You Can Improve Your Writing Skills

 General Tips

1. Do the reading. maintaining with the reading is that the initiative to doing well on written assignments. you can't grasp authors' complex arguments if you're trying to read and write at an equivalent time. So don't let yourself drag within the reading. in fact, your class participation grade also benefits from your having completed the reading since you'll come to class prepared to debate the fabric.

2. Give yourself much time. 

This hint is tremendously important. Resist the temptation we all feel to procrastinate, and provides yourself time to write down well. If an essay assignment is distributed on Monday and it's undue for every week, don't wait until Sunday or maybe Saturday to start out writing. cash in of the time you've got been given to finish an assignment. there is no getting to stress out; if you're feeling anxious, or if you can't immediately begin writing in earnest, a minimum of jot your initial thoughts soon after you receive the assignment. you'll plan to take your paper in a different direction later, and you're bound to revise those early ideas, but a minimum of you've got the sensation that you simply have begun your work, which bit of progress can do tons for assuaging your anxieties.

3. Empathize! 

Think and write together with your audience in mind, and take a cue from sociology. Sociologists approach their research and writing from a Verstehen perspective; they seek to spot and to portray deep, profound, insight into others' worlds. For the betterment of your paper, ask yourself what your professor's professional world is like. What does good sociological scholarship read like--what nouns and verbs seem most important? combat the role of the sociologist as you prepare your paper--be a sociologist! Are you imagining and writing similar to your teacher and other sociologists? to realize this empathetic end, consider how the readings in your course are written. Everything matters, even what articles or books literally appear as if (do authors use subheadings?) and therefore the formatting of citations and references. Strive to return across in your work as if you were a knowledgeable sociologist.

4. Write an initial draft of your paper as soon as possible.

 the simplest writers say that the key to good writing is "rewriting, rewriting, rewriting," and this recommendation follows from the second point. Gather your thoughts or your data promptly. If you start promptly, then you've got any time to write down a primary draft. If you wish to use an overview, let that be your first draft. Get that first draft done, then sleep on it! don't even believe the paper for the subsequent day. The day off will actually assist you. When Carl Sagan, the physicist, got stuck on a project, "he moved on to subsequent, letting his subconscious attend work," the Washington Post reported following his death (Tibbits, 1996). Sagan was quoted as saying, "'When you come, you discover to your amazement, ninefold out of 10, that you simply have solved your problem--or your unconscious has--without you even knowing it'" (Tibbits, 1996). Let your mind work for you.

After each day off, return to your paper and revise it. "Rewriting" seems like you ought to completely overhaul your paper, but don't. Revisions or rewrites occur whenever you alter your paper, although a "draft" represents numerous changes (writing papers is art, and there's no magic line between a revision, a rewrite, or a draft). Realistically, two drafts--two thorough reworkings of your paper--are about the simplest you'll do once you have only a couple of days between assignment and maturity and once you produce other classes to figure on. Writing a few drafts allows you to catch many of your mistakes and to enhance your ideas. Sure, this approach takes time; but if you think that writing is how to assist you to develop better time management skills, you'll get some added benefits out of the trouble.

5. Let the assignment length guide you.

and dive right in! If your paper's assigned length is a smaller amount than 1,000 words, it's probably best to omit introductory and concluding paragraphs. Why? a few reasons. First, introductions and conclusions eat up words that you simply will get to develop your thesis (see the subsequent point). Second, readers of a comparatively short paper are likely to recollect almost everything within the paper, so conclusions are unlikely to be necessary. What does one do instead? Dive right in! found out the essay--that is, state your thesis--in a sentence or two that also fits into your first paragraph, and work smoothly toward your conclusion, which may probably be expressed within the final few sentences. That's right: no introductory or concluding paragraph.

6. Include a robust thesis. 

Over the years I even have noticed that the foremost common weakness on the content side of students' writing may be a weak or nonexistent thesis. Your thesis--or theme or focus, all three mean an equivalent thing--is important for a few reasons. First, your thesis is that the one concept you would like to urge across to your audience. In college writing, it's not enough for you to easily restate what an author has said such as you did once you wrote book reports in grammar school. Rather, you would like to bring your own insight to your papers; you would like to form an observation of your own about the topic matter.

Second, your thesis glues together your paper. rather than a rambling set of disconnected thoughts, a paper with a robust thesis builds around a central point. The difference between no thesis and an honest one is that the difference between a pile of bricks and a brick building. Without mortar, a thesis, a brick building soon becomes a scattered pile of bricks; with it, the pile of bricks is often a solid, lasting structure.

