Andrea A. Lunsford > Quotes

“Literature might be called the art of story, and story might in turn be called a universal language, for every culture we know of has a tradition of storytelling. No doubt stories have touched your life, too, from bedtime stories you may have heard as a child to news stories you see on TV or read in a newspaper. We might even say that a major goal of living is to created the story of our own lives, a story we hope to take pleasure and pride in telling.”
― Andrea A. Lunsford, Everyday Writer

“...writing surrounds us: it's not something we do just in school or on the job but something that is as familiar and everyday as a pair of worn sneakers or the air we breathe.”
― Andrea A. Lunsford, Everyday Writer

“Looking for a particular angle on a topic can help you to narrow your focus, but don’t worry if the topic you come up with right now isn’t very specific: as you do research, you’ll be able to narrow and refine it.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“In addition, college is now clearly a part of a process of lifetime learning: you are likely to hold a number of positions—and each new position will call for new learning.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“A provocative question, an anecdote, a startling claim: these are some of the ways you might open an essay.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“So schedule periodic goals for yourself: meeting them will build your confidence and reinforce good writing habits.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“In all your writing, you’ll want to have a reasonably good sense of your intended AUDIENCE in order to make effective stylistic choices.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“As the example of Tamim Ansary shows, no longer can writers assume that they write only to a specified audience or that they can easily control the dissemination of their messages.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“Follow these guidelines for writing effective memos and business email: • Clearly identify the subject. • Begin with the most important information: depending on the memo’s purpose, you may have to provide background information,”
― Andrea A. Lunsford, The Everyday Writer

“In all of these cases, writing is also performative—it performs an action or, in the words of many students we have talked with, it “makes something happen in the world.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“How do you as the author come across—as well-informed? passionate? serious? something else?”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“Engaging details draw readers into the story.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“So it won’t work to think about style simply as a matter of following rules.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“But be careful: if you think you do your best work while multitasking, think again. Research increasingly challenges that assumption!”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“define the task or problem, or clarify the goal. • Use your opening paragraph to focus on how the information you convey affects your readers. • Focus each of your subsequent paragraphs on one idea pertaining to the subject. • Relate your information concisely and present it from the readers’ perspective. • Emphasize exactly what you want readers to do and when. • Keep business email as brief and concise as possible. Use attachments for detailed supporting information. • Adjust your style and tone to fit your audience. • Attempt to build goodwill in your conclusion.”
― Andrea A. Lunsford, The Everyday Writer

“Surprisingly enough, Quintilian’s recommendation for a lifelong education has never been more relevant than it is in the twenty-first century, as knowledge is increasing and changing so fast that most people must continue to be active learners long after they graduate from college.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“Options presented Taylor Nursery has requested bids from several competitors. One rival, Eclipse Fertilizers, is submitting a bid of $60,000 on this order. Therefore, our recommendation is to slightly underbid Eclipse with a price of $58,000, representing a markup of approximately 32%. Final recommendation Please let us know if we can be of further assistance in your decision on the bid. Closing builds goodwill by offering further help”
― Andrea A. Lunsford, The Everyday Writer

“Before the computer age, concordances were done by hand: the first full concordance to the works of Shakespeare took decades of eye-straining, painstaking research, counting, and sorting. Some scholars spent years, even whole careers, developing concordances that then served as major resources for other scholars.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“In a way, my literacy is part of my lineage, part of the legacy of my father.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“Vivid details and classic lines from literature bring the story to life.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“As you work, think of each paragraph and sentence as an opportunity to add (or eliminate) detail, to reorganize, or to improve your point in some other way.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“If not, think in terms of KAIROS: the title is your first opportunity to indicate that this is a text about something that matters and that readers should care about.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“markup of 40% results in a price of $61,705. You could reasonably establish a price anywhere within that range.”
― Andrea A. Lunsford, The Everyday Writer

“As you know, Taylor Nursery has requested bids on a 25,000-pound order of private-label fertilizer. Taylor Nursery is one of the largest distributors of our Fertikil product. Opening provides background The total cost for manufacturing 25,000 pounds of the private-label brand for Taylor Nursery is $44,075. This cost includes direct material, direct labor, and variable manufacturing overhead. Although our current equipment and facilities provide adequate capacity for processing this special order, the job will require overtime labor, which has been factored into our costs. Most important information put in bold The minimum price that Jenco could bid for this product without losing money is $44,075 (our cost). Applying our standard”
― Andrea A. Lunsford, The Everyday Writer

“style helps you get readers to take notice—and listen—to what you have to say.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“Writing, for example, now includes much more than words, as images and graphics take on an important part of the job of conveying meaning.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“My definition of literacy is: the ability to read, write, and understand within a tradition.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“A topic you’re passionate about is more likely to interest your audience and to keep you engaged as you research and write.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“It has nothing to do with my family or my background, and it cannot move me emotionally to the extent that English language can.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update

“In such a time, scholars like Richard Lanham and Howard Rheingold argue, the most important task facing writers and speakers is making our messages so compelling that they will stand out from all the others.”
― Andrea Lunsford, Everyone's an Author: 2021 MLA Update