Monday Money: Read Your Work Aloud

Yep, you should read your work aloud like this person is doing.

Usually, I encounter someone who asks me, “how can I improve my writing?” I look at the person, look at the pile of words on paper on hand, and look at the person again. “Read your work aloud. I’ll be here, listening to you,” I respond.

That’s easily the most significant tip I can offer anyone looking to improve one’s writing. Often times, your writing voice is vastly different from your speaking voice, so it helps to hear your writing voice talking.

Once you begin, do not stop. Keep reading aloud. Make sure you are reading slow enough so someone else, who may or may not be in the same room with you, can understand every single word coming out of your mouth. During the process of reading slowly, little grammatical errors will arise, as well as any other structural problems. Make note of them with a pen (of a color other than black) and proceed with reading.

If someone else is in the room with you, listening as you read your narrative piece aloud, have them make note of anything that seems odd to them. Their perspective will assist you in improving your words for clarity, consistency, and cohesiveness. Even as you read aloud, you may not catch everything that doesn’t make sense. Another person will be able to provide that.

If you stumble upon sentences or words that need to be rephrased or are simply awkward, make note of this and continue reading until the end of the paragraph. Stop briefly, then ask yourself, what is the point I am trying to make in this paragraph? What am I trying to say overall? What was I trying to say in that one specific part that was awkward? Declare your intents aloud so you hear your speaking voice, not your writing voice, articulating the ideas you intend to put on paper. Take note of your intents, then rework your verbalized ideas into a cohesive, pleasant sentence that flows well.

Resume reading the rest of your work. Repeat this process of identifying awkward sentences, clarifying your ideas,  and editing until you are satisfied.

If you would like some guidance with the editing process, please come by WSP  before you write your draft. We will help you articulate your ideas and identify your main argument, translating your thoughts onto paper. Then come back with a draft and we will assist you in developing your editing skills using the above technique!

Post submitted by: Courtney Lee

Monday Money: Tips and Tricks for Creative Writing

I found the following tips on a creative writing website. To check out even more cool tips click HERE!

Tips and tricks for beginners

• Do some short exercises to stretch your writing muscles – Many new creative writers find that doing the washing up or weeding the garden suddenly looks more appealing, compared to the effort of sitting down and putting words onto the page. Force yourself to get through these early doubts, and it really will get easier. Try to get into the habit of writing every day, even if it’s just for ten minutes.
• If you’re stuck for ideas, carry a notebook everywhere and write down your observations. You’ll get some great lines of dialogue by keeping your ears open on the bus or in cafes, and an unusual phrase may be prompted by something you see or smell.
• Work out the time of day when you’re at your most creative. For many writers, this is first thing in the morning – before all the demands of the day jostle for attention. Others write well late at night, after the rest of the family have gone to bed. Don’t be afraid to experiment!
• Don’t agonize over getting it right. All writers have to revise and edit their work – it’s rare that a story, scene or even a sentence comes out perfectly the first time. Once you’ve completed the initial draft, leave the piece for a few days – then come back to it fresh, with a red pen in hand. If you know there are problems with your story but can’t pinpoint them, ask a fellow writer to read through it and give feedback.
• HAVE FUN! Sometimes, we writers can end up feeling that our writing is a chore, something that “must” be done, or something to procrastinate over for as long as possible. If your plot seems wildly far-fetched, your characters bore you to tears and you’re convinced that a five-year old with a crayon could write better prose … take a break. Start a completely new project, something which is purely for fun. Write a poem or a 60-word “mini saga”. Just completing a small finished piece can help if you’re bogged down in a longer story.

Post by: Alexandra 

Monday Money: Be Creatively Inspired

Dread is seemingly a natural emotion when it comes to essay writing — but it’s not inevitable.  The best essays are those which you’re actually excited to write, where you feel that what you’re saying has merit and is original.  But how do you summon the muses when they aren’t already gracing your presence?  This is an eternal question in art.

The Guardian has a list of general and specific things that established artists use to promote creativity.  Try doing some of these before you start writing!

Click here for the list.

Post by Lee.

Monday Money: Proofread OUT LOUD

When proofreading a paper, it’s important to read it OUT LOUD.  After working on several drafts of the same paper, our mind knows what to anticipate in the reviewing process. When we read inside our head, we miss common errors or mistakes because our brain automatically fills in the gaps of what we know should be there.  Put in the extra effort to detach yourself from your writing, read out loud and read slowly like it’s the first time you’re looking at the paper.

Good luck! Happy Finals!

Monday Money: There’s no right answer. Just a well argued one.

In the spirit of my Da Vinci post this week, I encourage students to embrace the lack of a definitive answer when writing any sort of paper. Yes, there are guidelines to your paper (centered around the prompt) and of course there are tips that will help you write a better paper (check the other Monday Money posts). However, tips and “rules” do not lead you to one argument and one answer. Some questions have more than one answer. What your “correct answer” is depends on your interpretation of the evidence and your personal perspective. Thus, it is not a matter of finding the right answer or finding what your professor wants to read; writing is about presenting a well-rounded argument.

Take the above picture for example. Is the picture a rabbit or is it a duck? If you look at the picture from left to right, chances are you are going to say, at least initially, that the above picture is of a duck based upon the initial recognition of the duck’s beak. If you look at the picture from right to left, chances are you think the picture is a rabbit, based upon the initial recognition of the rabbit’s face from that perspective. As you can see there really is no right answer to what the artist of the above picture wanted to portray.

