VOCABULARY

 

 

FORMS OF WRITING

 

Polemic: “A controversial argument; a strong verbal or written attack on a person, opinion, doctrine, etc.” Oxford English Dictionary online edition.

 

Expository: “A type of oral or written discourse that is used to explain, describe, give information or inform. The creator of an expository text can not assume that the reader or listener has prior knowledge or prior understanding of the topic that is being discussed.” http://www.stanford.edu/~arnetha/expowrite/info.html

 

Essay: Trying or testing of an idea through a composition, Can be more or less elaborate in style and is limited in scope (as opposed to a book, which is comprehensive). Adapted from Oxford English Dictionary online edition.

 

Critical Fiction: A form of writing that uses fiction as a sly, yet probing vehicle through which to critically examine an idea of set of ideas.

 

Criticism: “The action of criticizing, or passing judgement upon the qualities or merits of anything; esp. the passing of unfavourable judgement; fault-finding, censure.” Oxford English Dictionary online edition.

 

Theory: A proposed explanation

 

Journalism: The investigation and reporting of events, issues, and trends with the intent to objective inform an audience.

 

Editorial: An opinion piece.

 

Dialectic: “The art of critical examination into the truth of an opinion; the investigation of truth by discussion… logical argumentation or disputation.” Oxford English Dictionary online edition.

 

Article: “A non-fictional piece of writing forming part of a journal, encyclopedia, or other publication, and treating a specific topic independently and distinctly.” Oxford English Dictionary online edition.

 

Philosophy: Addresses fundamental questions through a critical, systematic approach, that uses reasoning rather than science. (Although a new movement in philosophy, “Experimental Philosophy,” is using empirical knowledge to understand how people think and feel about fundamental questions.)