How does one develop a thesis? Sometimes, your thesis will come to mind quickly--you will know what you would like to mention almost as soon as you read the assignment. Other times, the method of developing your thesis will take longer. As I discussed above, diving right in may be a useful strategy for getting the foremost out of each word. within the initial draft or two of your paper, diving in also can assist you to identify your thesis because, as you think that about what you've got written, your thesis will emerge. Pull some quotations together that appear to deal with the assignment and answer those quotes--see "Develop a dialog," below. As you're employed on creating your dialog, you're likely to seek out yourself thinking things like: "Well, okay, but what about. . . ?" "Can't you go even farther and argue that. . . ." "It ingests need to be that way." once you have importance like that, you're very on the brink of your thesis.

Make sure to write down your thesis clearly; it's usually best to form your thesis a declaratory sentence. for instance, "Marx was mistaken when he implicitly argued that class was the idea of all other inequalities." Your thesis statement doesn't get to be elaborate or extensive. A brief, bold, direct thesis statement leaves the little question where you stand or where you're taking your reader in your paper.

That last bit--where you're taking the reader--is a subsequent step. Follow through on your thesis. Your entire paper must be constructed around your thesis. Tangents are fine, but confirm they support your thesis in how. Roughly speaking, you ought to be ready to say how every paragraph contributes to your thesis. If you can't do so, consider reworking or deleting the paragraph.

7. Use the strength of your computer.

 We commonly hear about how "powerful" computers are. For writers, a computer's power is found within the software that permits us to simply manipulate our thoughts. Back within the Middle Ages (the early 1980s) once I was in your shoes, the private computer literally didn't exist. I wrote papers straight through from start to end using note cards, an overview, and sometimes my memory to guide me through the paper. Computers break the typewriter's tyranny by allowing us to write down what we would like once we want without the anxiety of knowing that we'll need to completely re-type our work.

Use your computer's power by first writing those sections of your paper with which you are feeling most comfortable, thereby supplying you with a jump start. within the end that material might not appear until the center or the top of your paper, but with computers, you'll easily jump around your paper and add, delete, and move material whenever you would like wherever you would like. As you develop your paper, fill in around those first sections, manipulating them--and later parts of your writing--as you see fit. Just confirm as you fill things therein you've got developed a uniform theme throughout your paper.

8. Develop a dialog between authors.

 concepts, and your own interpretations. By a "dialog," I mean a sort of conversation--an interaction of sorts on paper between you and therefore the readings, guest speakers, films, class discussions, and other intellectual materials from class and out of doors of sophistication. Students often fail to use material from a variety of readings in their papers, and that they are anxious about adding their own thoughts and critiques to the ideas that are presented. However, the simplest papers do both of those things: integrate and interpret.

How does one create a dialog? First, you would like to quote or paraphrase material from the course readings, other sources utilized in class, and sophistication discussions, also as material from outside sources like your own reading, films you've got seen, and knowledge from other courses. Use the language and concepts from class as a springboard for your own. you are doing not need to draw from all of the sources I just mentioned, but always make certain to offer a nod to what comes from this course. That way, you show me that you simply have completed the readings which you'll do something creative with them.

Include quotes in your paper, but always with a transparent purpose in mind. The quotes you select should demonstrate how your viewpoint contrasts with or supports those of other authors. After a quote, always state the purpose that you simply feel the quote is making for you in your own words; tell me what you had in mind once you selected the quote--that idea is your interpretation, and interpretations are equally as important because of the quote (or a paraphrase) itself.

Here's a method to believe creating a dialog: let's say that you simply are working with two sources, book chapters by Jane Addams and Marx, and your essay topic is class. make that you simply have a gathering with Addams where you discuss the class with her--you ask her an issue, she responds, then you react to what she says. Then you attend your second meeting, with Marx, and you undergo an equivalent question-response-reaction cycle. In your paper, the question-response-reaction cycle seems like this: you discuss the difficulty ("question"), quote Addams or Marx ("response"), then you interpret the quote (reaction). That dialog isn't an equivalent because the sort you discover during a novel--not everyone's words during this "conversation" are inside quote marks. But the question-response-reaction cycle is analogous because it creates interaction on paper.

Avoid presenting your interpretations within the sort of simple, unsupported statements like, "I disagree" or "I agree." To avoid facile assertions like those, you'll mean problems with authors' ideas or note the strengths of their ideas. Alternatively, you'll show how their concepts might be further developed and strengthened or how you're using their ideas creatively during a different setting. Perhaps you've got identified unspoken assumptions that weaken an argument (see the subsequent item). Maybe an author's words prompt you to expound to some extent by using information from another source. you'll have identified shortcomings in an author's logic. Perhaps you'll consider a counter-example where the author's theory or concept doesn't hold true. Maybe you've got some data that support or refute an author's position. In any case, add your own ideas and/or research to the combination. Doing so is that the height of critical thought, and important thinking maybe a large part of what my classes are all about. For an example of an artful interpretation, take a glance at this passage by novelist and historian Shelby Foote.

