This document discusses how reading can help improve writing abilities. It notes that when asked to write without having time to research a topic, people may struggle to come up with ideas, vocabulary, and complex sentences. The document then provides a short text about design to demonstrate how reading can expose people to new information, vocabulary, and sentence structures that can help when writing. It analyzes parts of the sample text, like relative clauses and noun clauses. Finally, it asks readers to rewrite their response to a writing prompt about design after having read the sample text to show how reading can make writing on a topic easier.

1. ytuwritingcenterworkshoptheeffect of reading on writing in english

2. WhyReading?Youmusthaveheard at leastonceyourwritingteachersaying:READ MORE, PLEASE

3. BUT WHY?WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCEREADING WILL MAKE?PLEASE,THINK ABOUT IT FOR A MINUTE…

4. Youmighthavefoundthepossibleanswers. THIS WORKSHOP PLANS TO HIGHLIGHT THESE POSSIBLE ANSWERS IN YOUR MIND…

5. Now, pleasewrite a paragraphansweringthequestionbelow.Is thedesign of a productimportanttoyou? Whyorwhy not?

6. Whatkind of problemsdidyouhavewhilewriting?Thinkabout it for a minute…

7. Checkifyou had any of theseproblems.FindideasNeedmoreinformation on thetopicFindtheappropriatevocabularyNeedtowritemorecomplexsentences

8. Beforewe start writing on a topic:Weimmediatelyscanourideas on thattopic. However, ifwe do not havethechancetoreachanysourcesbeforeweareaskedtowrite, thisscanningprocesswillprobablyturninto an unnervingactivity.

9. Moreover, ifweareaskedtowrite in English:Wewill be in search of thevocabularytouse in oursentences.As wewouldliketoexpressourideas as clearly as we do it in ournativelanguage, wewilltrytofind a waytopresentthem in English, whichusuallymeansusingcomplexsentencestructures.

10. Let’sseehowmuchreadingmighthelp us withtheproblemsmentionedabove.

11. Do yourememberthetopicyouwrote at thebeginning of the workshop?Is thedesign of a productimportanttoyou? Whyorwhy not?

12. Now, let’sread a shorttextaboutdesign.WHAT IS DESIGN?Theworddesignmeansdifferentthingstodifferentpeople. OnedefinitiongivenbydesignerRichard Seymour is ‘makingthingsbetterforpeople’.Scientistscan inventtechnologies, manufacturers can makeproducts, engineers can makethemworkandsalespeople can sellthem. Howeveronlydesigners can combineallthesethings. Designersturn an idea intosomethingthat is desirable, commerciallysuccessfulandaddsvaluetopeople’slives. Gooddesignbeginswiththeneeds of theuser. A gooddesignfulfils a user’sneed. A designdoesn’thaveto be new, differentorimpressiveto be successful in the market place, but it mustfulfil a need. However, it is alsotruethatdesignmethodsoftenleadtoinnovativeproductsandservices. Manypeoplehavemisconceptionsaboutdesign. Magazinesoftenusetheworddesignwhentheymeanstyleorfashion. Forexample, whentheyshow a toasterorbottleopenerwhichis welldesigned, theresult is thatpeoplethinkthatdesign is onlyabouthowthingslook. Designis alsoabouthowthingswork. Inreality, theway a productlooks is somethingwhichhappens at theend of a productdevelopmentprocess.Designers, unlikeartists, can’tsimplyfollowtheircreativefeelings. Theywork in a commercialenvironment, whichmeanstherearemanypointstoconsider. Designershaveto ask themselvesquestionssuch as: ‘Is theproductreallywanted?’, ‘How is it differentfromeverything else in themarket?’, ‘Does it fulfil a need?’, ‘Will it costtoomuchtomanufacture?’ and ‘Is it safe?’Textsource: Cotton,David, DavidFalveyandSimon Kent . LanguageLeaderIntermediate. 6th edition. England: PearsonEducationLimited, 2010

13. Thisbrieftextmighthavehelpedyoutogetsomeinformation on design.Itincludesfiveparagraphsand in eachparagraph it explainsthosepointsshortly:Par. 1- Whatdesign is.Par. 2 -Whatdesigners doPar. 3 -Theessential element in gooddesignPar. 4 -IncorrectideasaboutdesignPar. 5 - Therestrictions on designers

14. How can webenefitfromthevocabularypresented in thisshorttext?Let’sdraw a tableand insert some of theverbs in thetext.Can youfill in themissingparts ?

15. Youranswersshould be similartothese. Thesewereonly a fewwordsfromthetext. Findingtheirparts of speechwill be usefultobuildupbettersentences.

16. Pleaseanswerthesequestionsaboutthetext.Can youfind a relativeclause?(theclausewhichusuallyanswersthequestions “which” or “whatkind”) Can youfind a nounclause?(theclausewhichusuallyanswersthequestion “what”)Can youfind a time clause?(theclausewhichusuallyanswersthequestion “when”)

17. Thesentencebelowincludesallthosethreeclauses.Par. 4 -“Forexample, whentheyshow a toasterorbottleopenerwhich is well-designed, theresultis thatpeoplethinkthatdesignis onlyabouthowthingslook.”Can youshowthem?

18. Relativeclause“which is well-designed”Nounclause“thatpeoplethinkthatdesign is onlyabouthowthingslook”“thatdesign is onlyabouthowthingslook”“howthingslook”Time clause“whentheyshow a toasterorbottleopenerwhich is well-designed”

19. Dividinglongsentencesintosmallerpartsmightseemridiculous; in fact, it is impossibletoread a text in thisway.We do not haveto do such an exercisewheneverweread.Reading a lot willmake us getusedtothesestructuresandmaintainself-confidencewhilewriting.

20. Now, let’sseethewritingtopicagainIs thedesign of a productimportanttoyou?Whyorwhy not? Please, write a paragraph on thistopicagain.

21. Wehopethatyouhavefound it easiertowriteyourparagraph.This workshop is designedtoshowyouhowreadingaffectsyourwritingprocess.

22. Thesampleparagraphbelow is writtenafteroutliningthis workshop.Designing is not only a processwhichhelpstosell an object, in factyoumayhaveto do it in everystage of your life. Weusuallycallthisprocessplanning, but theword “planning” getssodryandboringbecausewearealways in search of a morepleasurableandmeaningful life experience. Before I startedteaching, I hadn’tknownthat I wouldbecome a designer. But therewassomething I wasso sure that I wantedtofindpleasureandmeaning in whatever I do in life. Therearemanybooksthathelpyoutodesignyourlesson, but eachclassandyourrelationshipwitheachindividual in thatclass is different, soyou start designingyourlessonsaccordingly. My life is myproducttodesignand it is priceless; therefore I haveto do mybest as a life-designerformyselfandforpeopleallaroundme.

23. ThankyouverymuchComposedby Filiz Kaynak DişkayaYILDIZ TECHNICAL UNIVERSITYWRITING CENTER