Article 4

I. Title: Crafting Authentic Voice
II. Author: Tom Romano
III. Author’s Purpose: Romano wants to make sure students don’t lose their voice when
they write. He feels that voice can be crafted and developed through practice and
modeling.
IV. What are the points made in the review of the literature? Do they support
the need for the study?
A. Voice is created when you write authentically-with a purpose and about something
you care about
B. Quick writes and journaling can be great tools for helping to develop voice
C. Voice can also be crafted; he shows this through an analysis of his own writing
V. Author’s Inquiry Question: What is authentic voice and how can it be crafted?
VI. Author’s Methodology: The author studies and analyzes his own writing and
applied the research of others to analyze it.
A. Who is being studied? Tom Romano himself as well as his students
B. Over what length of time? No length of time given
C. What data is being collected? He wants to look at pieces of his own writing and
student writing and find voice
D. How is it being analyzed? The author took a close look at his writing and analyzed
it based on research put forth by other writers and researchers
E. Any other interesting or pertinent data? I think it is interesting that he analyzed
his own writing but also applied it to students writing as well. He used a number of
strategies to accomplish this:
1. Death of adverbs—they lure writers into laziness
2. Use of verbs with muscle
3. Use adjectives of exactitude
4. Add tension—character conflict
5. Pull in other voices
6. It’s okay to say it simply
VII. How the author collected information: He took articles, essays, syllabi from his
own writing and essays of his students to examine. He also listened to what his
students had to say and took notes on that information.
VIII. What the Author Discovered or Conclusions/Implications: The author
shows us that there are many ways to craft and develop voice in writing, no one single
way. He also shows that it is necessary to model this for students in our own writing.