Productive Writing: 5 questions to help manage your writing project

When starting a writing assignment, sometimes we have more questions than answers, such as

What topic should I choose?
How can I get all my jumbled thoughts to make sense?
How can these jumbled thoughts ever result in a successful essay?

Beginning writing without spending any time in the initial planning stages is a recipe for failure. Careful planning is vital before any action can be taken. In the world of business, this is referred to as Project Management.

According to business writer and coach, David Allen, author of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity, our minds go through five steps to accomplish any task:

1. Defining purpose
2. Outcome visioning
3. Brainstorming
4. Organizing
5. Identifying next action

Our minds work in mysterious ways, but sometimes our minds become overwhelmed if we try to mentally juggle too many tasks. Instead of trying to mentally multitask a huge project like an essay assignment, take it one step at a time.

Before you ever begin developing an outline for your paper, you’ll need to answer a few key questions.

What is my purpose?

If the purpose of writing is to satisfy a class assignment, what is the assignment? What are the guidelines and requirements? What type of topic can best satisfy those requirements?

This is merely common sense. Don’t get caught up in worrisome details. Think about the “why” behind your reasons for writing. Knowing the why will help clarify your focus and make the rest of the decision-making process easier.

If you decide your purpose is to write a policy proposal on a current issue in your community, then knowing that will guide your choice of topic.

What outcome do I envision?

Having a clear vision provides the blueprint for your paper. Do you want to argue in favor or in opposition to a controversial issue? Do you want to propose changes to current laws, policies, or procedures? The vision is the “what” instead of the “why.”

Take some time here to imagine what you want the final paper to communicate. What arguments or points do you want to make? What message do you hope readers take away? What changes in thought or policy do you hope readers will consider?

For example, you might envision readers will agree that spending more in the city budget to increase the number of bike lanes in your town will save money in the long run by reducing road maintenance, traffic, and accidents. That is the outcome that you envision.

Brainstorming

 “If you’re waiting to have a good idea before you have any ideas, you won’t have many.” — David Allen

Now that you know your purpose and where you’re going, you’ll need to capture ideas of how to get there. Following the why and the what comes the how.

Brainstorming has lots of terms – mind-mapping, clustering, spider webbing – but they all basically mean the same thing. They are all ways to organize our thoughts. Once you’ve defined your purpose and vision, your brain will automatically begin to create thoughts and ideas, but if you don’t have any method of capturing those ideas, you will either lose them – or won’t have any. Psychologists call this “distributed cognition,” or the need to get all the stuff out of our heads and into objective, reviewable formats, such as a mind map, cluster, or even a Post-It note.

“The best way to get a good idea is to get lots of ideas.” Linus Pauling

The most important thing to keep in mind is to not judge your thoughts as you have them. You are going for quantity, not quality. You might naturally analyze them, such as, “Here’s what might not work with that idea,” which is good. You’re beginning to critically think about your project. But don’t let your critical side overtake your creative side yet. Just give all your ideas a chance at this stage and analyze their usefulness later.

Organizing

Now you know the why, what, and how. Once you’ve emptied all the clutter in your head, your mind will naturally begin to organize those thoughts. You’ll think in relationship to sequences and priorities. What are the essential components for the final paper? Which of the brainstorming ideas will best support my argument?

Organizing is a matter of identifying the significant pieces, then sorting by

• Components
• Sequences
• Priorities

In relation to an argument paper, what are the major components needed to reach your vision? This will most likely be the major points of argument that will support your thesis or reasons why your policy proposal should be implemented.

For example, the policy proposal, increasing spending in the city budget to increase the number of bike lanes in your town will save money in the long run, will require the components of argument points, such as

• reducing road maintenance
• reducing traffic
• reducing automobile accidents

Other components might include the opposition’s side, outside research, and a call to action.

The sequences are the natural progression of the paper. How should you order the ideas – which should come first, second, and last? How will you organize the paper to best present the information for a logical flow? Should you introduce the opposition for each point, or should it come after the points are fully laid out?

Finally, what are the priorities, or essential information that must be included? What must you do first to meet these objectives? For example, once you determine your topic and brainstorm ideas, you might need to gather information from research, data or statistics. Consider what is your next step, and what steps should follow, prioritizing your work into manageable steps. Every essay is different, and no two projects are the same, so for one you might need to do more initial research before you begin, and for another, you might need to write out the points of opposition first.

