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MODULE 3

TYPES OF WRITING

UNIT 1

PERSONAL WRITING

I. Lead-in

1. Look at the following types of writing classified by T. Hedge (1993) and arrange them as headings in the table below:

–Social writing

–Study/Academic writing

–Professional/Business writing

–Creative writing

–Personal writing

2.Which type of writing do you resort to most often in your everyday life?

3.Look at the strategies “a good writer” usually uses. Mark the ones you use regularly in writing. Can you call yourself “a good writer”?

A Good Writer

Before Writing:

reads the question/s carefully and underlining key words;

identifies the type of format required (e.g. a letter, a report etc.);

thinks about the target reader; is it a friend, a prospective employer?

considers why they are writing;

decides which information from the instructions to include;

brainstorms ideas;

brainstorms vocabulary;

organizes relevant points into a paragraph plan.

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While Writing:

thinks of the reader;

refers back to the question;

considers the format;

thinks about the range of vocabulary;

includes a variety of grammatical structures;

considers whether it is sufficiently formal or informal;

keeps in mind whether it is well-organised;

ensures the sequence of events is clear.

After Writing:

checks that they have indeed answered the question;

checks spelling and vocabulary;

checks grammar; tense formation and usage;

checks linking between clauses, sentences and paragraphs;

checks agreement; subject-verb etc.

checks correct use and non-use of articles;

checks punctuation; capitalization;

checks word order;

checks that it is the correct length;

considers the appropriacy of the register;

considers whether it is generally interesting to read and has an interesting introduction and end.

4.Which forms of personal writing: diaries, journals, blogs, reminders, recipes, shopping lists, packing lists do you resort to more often in your everyday life? Under what circumstances?

II. Practice

1.Have you ever kept / Do you keep a diary, a journal (an online journal) or a blog? What is the difference between them? Share your ideas in the group.

2.Read the text below and say how the difference between a diary, a journal and a blog is explained in it. Have you outlined the same differences while sharing your ideas in task 1?

Diaries, Journals & Blogs

The words diary, journal and blog are terms often used interchangeably to mean the same thing. Most people associate a diary with a special book that is closed with a padlock to keep your thoughts and feelings private. Journals are recorded entries that are often not as private, although you may choose to keep it so. A blog is often used to publicly share your thoughts on specific topics. Blogs have become so popular that even companies are using them to update people on changes in their industry or in their company.

However, each is different and unique and they can be put to different uses. You may even choose to use one, two or all three.

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Diaries

A diary is often the most personal of the three. They are often arranged by date and have space for you to write what has happened over the course of the day.

A diary is a book that is used to record daily activities. This means that, in a diary the writer will write a description of how the day was spent, what was done during the day, their usual routine and anything that needs to get done additionally such as a ‘to do list’. A diary is a more disciplined form of writing where an individual will make a log of events that happened, whether it was successfully completed, whether there is additional work to carry forward, any achievements, goals and targets. Diaries are used on a daily basis; usually at the end of each day where a log of events is made.

Diary writing is quite simple and can be done by anyone who wishes to record and remember how their days are spent.

Many diarists often think of their diaries as a special friend that they can

confide to. For example, some people give names to their diaries and begin their entries with Dear…, so as though they are writing to a dear friend that they can

tell all of their secrets to. The naming of a diary has a unique psychological effect as it gives the writer a feeling of someone listening to his or her inner secrets and feelings.

The word diary comes from the Latin diarium (“daily allowance”, from dies “day”). A diary tends to be more focused on daily thoughts and events, while a journal can be written sporadically.

The diary goes back hundreds of years and one of the first most popular diaries belonged to Samuel Pepys. Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) is the earliest diarist who is well-known today; his diaries, preserved in Magdalene College, Cambridge, were first transcribed and published in 1825. Pepys was amongst the first who took the diary beyond mere business transaction notation, into the realm of the personal. Pepys’ contemporary John Evelyn also kept a notable diary, and their works are among the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period, and consist of eyewitness accounts of many great events, such as the Great Plague of London, and the Great Fire of London. Several books have been published from diaries as well. It is these diaries that have given us great insight and knowledge into history from all parts of the world. One of the most famous modern diaries, widely read and translated, is the posthumously published The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, who wrote it while in hiding during the German occupation of Amsterdam in the 1940s.

Journals

A journal is a diary in a sense. It can be used to document life events like a diary, but it is not necessarily a daily activity. There are also several different types of journals that a person may keep. There are travel journals to document your various travels across your state, country or the world. There are workout journals that help to keep track of the type of workout you do and make comments on it.

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The word journal comes from Old French journal (“daily”), from Latin diurnālis, from diurnus (“of the day”), from diēs (“day”).

