2.1  Section Preview: Focus & Meaning

Essential Questions:

1. Why is Focus the most important part of good writing?


2. How do you read and break down a task and find its contexts --the who, the what, the why, and the how of it.
   
3. How do you read and break down informational and literary texts (readings) so that you can write well about them?
   
4. How do you find the controlling (central or main) idea of these readings, so that you know how to create the controlling idea in the essays you write?
   
5. How do you use a rubric to evaluate essays and decide which one is really good, which is just passing, and which is not passing?

Writer's Terms

Audience: the reader(s) of an essay.

Context: the who, what, where, when, why, and how of a writing task: writer, audience, subject, purpose, and pattern.

Controlling Idea: a controlling idea is the central or main idea of your entire writing. Often, the controlling idea makes the connection between the task and the texts or readings that go with it.

Purpose: the reason for writing the essay.

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2.1  Section Preview: Focus & Meaning
2.2  What are Focus & Meaning?
2.3  The Reading Before the Writing: Analyzing the Task
2.4  Analyzing Tasks: What is the Controlling (Central or Main) Idea?
2.5  Learning Activities: Analyzing Tasks
2.6  The Reading Before the Writing: Analyzing Text
2.7  Learning Activities: Analyzing Text
2.8  Using Rubrics or Scoring Guides
2.9  Section Summary: Focus & Meaning

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