Rhetoric and Composition/Glossary
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
This is a glossary of the book. See also index.
| Contents: | Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|---|
[edit] A
- APA
- American Psychological Association, a professional organization representing psychologists in the U.S., and a publisher of the APA style.
- APA style
- A writing style and formatting standard widely used in the social sciences, and published by American Psychological Association.
- appositive
- A word or phrase that is in apposition.
- apposition
- A construction in which one noun or noun phrase is placed with another as an explanatory equivalent, both having the same syntactic function in the sentence, such as:
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose.
[edit] B
- brainstorming
- A method of problem solving in which members of a group contribute ideas spontaneously, by first coming up with a long list of even poor ideas and criticizing them later.
[edit] C
- capitalization
- The use of lowercase or uppercase characters in sentences, common and proper names, and titles.
- clustering
- A prewriting technique consisting of writing ideas down on a sheet of paper around a central idea within a circle, with the related ideas radially joined to the circle using rays.
- comma splice
- An error consisting of joining two independent clauses with a comma.
- copy editing
- The correction of spelling, grammar, formatting, etc. of printed material and preparing it for typesetting, printing, or online publishing.
- cumulative clause
- TODO
[edit] D
- dangling modifier
- A word or clause that modifies another word or clause ambiguously, possibly causing confusion with regard to the speaker's intended meaning, such as "Trekking across the desert, fierce winds swirled around the riders": it was not the winds that were trekking accross the desert.
- dash
- The symbol "–" (en-dash) or "—" (em-dash), used to mark an interrpution in a sentence.
- deductive reasoning
- "Top-down" reasoning in which one begins with a major premise and a minor premise and from these draws a conclusion.
-
- major premise - applies to all things within a particular category.
- minor premise - applies to a particular case, not a general category.
-
Men are tall.
John is a man.
Therefore, John is tall.
- dependent clause
- A group of words that contains a subject and a verb but does not express a complete thought.
- draft
- An early, unpublishable version of a text, with spelling and grammatical errors, poorly chosen words and possibly broken sentences, waiting to be revised.
- drafting
- The process of quick writing up the first version of a text, heedless of spelling, grammar, and the choice of words, postponing finetuning of these aspects to a later point.
[edit] E
- ethos
- TODO
- essay
- A short piece of non-narrative writing, often written from an author's personal point of view; including literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author.
- exposition
- The writing that mainly explains and instructs, assuming no prior knowledge of the reader, contrasted to narration or reference manual.
[edit] F
[edit] H
- hyphen
- Symbol "-", typically used to join two related words to form a compound noun, or to indicate that a word has been split at the end of a line, approximately half the length of a dash.
[edit] I
- independent clause
- A group of words that contains a subject and a verb and which express a complete thought.
- inductive reasoning
- "Bottom-up" reasoning in which one begins by examining a number of individual cases and from these draws a conclusion that can be applies to similar cases.
[edit] L
- logos
- A rhetorical technique that appeals to logic or reason.
- Types of logical arguments, see deductive and inductive reasoning.
[edit] M
- manuscript
- A text that has been written by hand, not printed or published in any form.
- mechanics
- Spelling and punctuation; aspects of writing that are not shared by speaking.
- MLA
- Modern Language Association, the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature, and the publisher of MLA Style Manual.
- MLA style
- The style of writing and citing for scholars of language and literature, published in MLA Style Manual by Modern Language Association.
[edit] N
- narration
- The writing that relates a story or a series of events, with emphasis on events and people.
[edit] O
- outline
- A hierarchical, possibly numbered list of items, helpful for organizing a text, be it a business letter or a book.
[edit] P
- pathos
- An attempt to pursuade an audience by appealing to their emotions.
- plagiarism
- Using someone else's work, whether it be ideas or text, without acknowledgement.
- prewriting
- An early stage in the writing process, consisting of loose activities such as brainstorming and outlining; a preparation for writing.
- proof copy
- In printing and publishing, a version of a manuscript that has been typeset after copy editing.
- proofreading
- Reading and correction of the final draft, with the focus on spelling, punctuation, formatting, typographical conventions and prevention of textual inconsistencies. See also editing and revising, and copy editing.
- proofreading 2
- A reading a proof copy of a text in order to detect and correct any errors.
- punctuation
- Periods, colons, semi-colons, commas, question marks, exclamation points, apostrophes, hyphens, parentheses, brackets, and dashes.
[edit] R
- rewriting
- TODO
- rhetoric
- TODO
- rough draft
- TODO
[edit] S
- scheme
- A figure of speech in which the normal word order or pattern of a sentence is deliberately changed for emphasis. It can also include the omission or repetition of words or phrases.
"The helmsman steered; the ship moved on; yet never a breeze blew up." ~Samuel Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
[edit] T
- thesis
- The indicator in an essay, usually one or two sentences, in which the author reveals the main point of the essay; the line of argument that the author is pursuing in his essay; the statement of author's position on an issue, such as:
"By granting college students liberal lending arrangements,
credit card companies often hook them on a cycle of spending that can ultimately lead to financial ruin." ~Matt Watson
Because the internet is filled with tremendous marketing potential,
companies should utilize this resource by creating web pages that offer both advertising and customer support.
- tone
- The manner in which speech or writing is expressed, such as serious or conversational.
- transition
- A paragraph or a sentence at the beginning of a paragraph that supports the shift of the reader's attention from the subject treated in the previous paragraph to the new subject.
- trope
- A literary device that uses words in non-literal ways, changing or modifying the general meaning of a term.
"Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage." ~William Shakespeare, Macbeth
[edit] W
- writer's anxiety
- Anxiety with which writers sometimes have to deal when trying to write, starring in the blank paper, especially in the early phases of the writing process.