Journals have also become popular in schools. Teachers often give students a writing prompt to get them started in their journal writing. Each week the students may write from the prompt and then share the journal with their teacher. These are excellent because they get children to think creatively and to learn to put their thoughts and feelings down on paper. This is an important step in teaching children to express themselves and communicate effectively through the written word.

While a journal may include daily activities, it also has details about how the person felt during the day, about any special event or issue that came up, about a specific person or incident and how these various things made the writer feel within that day. A journal is quite emotional and private and allows the writer to express their inner feelings privately, and journals are generally meant to be kept private unless when journal writing is encouraged at schools where students may be asked to share their writing.

A journal generally has no format, does not need editing or careful planning or thinking. It is just a process of thoughts and feelings being written down as they come without restrictions. Journals are not written on a daily basis and can be written more often than daily or less often depending on the writer’s needs to express their feelings. Journals may have other items alongside writing such as pictures, poems, quotes, drawings, etc.

Blogs

A blog (a truncation of the expression weblog) is another form of diary or journal, but it is one that is digital and on the Internet. These are often referred to as online diaries/journals or personal blogs.

They may document your day-to-day experiences or even social commentary, you can write about your travels, what you are reading, your thoughts or opinions. You write in it as often as you want, and your entries, or “posts”, typically appear in reverse chronological order, marked by the time and date that you wrote them. Many people use personal blogs as a way to keep in touch with friends and family, as well as to share with them their thoughts and feelings on certain subjects.

You may choose to keep your blog personal or to share it with the world. By sharing it with the public, you can open the blog up to personal comments from those who view and read the blog. This is unique to the blog and many personal opinions are common throughout the world of blogging, some are kind and others may be quite blunt.

The term “weblog” was coined by Jorn Bargeron 17 December 1997. The short form, “blog”, was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May 1999. Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams at Pyra Labs used “blog” as both a noun and verb (“to blog”, meaning “to edit one’s weblog or to post to

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one’s weblog”) and devised the term “blogger” in connection with Pyra Labs’ Blogger product, leading to the popularization of the terms.

One of the first online diaries or blogs was Claudio Pinhanez’s “Open Diary”. This was the first web site that was published in a diary format on a web page. This site was published in 1996 by the MIT Media Lab. Since, there were several different online diaries that popped up and now the web is full of them. There have also been several websites open up since then to allow people to have their own online journals and diaries. They are especially popular with teenagers and college students.

Until 2009, blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject. More recently “multiauthor blogs” (MABs) have developed, with posts written by large numbers of authors and professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, advocacy groups and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic.

The blog has also changed the world in terms of marketing. In 2006, Entrepreneur magazine listed it as one of the top marketing tools of the year that can get your website noticed. Website promotion is a common hurdle in marketing an online business and because blogs are easy to set-up and use, they have become a popular way of sharing information and news with the online community.

There are many different types of blogs, differing not only in the type of content, but also in the way that content is delivered or written:

Personal blogs.

Collaborative blogs or group blogs.

Microblogging.

Corporate and organizational blogs.

By genre (political blogs, health blogs, travel blogs (also known as travelogs), gardening blogs, house blogs, book blogs, fashion blogs, beauty blogs, project blogs, education blogs, classical music blogs, quizzing blogs and legal blogs (often referred to as a blawgs) or dreamlogs.

By media type (comprising of videos – a vlog, comprising of links – a linklog, containing a portfolio of sketches – a sketchblog, comprising of photos – a photoblog, with shorter posts and mixed media types – tumblelogs, blogs that are written on typewriters and then scanned – typecast or typecast blogs).

By device (A blog written by a mobile device like a mobile phone or PDA could be called a moblog).

(Reviewed from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog http://www.inboxjournal.com/articles/difference-between-diary-journal-and-blog.php http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-journal-and-vs-diary/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_diary https://www.creative-writing-now.com/how-to-write-a-blog.html)

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3. What are the main reasons for keeping a diary, a journal and a blog? Discuss your ideas in the group. You can use the prompts in the box if you wish.

share with your family and friends;

share with the world;

make money;

reflect on what you do;

organise your life;

to keep track of your past;

to think about the future;

to regulate mood and emotions;

promote an existing business.

4. Read 2 sample papers below. Which is a diary and which looks more like a personal journal? Why? What are the entries about?

Sample A

March 3, 20____

Dear Diary,

I’m so upset!! I don’t even know where to begin!

To start off, I think I completely failed my geometry quiz, which I know I should’ve studied more for... my dad’s not gonna be happy about that. :( Then, we had a pop quiz in history on the reading homework from last night, and I completely forgot most of what I read, which made me even more upset because I actually did the reading! But what really made me mad was the note that Sarah slipped into my locker during passing period. She said she was sad that I’ve been hanging out with Jane more lately and thinks that I don’t want to be her friend anymore. I can’t believe she thinks that, especially after talking with her on the phone for hours and hours last month while she was going through her breakup with Nick! Just because I’ve been hanging out with Jane a little more than usual doesn’t mean I’m not her friend anymore. She completely blew me off at lunch, and when I told Jane, she thought that Sarah was being a “drama queen.”

