Through our exercise on p.
234-235, you had the opportunity to practice both controlling tone/voice and
perceiving it in the writing of another. Now,
let’s try that with an actual piece of writing – a short one – Application
Essay 2 (misconceptions).
1) Have a peer reader read your
essay and summarize the tone in a word or phrase: happy, friendly, serious,
cynical, ambivalent, etc.
2) Look at how your essay was perceived.
Then answer the following questions at the end of your Essay 2 rough draft:
a) Was that the tone you intended?
b) Do you even agree with the tone your reader thought he/she heard?
c) What word would you use for your own tone?
3) Now, rewrite Essay 2 immediately after your first rough draft and the answers
to the preceding questions, this time creating an entirely different
tone to your essay. For
example, if your original tone was friendly, rewrite it now as serious; if it
was serious, make it humorous; if it was bland, make it intense.
You get the idea.
4) Having completed this new
draft, answer the following questions after the draft:
a) Which version do you like better?
Why?
b) What exactly did you do to change the tone/voice of the second draft?
Be specific.
5) When done, have both drafts and
your answers checked/turned in.