Programs and Areas
First Year Writing Program
Teaching Resources: Style
Tried & True Home
|
Transitions | Transition Derby | Commonly Used Transitions |
Balderdash | Sentence Structure Activity | Slang, Cliches, and Informal Language |
Another Informal Language Activity | Style Tightening Your Writing | Tailor It to the Class Needs |
All Purpose Writing Activity | Throat Clearing Phrases | Cutting the Fat | Word Choice
Balderdash
Time: 20 minutesSkills: Genre conventions, style
This activity is based on the popular board game by the same name, and emphasizes to students the importance of style, tone, and authorial voice in their own writing.
- Give your class two words that you are fairly certain they do not know (just about anything out of the Bedford Glossary will work).
- Ask your students to write a fake definition for each word, asking them to keep in mind the things that they would typically see in a dictionary definition (this can also work in small groups).
- After students have completed their definitions, have them share their definitions with the class. Decide as a group which definition seems most convincing and why.
- Then have a discussion with your class about the genre of dictionary definitions as well as the genre of academic writing. You can emphasize to your class that there are certain conventions that academics expect to see in each others’ writing, just as there are certain conventions that we expect in dictionary definitions. You can also discuss the style of writing that they employed in their definitions, and use this as a springboard for a larger discussion about style.
- You may want to give them the real definitions for the words, although they might not care much.
Have an idea for Tried and True? Send it to fywp@osu.edu!
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