|
Having problems with your written
assignments? Below are some helpful hints to get you started.
Please be sure to
check the LARC Writing Center for more help.
Don't forget to bring those drafts in
for suggestions!
Basic Writing Skills Help
Writing, no matter what the topic or form, is a
process:
- Establish, narrow, and define your topic
State your thesis or theme in a sentence or two at most
- Define your audience
Is it your instructor who grades you or a teaching assistant?
Your classmates who will critique your work?
A conference of professionals for review?
Keep your audience in mind as you write
- Plan ahead
Set a time line and allow for unexpected developments and planned revision
- Gather resources
People: instructor, teaching assistant, research librarian, tutor,
subject matter experts, professionals
References: text book, reference works, web sites,
journals, diaries, professional reports
- Research:
read, interview, experiment, gather data, etc. and take notes
completely as possible and document sources. Either use index cards or a
system in word processing...
- Organize your notes with a prewriting exercise:
focused freewriting, brainstorming, mapping, and/or outlining
-
Write your first (rough) draft
Determine how you will develop your argument: Use good logic
in a reasoned argument to develop the theme and/or support the thesis .
Will you compare or define? Will you criticize or describe?
Your first paragraph:
- Introduce the topic!
- Inform the reader of your point of view!
- Entice the reader to continue with the rest of the paper!
- Focus on three main points to develop
The first paragraph is often the most difficult to
write. If you have trouble, just get it down with the intention of re-writing
it later, even after you have finished with the rest. But remember this first
entry draws your audience into your topic, your perspective, and its importance
to continue with the rest. So:
Development
- Establish flow from paragraph to paragraph
- transition sentences, clauses, or words at the beginning of
paragraph connect one idea to the next
- topic sentences in each paragraph, also near the beginning,
define their place in the overall scheme
- avoid one and two sentence paragraphs
which may reflect lack of development of your point
- Keep your voice active
- "The Academic Committee decided..." not "It was decided by..."
- Avoid the verb "to be" for clear, dynamic, and effective
presentation
(Avoid the verb "to be" and your presentation will be effective, clear,
and dynamic)
- Avoiding "to be" will also avoid the passive voice
- Use quotations to support your interpretations
- Properly introduce, explain, and cite each quote
- Block (indented) quotes should be used sparingly;
they can break up the flow of your argument
- Continually prove your point of view throughout the essay
- Don't drift or leave its primary focus of the essay
- Don't lapse into summary in the development--wait until its time, at
the conclusion
Conclusion
- Read your first paragraph and the development
- Summarize, then conclude, your argument
- Refer back (once again) to the first paragraph(s) as well as the
development
- do the last paragraphs briefly restate the main ideas?
- reflect the succession and importance of the arguments
- logically conclude their development?
- Edit/rewrite the first paragraph
to better set your development and conclusion
Take a day or two off!
- Edit, correct, and re-write as necessary
- Turn in the paper
- Celebrate a job well done, with the confidence that you have done your
best.
Portions adapted from K. Austin Kerr,
Some Tips on
Writing Papers for History Courses , Ohio State University.
Suggestion by Carolla J. Ault, Writing Instructor, The College of Lake County.
http://www.studygs.net/wrtstr1.htm
Last Updated:
May 1, 2006 |
