throughout my writings, helps keep readers enthralled. A third focus that I employ in my writings which is an adjunct to both imagery and visualization is “reality”. One of the greatest advantages fiction writers sometimes have over others, such as writers of education materials, is their ability to make their stories seem real. But this can be done regardless of the type of writing. For example, if the writing is strictly educational material, such as a chapter in my contracts class, the use of real life examples helps readers make life applications through the use of visualization and …show more content…
The paralegal program of study requires a significant amount of essay writing. I use the following steps when writing an essay based on case law and this is applicable in any type of writing. First, I read the case once. Secondly, I summarize the case from memory without paying attention to grammar, structure or quotes. I use this technique so the end result will be my own conceptualization of the material, rather than a re-phrased representation of the original text. In the third step I bring the writing together by checking the accurateness and thoroughness of the summary. I also check the accuracy of areas where I paraphrased from memory. The question I ask at this point is, whether there is a particular part of the summary that is so close to the actual writing that it would be best to use an exact quote. I also add or remove quotes, where necessary, to convey a specific point and then cite them correctly. The fourth and final step is to check, sentence structure and