The Natomas High School Writing Guide was a department collaborative effort to get a menagerie of good writing advice in one place.

The 2012-13 Project Team of Patrick Crean [ site ] and Jason Everhart went to a good amount of trouble to have every section in the Guide potentially function as a handout for class use.

Many of the items from the NHS Writing Guide have been broken up into separate handouts.

NHS Writing Guide

• Close Reading Strategies - Literary analysis made easy (1 page)
• Reading Strategies for Deeper Understanding - Understanding the layers of analysis (1 page)
• Rhetorical Modes - The different ways in which we communicate (1 page)

Essay Structure

• Academic Writing: The Essay - The rules of writing in an academic voice (1 page)
• The Jane Shaffer Multi-Paragraph Essay - Terminology - Academic vocabulary to discuss the construction of a paragraph (1 page)
• The Jane Shaffer Multi-Paragraph Essay Format for English Classes - A formulaic writing style for English (1 page)
  • Graphic Organizer: Jane Shaffer Shaping Sheet (Crean)
  • Graphic Organizer: Jane Shaffer Shaping Sheet (Everhart)
• The Jane Shaffer Multi-Paragraph Essay Format in Other Courses - A formulaic writing style for Non-English classes (1 page)
• Transition Words for Paragraphs - Transitions for Concrete Details, Commentary, and Concluding Sentences (1 page)

Essay Types

• Types of Essays - A little bit about the types of writing (1 page)
• Writing an Expository Essay (Response to Literature Example)- The basics of expository writing (1 page)
• The Principles of the Essay (Response to Literature Example) - The basics of response to literature (1 page)
• Writing a Persuasive Essay - The basics of argumentative writing (1 page)

Argument

• Rhetorical Strategies for Persuasion: Logos, Ethos, and Pathos - The basics of persuasion (2 pages)
• Avoiding Logical Fallacies - The many types of bad reasoning with examples (2 pages)

Strategies, Rhetoric, and Format

• Tips on Quoting and Paraphrasing - Integrating source material into your writing (2 pages)
• Rhetorical Devices - Strategies to become more persuasive (4 pages)
• Style Analysis - The basics of analyzing style (3 pages)
• Elements of Style - A vocabulary list of words associated with an author's philosophy (3 pages)
• Language Words - Words that can describe the mood of a work as a whole (1 page)
• Literary Analysis - DIDLS, SOAPS, and TPCASTT - Mnemonic devices for Literary Analysis (2 pages)
  • Graphic Organizer - SOAPSTone and DIDLS - Graphic Organizer for an expository/persuasive writing task or an expository/persuasive literary analysis task (1 page)
• Topic, Theme, and Thesis Statements - Finding the big idea that connects to everything (2 pages)
• Abstract Ideas, Topics, and Concepts to Consider - Themes that are in literature with high frequency (1 page)
• Tone Vocabulary List - Adjectives that describe tone (2 pages)
• Avoiding Common Writing Errors - A good handout for proofreading and self-evaluation lessons (2 pages)
• MLA Form and Style Guidelines - How to make your printed essay follow the MLA Guidelines (2 pages)