This is just what I need! My parents are getting on my case about doing more extracurricular activities, I have a huge paper due for AP English soon, and I can’t understand a thing in advanced Spanish! The last thing I need is for my best friend to think I hate her and barely text me back anymore.

Uggh! I can’t concentrate on anything right now because of it. I hope she gets over it!!!

Love,

Kate

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March 4, 20___

Dear Diary,

Today was a little better. I texted Sarah last night asking if she wanted to have lunch with me today, just the two of us, and she said sure. I told her that just because I’m hanging out with Jane, it doesn’t change anything about our friendship. After all, we’ve been friends since first grade! She said that she knows that, but she just felt like the third wheel because she doesn’t think that Jane likes her and because Jane and I have a lot of classes together. I told her not to worry about what Jane thought and that I’d talk to her about it. Sarah felt a lot better, and after we both cried a little, we spent the rest of lunch catching up on the latest gossip, which I missed!

During English, I talked to Jane about what Sarah said. She said that it’s not that she doesn’t like Sarah; she just thinks that she gets too worked up about things sometime, like her breakup with Nick. I explained why Sarah was so upset about it and how Nick had cheated on her, which Jane didn’t know, and she felt bad for saying mean things about Sarah. I think Jane’s really cool, but I wish she wouldn’t assume things about people. I’m worried she was saying mean things about Sarah to our other friends when she didn’t know the truth. She sometimes likes to spread rumors even when she doesn’t know if they’re true.

I thought it would be fun for the three of us to get some coffee after school and try to make everything better. I’m not sure how well that worked, because even though Jane was trying really hard to be nice to Sarah, I could tell that Sarah was being really fake with Jane. When I texted Sarah later, she said everything was fine, but I know her well enough to know that’s not completely true.

::Sigh:: Oh well. I’m not her mom, and I can’t force her to feel anything. It just frustrates me because I don’t want things to change between us...

We’ll see what happens. I have to get some math homework done now!

Night!

Kate

March 6, 20__

Dear Diary,

Sorry I didn’t get to write last night! It was such a busy day, and I was too tired to write anything...

I was right about Sarah not being okay. Yesterday, she barely spoke to me, and anything she did say was a “yes” or “no” answer. I tried so hard to get her to cheer up, but of course she just kept saying, “I’m fine, I’m fine.” Uggh! I wish she would just be honest with me! I’m always honest with her! It’s not fair!

Jane also seemed mad all day because she could tell that Sarah was being fake nice to her. I hate being in the middle of all of this. What am I supposed to

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do? Sarah’s been my friend since forever, and Jane is my new friend, and I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings! But I think that Jane is right about Sarah. I think Sarah sometimes gets too dramatic about things. She’s being kind of a brat about all of this, but I don’t want to tell her that to her face, she’d never forgive me.

I wish things were simple like they were in elementary school. :( :( :(

Kate

(From: http://m.wikihow.com/Write-a-Diary)

Sample B

As I watched the tube fill from a glossy yellow to a deep red, I felt less alive than ever. It entered the machine, whirring and spinning as if inconvenienced. Meanwhile, I sat there. At first it seemed like hours, and it slowly became hours. What felt like the entire day ticked by – as slowly as the red in the tube – while I stared at the machine. I could be called, at best, an accessory to this process. Most of the other people plugged into their own machines were older than me. If this is something that adults need, why do I have to be here?

Today marks six months since I started hemodialysis. I had to start because I got really sick. I have always been more or less healthy, but the doctors told my parents that I have “chronic glomerulonephritis.” You would think that word wouldn’t be a part of a normal high school sophomore’s vocabulary, and you’d be right. Believe me, even though it’s the biggest word I know, I wish I had never had to learn it. There’s this big scientific explanation about what is going wrong with the various structures in my kidneys, but that isn’t what I want to write here. If doctors can be relied upon for anything, certainly they can keep their own records.

No, the important thing that you need to know is that the disease I have makes my kidneys almost useless. A year ago, I didn’t even know what kidneys do, aside from vaguely resembling a disgusting bean that bears their name. It turns out, though, that your body uses its kidneys to filter out the waste left over from other bodily processes. You wouldn’t think that “toxins” would be a significant label for very much in our bodies. Apparently, though, our bodily cells are cranking out toxic waste all day long.

