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But first, let’s dispel some myths:
Medusa – scary Greek
goddess with snakes for
hair.
Not a good writer.
But first, let’s dispel some myths:
Medusa – scary Greek
goddess with snakes for
hair.
Not a good writer.
1. Clear thoughts
1. Clear thoughts
2. Clear words
1. Clear thoughts
2. Clear words
3. Short, clear sentences
1. Clear thoughts
2. Clear words
3. Short, clear sentences
4. Clearly organized structure
1. Clear thoughts
2. Clear words
3. Short, clear sentences
4. Clearly organized structure
5. Concise introduction or thesis
and conclusion
Review your learning contract or instructions from your mentor or instructor. Ask questions if you are unclear.
Refine and focus your topic to a reasonable scope of your available research and understanding. What do you think about your topic? What will your thesis be? What conclusions can you come to?
Line up your notes and sources so that you can cite your quotations, facts and information. Write down what you know.
Sketch out and free write your ideas on paper or on computer.
Organize related ideas and focus on structure (more on that later).
Think of a clear, concise opening statement or thesis.
Give yourself plenty of time to write and revise.
Use clear, understandable language.
Don’t try to impress your faculty with words you think are “scholarly,” especially if you don’t really understand them.
Don’t use five words when one or two will do.
Don’t use colloquial speech in writing.
Don’t use clichés. (Avoid clichés like the plague!)
If you don’t understand what a word means, or you’re not sure, look it up.
Don’t hurry this process. Use words mindfully.
Use strong verbs and nouns.
Use fewer adjectives and adverbs.
“Poe’s verbiage in ‘The Raven’ is a
deliberately obfuscated hallucination that
reflects the subordinated libido of his
narrator’s psycho-induced melancholia
induced by the abandonment of him by his
paramour, Lenore.”
THIS IS NOT CLEARLY WORDED!
This would be your
instructor or mentor
when they read
something like that
in your paper or
essay.
“Poe uses the images of the raven to show what it must
be like to experience severe depression and
emotional loss. He shows by images that his
narrator is losing his mind.”
THIS IS PERFECTLY ADEQUATE COLLEGE
WRITING – PRECISE AND CLEAR.
This is a run-on sentence:
“If a sentence wanders on for more than three
typed lines what happens is you most likely
really have a run-on sentence trying to cram
too much information into one form and
therefore the sentence is losing most of if not
all its clarity and the meaning you are trying to
express to your instructor is lost in excessive
verbiage and complicated syntax…”
Translation:
“Don’t try to cram too much information into a
sentence. Use short, clear sentences using
words that everyone understands.”
However, neither do we want you to be too
simplistic:
Run, Dick, run.
See Dick run?
See Dick and Jane run!
Keep important points at the beginning of a
sentence.
Keep related words together.
Awkward:
“The ghost of Hamlet’s murdered father telling
him to is the reason that Hamlet seeks revenge
on his uncle.”
Keep important points at the beginning of a
sentence.
Keep related words together.
Better:
“Hamlet seeks revenge when his father’s ghost
tells him he was murdered.”
Keep important points at the beginning of a
sentence.
Keep related words together.
Awkward:
“A flower garden, when not tended properly, becomes
becomes infested with weeds and pests.”
Keep important points at the forefront of a
sentence.
Keep related words together.
Better:
“An untended garden can become infested with
weeds and pests.”
Always use active voice, never passive voice.
Passive voice - incorrect:
“The Christmas shopping was always done by my
mother and sister months in advance.”
Always use active voice, never passive voice.
Passive voice - incorrect:
“The Christmas shopping was always done by my
mother and sister months in advance.”
Active voice – correct:
“My mother and sister always did the Christmas
shopping months in advance.”
Pick a tense, past or present, and stick with it.
“The artist depicted how the American landscape
of the 18th century is altered by slash and burn
logging.”
Pick a tense and stick with it.
Verbs do not agree:“ The artist depicted how the American 18th
century landscape is altered by slash and burn
logging.”
