Sound Writing

to break a text into its constituent parts with the intent of interpreting or explaining that text.

to elaborate the meaning or significance of a text, data, or other object of analysis.

to rephrase some text with the goal of making it clearer and more concise.

to demonstrate the truth of a claim through argument.

to combine or integrate several things into one coherent whole.

an argument, or the statement of an argument to be followed by substantiation.

a bibliography whose entries are accompanied by a paragraph (or two) summarizing that entry and explaining its relevance to a scholarly project.

a book-length work of fiction (not to be confused with a book-length work of nonfiction, which is simply called a book or sometimes a monograph or an edited volume).

(in general) a piece of writing formally distinguished by its employment of line breaks and, in some cases, rhythm, rhyme, meter, and stanzas.

(in general) a piece of writing formally distinguished by continuous, unbroken lines organized into larger units of text called paragraphs.

a work of fiction shorter than a novel.

an encyclopedia whose entries cohere, often only topically, around a common subject (e.g., Encyclopedia of Puget Sound, an encyclopedia on the remediation of the Salish Sea ecosystem).

the term given to one book in a work or series composed of multiple books (e.g., Volume 1 of the Encyclopedia Britannica).

terms created by Aristotle to describe different modes of persuasion. These approaches are sometimes combined within a particular piece of rhetoric. Ethos is a rhetorical appeal to the authority of the person or source invoked. It also can mean the dominant spirit of a group or time (kind of like zeitgeist). Pathos is a rhetorical appeal to the audience’s emotions. Logos is a rhetorical appeal to logic, reason, and rigorous argumentation.

a writer’s particular choice of words.

an exaggeration.

the effect produced by the use of any given word, phrase, image, or other medium of communication to signify the opposite of that word, phrase, etc.

a figure of speech in which one thing is equated with another thing, which it is not (for example, “love is a rose”). “Metaphoric” is often used loosely to describe any kind of figurative language.

the style or presentation of writing; how a text says what it says.

a grammatical mood indicating a hypothetical situation (what is desired or possible).

the organization and sequencing of words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence.

a stance that views a certain (centric) position as standard and that views nonconforming positions as unfamiliar and inferior. Eurocentrism, for instance, views the non-European as alien and subordinate to the European and holds the non-European to the standards of the European. The same definition applies to other “-centrisms,” with the appropriate substitutions made. Anthropocentrism replaces European with human; androcentrism replaces European with male; egocentrism replaces European with the self.

(of a thing) temporally or historically inconsistent with the period in which it is depicted.

a comparison or similarity between two things.

to imbue a nonhuman entity with human characteristics.

the quality of being experimental.

(of language) informal, casual, or quotidian.

the act of predicting a particular event based on a pre-established rule about that event.

a model of development, or a discursive method, predicated on the tension between a first event (thesis) and a second, opposed event (antithesis) and that, sometimes, resolves into a third event (synthesis).

the extrapolation of a general rule from repeated particular instances suggesting that rule.

an epistemological position that states that knowledge derives from sense-experience and that physical experiences actually exist.

generally, the theory of knowledge; also, the term given to any particular theory of knowledge, such as empiricism.

(broadly defined) the set of all political, social, and ideological movements oriented toward the advancement of women’s rights, especially as they pertain to political, social, cultural, and economic engagement and enfranchisement.

relating to the process by which a person learns something on their own.

a recurring (visual, musical, rhetorical) idea in a work.

a set of names in a discipline (or the method used to generate these names).

a subset of philosophical inquiry that investigates the nature of being.

a seeming contradiction between two propositions that may nonetheless be true.

a statement that precedes or forms the basis of a consequent statement.

a reductive concept or idea of a person, group, or thing.

a statement or system that affirms itself, or presupposes the validity of its argument.

a subject or topic of central importance to a text.

a recurrent theme or image.

the spirit of a given historical period, defined by that period’s prominent ideas and ideologies.

a specific noun, like a name, though not limited to human names. Proper nouns name things ranging from schools (University of Puget Sound) to cities (Tacoma)

the person or entity that does an action or is the main focus of the sentence. The subject may be a noun, proper noun, personal pronoun, noun phrase, or different nouns linked by a conjunction.

the action or description of the subject. Predicates may be verbs, verbs accompanied by helping verbs, or an entire verb phrase.

the noun on which the action occurs.

the secondary object, or the object secondarily affected by the action, which is to say that a sentence can only have an indirect object if it also has a direct object.

composed of a subject and a predicate, which also means that every clause has a noun and a verb.

a subject and a verb and conveys a complete thought.

a sentence element that adds information but that does not form a complete thought. Subordinate/dependent clauses are dependent on an independent/main clause to make sense.

a dependent/subordinate clause that acts as an adjective to modify a noun.

a dependent/subordinate clause that acts as an adverb to modify the verb in a sentence.

a dependent/subordinate clause that acts as a noun

a word, phrase, or clause that characterizes a noun and is typically used to add description or specificity to a sentence.

a verb ending in “-ing” that acts as an adjective

a verb ending in “-ed” (or an irregular form) that acts as an adjective

a verb ending in “-ing” that acts as a noun

a verb form composed of two words: “to” + [verb]

an expression that begins with a word like “half,” “part,” “some,” “a majority,” “all,” “any,” “more,” or “most,” followed by “of” and then a noun.

a noun that refers to a group, like “family.”

an acronym that helps you remember the seven coordinating conjunction, For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So

model of argumentation that prioritizes evidence, claim, and warrants as the most critical parts of an argument.

model of argumentation that requires you to propose a certain stance, refute the opposing view, and offer proof to substantiate your claims.

model of argumentation that promotes more neutral and compromising view of both sides of an argument.

a three-part organizational template for incorporating evidence into a paper that consists of introducing context of evidence in argument (upper bun), quoting and citing evidence (filling), and analyzing evidence (lower bun).

an outline technique that is very linear, organized, and clear because it organizes your paper.

an outline technique that is less-structured than the classic outline and allow you to nonlinearly connect your claims.

an outline technique that can show both linear and nonlinear connections between your points.

a Thesis that guides your argument but that is still evolving as you write your paper.

a verb that accepts a direct object and possibly also an indirect object.

the study of cultural and contextual language rules