9. what's overlooked? 

one of the foremost effective ways to spot a weakness in an author's argument is to ask yourself what's left out. within the last example, I discussed writing about an author's "unspoken assumptions" and providing "counter-examples;" both are ways of exploring gaps in what authors say and the way they think. If you discover yourself struggling to think critically, one reason could also be that you simply aren't looking for what an author has omitted. If an author is discussing "people," does s/he seem to possess in mind everyone, or only certain people? If someone is discussing "science," what are the characteristics of that science--how does it get done and whom does it serve? These and similar questions assist you to uncover the items that an author did not discuss.

10. Take chances!

 Interpreting information for yourself, as Foote did within the example above, and identifying authors' assumptions are major parts of what scholars do. If you've got never done this type of thing before during a paper, it is often intimidating. After all, who are you to mention what someone else's words mean or to spot a shortcoming during a published author's work? once you have those pangs of hysteria, just remember that each scholar does. However, to succeed every scholar has got to gamble. instead of feeling anxious about your abilities, why not go at your task with excitement? you've got the liberty to inquire deeply, to ask hard questions of others, and to form what you'll from data (such as class readings). Embrace that freedom and therefore the responsibility to be fair and thorough that goes with it!

11. Remember the basics.

 what percentage composition classes have you ever appropriated the years? Lots, no doubt. simply because you're writing for a science class doesn't mean that you simply should ignore the basics of excellent writing. Draw from those basic tools that you simply have learned through the years; metaphor, and imagery; choose a specific composition style or template (such because the "persuasive" essay) and write accordingly, and write with style. several what I counsel you to try to, like avoiding contractions, limits your options. Really, though, the following pointers won't constrain you much in the least. Most of what you've got learned about writing in lively and interesting ways remains relevant in science courses because it is in composition classes.

12. Write your introductory paragraph last.

 That's right: for extended papers where you would like to incorporate introductory and concluding paragraphs, your first paragraph should be the last item you write. I encourage you to require this approach for a few reasons. First, if you begin at the start you'll trap yourself conceptually; this problem is particularly likely to emerge if you are doing not use an overview. In your first draft, it's important to permit yourself much freedom to explore ideas, but an introductory paragraph can control what you write because it'll always get on your mind: "I must do that next because my introduction says it comes next." Second, introductory paragraphs inform your audience of where you're heading; writing the introduction last ensures that you simply will tell readers about the trail down which you'll take them because you ought to write the paragraph while reviewing each of the main points in your essay.

13. What goes into an introductory paragraph? once you are prepared to write down your introduction for papers of 1,000 words or longer, there are many ways to proceed. I might wish to mention three of them:

 * First, you would possibly open with a story of some sort that subtly outlines your theme. it's usually an honest idea to form the theme explicit within the following paragraph.

 * Second, more often than beginning with a story, students who write good papers present their thesis early within the first paragraph (not necessarily within the first or maybe a second sentence, but they place it up there somewhere) then, within the following sentences, they note what follows step-by-step: "Below, I first XXXX. Next, I discuss XXXX. Also important is XXXX. and that I conclude by arguing that XXXX." There are some ways of wording those sentences--my choices weren't very creative--but at root they act as road signs, telling the reader where you're taking them within the paper. additionally, this approach may be a great check on whether you maintain your thesis throughout; each step should elaborate on your thesis in a meaningful way.

 * Third, you would possibly consider combining the primary and second approaches during a kind of creativity-meets-practicality exercise.

14. Defining terms. 

Within their papers, often within the first paragraph, many students feel the necessity to define terms that were introduced within the readings or in school. Doing so may be a waste of space since your audience--me--already understands the terms. the important problem is that defining a term isn't an equivalent thing as applying it. I would like to ascertain how well and creatively you employ ideas from the category, and that I will determine if you understand the course concepts by whether you employ them correctly in your paper, not whether you'll recite their definitions. for situation, one pupil wrote, "Karl Marx envisioned community as two separate fellowships, the bourgeoisie (owners) and therefore the proletariat (workers). He theorized that inequality in society was a result of the struggle between these two groups (Class notes, September 20, 2003)." This material, grounded within the student's class notes, merely reiterates material I discussed in school. Avoid telling me what I already know. Instead, develop thoughtful insights by combining readings, class notes, and your own ideas to support a provocative thesis.

15. Read your paper several times.

 along with side reading over your nearly-completed paper several times, read it aloud to yourself also. This experience will feel strange the primary time, and other people may whisper that you simply lecture the walls! But it's amazing the mistakes you'll catch and therefore the nuances you'll add which will improve your papers.