Verbs agree:
“The artist depicted how the American 18th
century landscape was altered by slash and
burn logging.”
Make sure your pronouns agree within a
sentence.
Wrong:
“One is never at fault if they admit defeat.”
Right:
“One is never at fault if she admits defeat.”
Make sure your pronouns agree within a
sentence.
Incorrect:
A man is never sure about security in airports
when they travel for business.
Correct:
A man is never sure about security in airports
when he travels for business.
Avoid colloquialisms – common in speech but not
appropriate in college papers.
Colloquial and inappropriate for a college level
paper: “He was, like, you know, pretty much
tanked when he drove off the road, and that
sucked.”
College level: “He had been drinking when the
accident occurred.”
Your introduction or thesis statement is a clear, concise
statement of your purpose in writing this paper. It
can be one sentence to start.
Everything that follows will support this statement like
a pillar…
Introduction or
thesis statement
4. CLEARLY ORGANIZED STRUCTURE
Introduction
Each paragraph supports your introduction or thesis…
Introduction
Conclusion
Your Introduction or Thesis (or Hypothesis) is your
selected or assigned topic introduced reworded and
refined to show your opinion. For instance…
Introduction
For instance:
The topic (or title) is: “Hermits Walk Among Us:
Solitaries in Modern Day American Life.”
The thesis is: “Hermits are not just an
historical human oddity of old world Europe,
England or Africa. Hermits, both religious and
secular, exist in rural and urban areas in our
time, in our country.”
The body of your paper or essay will provide the information regarding
hermits that you have found in your research and reading. This
information, whether quoted or rephrased in your own words IS
ALWAYS CITED AND DOCUMENTED!
Paragraphs, however many,
build the body of your text.
Introduction:
Hermits…
Your conclusion, your final paragraph or
statement of the paper, is simply your thesis
restated and including a concise summary of
your evidence and research supporting what
you stated at the beginning. Your conclusion
should show (we hope) what you have proved
about hermits living in modern day America.
Conclusion
Draft – free write (rough draft)
Rewrite (first draft)
Read aloud
Revise (second draft)
Read aloud again
Check your sources and citations!
Third and final draft
Reading, research
Organization
Simplicity
Clarity
Revision
“Amid chaos of images, we value
coherence. We believe in the
printed word. And we believe in
clarity. And we believe in
immaculate syntax. And in the
beauty of the English language.”
Wallace Shawn,
Editor of The New Yorker
My ESC – Writing Resource Center
ESC on-line library
Purdue On-Line Writing Lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
www.DianaHacker.com
A Writer’s Reference, 5th edition, Hacker and Van Goor
ESC College Writing Course
Other Academic Support Workshops
The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White
The back of your orange and white student datebook has a quick reference guide.
What is a learning coach?
A learning coach is someone who provides academic support to students in one-on-one or small
group settings in all areas of the writing process and related study skills strategies including time
management, organization, reading efficiency, developing a study plan, goal setting, critical
thinking, library research skills, note-taking, and learning styles.
Sarah Spence-Staulters is located in Latham working with Schenectady & Latham/Albany students
Her hours are: Mondays - 4:45pm-7:45pm
Wednesdays - 4:30pm-8:00pm
Fridays - 9am-11:30am
Contact Sarah to make an appointment :
(518) 783-6203 ext 5992 or [email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_____
Kate Stockton is located in Latham working with Johnstown & Latham/Albany students
Her hours are: Mondays - 4:30pm-6:30pm
Tuesdays - 4:30pm-8:00pm
Thursdays - 4:30pm-8:00pm
Contact Kate to make an appointment :
(518) 783-6203 ext 5992 or [email protected]
Mary Sanders Shartle is located in Saratoga working with
Saratoga & Queensbury students
Her hours are: Mondays – 12pm-2pm
Wednesdays – 3pm-6pm
Thursdays 4pm-6pm
Contact Mary to make an appointment :
(518) 587-2100 ext 2827 or [email protected]
