LAB THREE-B

Today let's take a quick (concise) look once more at the skill of condensing bloated language into efficient, direct wording.  We'll also catch up and finish whatever loose ends may have developed from the previous lab.  Then you'll have a chance to work on your second writing project, the Description paper.

1. Routine Startup

• the first browser shows these instructions. Press Control-N to open a second browser and use it to follow links and carry out the instructions.

2. Revising for Style: Conciseness
    
   1. Read all the steps to get an overview before you click on the link below
       
   2. In Word, start a new document and Save As conciseness_yourlastname on your flashdrive or on the desktop
       
   3. In your browser, open the link to Editing for Readable Style: Conciseness and copy the contents into your Word document
       
   4. Don’t bother cleaning up the formatting, and add your revised sentences directly into the document
       
   5. Save your answers, close the document, and send it as an email attachment to me with conciseness as the Subject Line

The instructions for this exercise are repeated below.  Resume from wherever you stopped at the end of the last lab.  Note that you will have more time in the next lab to complete this … you don’t have to work on this outside of the lab.  Just make sure the exercise-in-progress is saved on your flashdrive or sent to yourself by email.

1. See a sample of an outline
    
   1. View an introduction
       
      1. read carefully Building an Outline
          
   2. Experiment with a sample outline in Word
       
      1. in the shared folder, select sample-outline and save as sample-outline_yourlastname in your personal folder or on the Desktop
          
      2. follow the instructions in the document

    

2. Create your own outline
    
   1. Start a new, blank document in Word, and change to the Outline view by clicking the Outline button at the bottom of the window.  Save the new document in your personal folder or on the Desktop with the name outline_yourlastname
       
   2. Begin your own outline on any topic, such as:

• Types of music
• A skill you know how to do, written as a series of steps
• Types of movies
• Types of vehicles

3. Add significant description and commentary wherever you can

• IMPORTANT: type them in the proper place, then make these descriptions and comments ‘Body Text’ by using the double-arrow on the toolbar
   
• if you want to be complete and systematic, you would add comments to all the headings at the same level (e.g., all level four headings)

4. Practice contracting and expanding levels to see the organization of your topic better

• try to make the items at each level the same kind of category (e.g. "truck" and "van" are the same kind of item; "truck" and "Ford" are not)

5. Switch to Normal View for the document (one of the buttons at the bottom left of the window)
    
6. Revise to create one well-written paragraph from one section anywhere in your outline (just do as much as you can in the time you have). Do this by inserting and combining body text within the outline.

• Add transitional sentences to make the paragraph flow properly (but this is an exercise only ... the degree of polishing is up to you)
• You can incorporate the less important headings into the body of the paragraph
• Leave the unused titles and comments where they are (you would delete them if this was a final version)

7. Save your finished exercise in the shared folder

• if you are not finished, you will have more time in the next lab to complete this … you don’t have to work on this outside of the lab.  Just make sure the exercise-in-progress is saved on your flashdrive or sent to yourself by email.

4. Conciseness, continued

1. After you have sent your original exercise to me, open a new document in Word called conciseness-check_yourlastname and save it on your flashdrive or on the desktop
    
2. Look at Conciseness: suggested changes and copy its contents into your Word document. Follow the instructions written at the top. Add your comments in a different colored font.
    
3. Save conciseness-check_yourlastname in the shared folder

5. Work on Paper Two

Prepare as much as you can of the current writing project, Paper Two: Description, during the lab. A full first draft is due for the start of next class, saved in the shared folder. Use the filename description_yourlastname