There are however ways to prove your point. For example, if you looked up the artist of the “duck or rabbit” and discovered the artist was American, you could argue that the picture is meant to be read left to right just as any American text would be read. If you wanted to argue that the “duck or rabbit” picture is a rabbit, you can argue that it is art and not a text. Therefore, the picture is not subject to reading standards from the artist’s country of origin. You could argue that the “knot” in the back of the head of the duck is clearly a mouth and therefore, when given the choice between a genetically mutated duck (with two mouths) and a regular rabbit, the odds favor the artist intentionally drawing a rabbit.

Either way neither answer is particularly better than the other. It is more about how you set up your argument, how you write your paper, and how well you understand the primary substance you are analyzing. Often times your professor is not asking you to solve world hunger in five pages or explain the life of a man in ten pages. Your professor just wants to see how well you understand the content and if you can connect the material to a broader question the course seeks to answer.

In the end there is not right answer, just a well argued answer.

Post Submitted by: Jesse Chiang

Monday Money: “Express Yourself”

It sounds like a silly tip but just as Charles Wright and the Watts say “All you got to do now: Express Yourself!” Too often writers, including myself, get bogged down in what other people want to see in our essays. Sure it’s important, as your professor or TA is the one who will be grading it, but that does not mean you have to change your writing style! Yes you want to stay true to the prompt. Yes you want to follow all formatting guidelines. However this has nothing to do with how you write. There really is no need to write “academically” or add in fancy words which you might not even know the meaning. It’s honestly better, as someone who reads a lot of essays, if you just write as you normally would.

Often times when students write “academically,” add in a few extra fancy words, or try to change their style completely, the essay is tough to read. The flow of the paper gets muddled and worse the point you are trying to make gets lost in the chaos. Writing according to your style really helps the natural flow of your paper, which in turn helps the reader better understand your message behind the paper. The clarity of your paper is worth so much more than what little authority a few extra words would provide!

Express yourself!

Post Submitted by: Jesse Chiang

Monday Money: Developing a Working Thesis

Tip #3: Don’t get stuck trying to make your thesis perfect the first time around. Try a working thesis instead.

Just as the rest of your paper goes through constant revision, so too should your thesis. Your thesis should be an accurate representation of what your paper is about and if your paper undergoes changes, your thesis should as well.

The focus of this week’s “Monday Money” is a technique called a working thesis, used for when you are stuck developing the always-tricky thesis. With a working thesis, you skip constructing the “perfect thesis” the first time around and instead put down an intentionally broad thesis. This is the start of your working thesis.  As you go along writing your paper and you understand what your ideas are centering around you can continually adjust your thesis (hence a working thesis) until your thesis properly encompasses what the paper is about.

Why use this technique?

First of all, it helps the flow of your writing and thoughts by putting you in the right mindset (or “write” mindset for people who like puns). At the Writing Success Program we often run in to students whose main problem (and only problem) is getting started. It is important to remember that while your thesis is an integral component of your paper, in the essay itself is the par that is really being graded.

Also, often times when students start writing, they often do not quite know everything they are going to write about. Only as they start writing do they form a full picture of what they are going to write. Thus, sometimes it is almost unreasonable to expect that “perfect thesis” the first time around. If you are going to revise your thesis multiple times regardless, it is best not to stress over it. Instead, trying a working thesis and continually adjusting the thesis would be a more practical use of time.

Thanks for reading! I hope this tip will be useful to you in your future writing endeavors.

Post Submitted by Jesse Chiang

Monday Money: The Power of the Sticky Note

Tip #2:

Always keep a pen, highlighter, and sticky notes near you.  Active reading is critical to strong, coherent, insightful essays.

This week’s Monday Money Writing Tip concerns the benefits of active reading.

When reading extensive amounts of material, staying focused becomes one of the hardest things to do.  More than once you’ll find yourself rereading the same paragraph over and over again without having a clue about what the author just said.

So how can we remedy that?

First, let’s turn down the iTunes and log out of Facebook.  Once you’ve done that and set up the ideal study environment for yourself, whip out the following: a pen, a highlighter, and a pack of Post-it Notes.  These will help keep your mind engaged in the reading and help you come up with questions you may want to pose during discussion or lecture.

One of the key elements of active reading is mentally responding to things that you’re reading.  For example, if you’re reading a text on the modern family and its relationship with culture and religion, keep in mind who wrote the text, if you agree or disagree with his/her statements, and how the author’s overall argument or idea plays into the general theme of your class.  Keeping these notes jotted somewhere will help you formulate future theses needed for papers and also refresh in your mind the points the author tries to get across to you, the reader.

What I have noticed many students (including myself) do is highlight or underline passages that seem to be important but fail to write why he/she thought it was significant.  Instead, right after highlighting a concept or statement that has had some sort of impression on you, make sure to write in the margins or on a Post-it Note why you thought that particular passage was critical to your reading.  By doing this, going back through your annotation will give you a clearer understanding of what your initial reactions and thoughts of the text were.

Take the risk of writing, scribbling, and sticking notes in your books.  They aren’t sacred.  Active reading is an investment that greatly contributes to the most crucial stage of the writing process–pre-writing.  It helps develop your ideas, opinions, and judgments on the material you’ve been given to read.  Give it a try!

 

Post submitted by Crystal Maranan

Monday Money: Letting your captive thoughts free

Tip # 1:

Let your captive thoughts free by participating in a free-write!

This week’s Monday Money Writing Tip concerns the pre-writing process.

Here at WSP, we highly encourage a process called “free-writing.” Free-writing includes getting all your thoughts concerning a topic onto paper.  We want you to uninhibitedly let your thoughts flow.  There should be no constraints; just write, and write with passion.   Don’t worry about grammar or mechanics. Instead, just get everything you think of written.

After your free-write, organize your ideas into outline form or in list form in order to make the ideas more logical and organized. This will better help you when you sit down to actually write your paper.

There you have it: the beginning stages of pre-writing

 

Post submitted by Casey O’Neill