Sentence Patterns
Contains one complete thought with a subject and predicate verb
Simple Sentence
Valuable background and supplementary information is available through manual searching of resources in public and college libraries. These traditional sources include books as well as newspaper, magazine, and journal articles. Other sources are encyclopedias, reference, books, handbooks, dictionaries, directories, and almanacs.
Search Manually
Get information from the individual giving the assignment.
Talk with the Boss
If an idea is significant, tell the reader
Label the Main Idea
Poison in apples
Cyanide
Contains at least two independent clauses and one dependent clause
Compound-Complex Sentence
Torrents of information are available online. Beyond Google, college and public libraries provide digital retrieval services that permit access to a wide array of books, journals, magazines, newspapers, blogs, and other online literature. With so much data drowning today's researchers, they struggle to decide what is current, relevant, and credible. Help is on the way, however! You'll learn more about researching and using electronic sources effectively in Chapter 10.
Access Digital Sources
If you are responding to an inquiry or drafting a routine message, you often can find background information such as previous correspondence in your own files or those of the company. You might consult the company wiki or other digital and manual files. You might also consult colleagues.
Search the Company's Files
Place the main idea in a simple sentence or in an independent clause.
Give the Important Idea the Spotlight
The only king in a deck of cards without a moustache
King of Hearts
Contains two complete but related thoughts. May be joined by (a) a conjunction such as and, but, or or; (b) a semicolon; or (c) a conjunctive adverb such as However, Consequently, and Therefore.
Compound Sentence
Another source of primary data is experimentation. Instead of merely asking for the target audience's opinion, scientific researchers present choices with controlled variables.
Conduct Scientific Experiments
Alone or with others, discuss ideas for the writing task at hand, and record at least a dozen ideas without judging them. Small group are especially fruitful in brainstorming because people spin ideas off one another. Use your laptop for a quick, erasable surface to record ideas.
Brainstorm for Ideas
Vivid words are emphatic because the reader can picture ideas clearly
Use vivid, not general, words.
The most money ever paid for a cow at auction
$1.3 million.
Contains an independent clause (a complete thought) and a dependent clause (a thought that cannot stand by itself). Dependent clauses are often introduced by words such as Although, Since, Because, When, and If. When dependent clauses precede independent clauses, they always are followed by a comma.
Complex Sentence
To develop firsthand, primary information for a project, go directly to the source. In helping to launch an new Forever 21 outlet in Canada, you might travel to possible sites and check them out. If you need information about how many shoppers pass by a location or visit a shopping center, you might conduct a traffic count. If you need information about consumers, you could search blogs, Twitter, wikis, and Facebook fan pages. To learn more about specific shoppers, you could use questionnaires, interviews, or focus groups. Formal research often includes scientific smapling methods that enable investigators to make accurate judgments and valid predictions.
Investigate Primary Sources
Consider talking with individuals at who the message is aimed. They can provide clarifying information that tells you what they want to know and how you should shape your remarks. Suggestions for conducting more formal interview are presented in Chapter 10.
Interview the Target Audience
Ideas have less competition from surrounding words when they appear first or last in a sentence
Place the Important Idea First or Last
The little dot above a lowercase "i" or "j" called
Tittle