So, that’s my problem: lots of toxins in my blood, and my kidneys are no longer filtering them out. That’s why I have to get plugged into a dialyzer machine. Toxic blood goes in, but what else? Sometimes, I feel like the machine is sucking out who I am, too. Think about all of the people walking around with clean, non-dialysis-filtered blood. How many of them are even aware that their kidneys are keeping them alive? Maybe one percent? And that’s being generous. I, however, have learned way more than I ever wanted to about exactly how the bean-

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shaped organs keep the toxins out of everyone’s veins and arteries. Everyone’s veins, it seems, but mine.

If it weren’t for the machine, I would die. I remember my first time. I had been feeling very sick for a while, so I guess I was pretty hopeful. Yeah, I felt better afterward. But I had to go back again. And again. And again. For six months. I may even have to keep going back for my entire life, or what’s left of it. What kind of life do you have when you need to be plugged into a machine that performs an incredibly slow process that most people don’t even know exists. Sometimes I ask myself, “Is it worth it?”

What I have learned from this is who I am and what is really important to me. I don’t know what the life expectancy is for people who have chronic kidney failure, but I can’t imagine it keeps pace with the life expectancies of normal people. This realization, while terrifying, has pushed me to write down my dreams, my fears, and my innermost thoughts. Ever since I could scrawl out little more than my name in crayon, I have always felt a pull toward writing, as if it were my life’s calling. It is, perhaps, the only way to experience who I really am – for other people as well as myself. In expounding my most personal self on paper, I hope to find both strength and meaning. Sincerely written, the events of our lives can transform into digestible lessons that nourish our souls’ growth. It could be that someone else who is suffering as I am might take solace in my writing. I certainly hope it helps them, because that process could never be performed by a machine.

(From: http://m.wikihow.com/Write-a-Diary)

5. Read the tips on writing diaries and group them under the three categories in the table:

1.Consider your diary type. The type of diary you choose depends on your writing style and other factors: your handwriting; how durable do you want your diary to be; whether you plan on carrying your diary with you; whether you want privacy and a diary with a lock; whether you want to keep a diary online.

2.Be honest. Diaries can be cognitively beneficial: writing about feelings honestly helps the brain regulate emotion and let go of inhibitions on the page and truly be themselves.

3.Use lots of details. Diaries are also important as they preserve moments in their immediate aftermath. Memory is fickle and precise details of an event tend to blur with time. Use details in your diary entries to try to preserve the moment. Think about your past before you begin writing in your diary. What do you wish you remembered?

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4.Add illustrations. If you want make your diary more personal, consider adding illustrations. This can be a fun way to make your diary more personal.

5.Do not go overboard. Remember, it’s a diary and not a scrapbook. It

can be fun to add mementos like concert tickets, photographs, and brochures from places you’ve visited. However, adding too much can make your diary look like a scrapbook. A diary should be primarily used for writing rather than collaging.

6.Maintain a schedule. Many people struggle to find the time to write a diary entry each day. If you’re interested in maintaining a diary, try to stick to something of a schedule. Write in your diary around the same time each day. This way, writing in your diary will become as much a part of your schedule as brushing your teeth at night or showering in the morning.

7.Decide what to write about. There are many different types of diaries.

Some people use diaries to record daily events. Others use them to chronicle dreams. If you’re working towards a goal, like losing weight or completing a

creative project, a diary can be a great means to discuss your feelings and progress. Some people record a mix of different things in their diary. It’s up to you what you feel is important to record.

8.Decide where to store your diary. If you want to keep your diary private, find a discreet place to store it in your home. Consider hiding it under your

mattress, under your clothes in a dresser drawer, or any other place where people are unlikely to poke around. If you’re not worried about privacy, keep your diary in an easy-to-reach place close to your desk, bed, or wherever you plan on writing.

9.Consider how you’ll mark entries. There are various manners you can mark entries in a diary. Some people enjoy dating their entries so they’ll remember the rough timeframe when rereading their works. Other people prefer short titles to each entry. Be creative and have fun. Use whatever method feels right for you. Some people use signatures to mark entries.

10.Write short entries when you’re pressed for time. Everyone gets busy from time-to-time. If you’re in a rush, just write a shorter entry. Jot down the bare minimum of your feelings and thoughts. Get out whatever feels most pressing and immediate. You can always record more about an event later in the week when you have time. Simply try to get out the basic details before you forget.

11.Alter the cover. Some diaries come with decorative covers, but some are plain. If your cover is simply dull, you might want to add decoration. You can write your name in colorful, fun lettering. You can add stickers or glue on cut outs from magazines or newspapers. You can draw on the cover with colored pencils or markers. Have fun and be creative.

12.Buy a personalized journal. You can purchase personalized journals online if you don’t feel comfortable crafting yourself. You can usually choose from a handful of illustrations or templates and can add things like your name and address to the inside cover. Some journals, usually marketed towards a

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