Identifying Next Actions

So far, you’ve considered the why, what, and how, and begun the steps to organize how you are going to approach the work, prioritizing your next steps. The final stage of planning your writing project should come easily once you’ve defined and clarified your project.

Any writing project, especially longer projects, will have lots of moving parts. For each step above, decide what the “next action” is for each moving part of the project. For example, if you know your paper’s thesis, but not quite sure on your major points of argument, your next “action” might be to brainstorm a bit more to decide on your points of argument. If the components of your essay will require quotes from experts, your next “action” will be to locate research from reliable resources. This will most likely require you to find library databases with peer-reviewed research, read lots of articles, and begin keeping notes on source information that will best support your essay.

Make A Plan!

As you can see, a lot of planning goes into a writing project before the actual writing begins. How much planning is enough? As much as you need to get the project off your mind. The reason things are on your mind and causing you worry is that the outcome and action steps have not been clearly defined, or you may not have developed the details sufficiently to trust your plan. If you are worrying about the project, you obviously need to spend more time planning.

Feeling confused or lack clarity? You need more planning in stages 1, 2 or 3. Are you getting bogged down in research? Do you need more action? Move down to steps 4 or 5. You don’t need to read every single article on your topic in EBSCO to collect 6 or 8 required sources for your project. Focus on what you need that will meet your objectives, and move out of the research phase and onto writing.

Applying project management steps in your writing will not only save you time in the end, but will also create a mental environment where worry, stress and anxiety will be reduced, allowing creative ideas to flourish, one step at a time.

Writing Project Management

The Five Phases of Writing-Project Planning for a Stress-Free Paper

Whether you’re writing a fictional essay or an academic research paper, the beginning stages of writing can be overwhelming. Many writers struggle with initial questions such as

What topic should I choose?
What do I think about my topic?
How can I get all my jumbled thoughts to make sense?
How can these jumbled thoughts ever result in a successful essay?

“Don’t just do something. Stand there.” – Rochelle Myer

Beginning writing without spending any time in the initial planning stages is a recipe for failure. Careful planning is vital before any action can be taken. In the world of business, this is referred to as Project Management. According to business writer and coach, David Allen, author of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity, our minds go through five steps to accomplish any task:

1. Defining purpose
2. Outcome visioning
3. Brainstorming
4. Organizing
5. Identifying next actions

Before you ever begin developing an outline for your paper, you’ll need to answer a few key questions.

What is my purpose?

If the purpose of writing is to satisfy a class assignment, what is the assignment? What are the guidelines and requirements? What type of topic can best satisfy those requirements?

This is merely common sense. Don’t get caught up in worrisome details. Think about the “why” behind why you are going to write. Knowing the why will help clarify your focus and make the rest of the decision-making process easier.

If you decide your purpose is to write a policy proposal on a current issue in your community, then knowing that will guide your choice of topic.

What outcome do I envision?

Having a clear vision provides the blueprint for your paper. Do you want to argue in favor or in opposition to a controversial issue? Do you want to propose changes to current laws, policies, or procedures? The vision is the “what” instead of the “why.”

Take some time here to imagine what you want the final paper to communicate. What arguments or points do you want to make? What message do you hope readers take away? What changes in thought or policy do you hope readers will consider?

For example, you might envision readers will agree that spending more in the city budget to increase the number of bike lanes in your town will save money in the long run by reducing road maintenance, traffic, and accidents. That is the outcome that you envision.

Brainstorming

Now that you know your purpose and where you’re going, you’ll need to capture ideas of how to get there. Following the why and the what comes the how.

 “If you’re waiting to have a good idea before you have any ideas, you won’t have many.” David Allen

Brainstorming has lots of terms – mind-mapping, clustering, spider webbing – but they all basically mean the same thing. They are all ways to graphically organize our thoughts. Once you’ve defined your purpose and vision, your brain will automatically begin to create thoughts and ideas, but if you don’t have any method of capturing those ideas, you will either lose them – or won’t have any. Psychologists call this “distributed cognition,” or the need to get all the stuff out of our heads and into objective, reviewable formats, such as a mind map, cluster, or even a Post-It note.

“The best way to get a good idea is to get lots of ideas.” Linus Pauling

The most important thing to keep in mind is to not judge your thoughts as you have them. You are going for Quantity, not Quality. You might naturally analyze them, such as, “Here’s what might not work with that idea,” which is good. You’re beginning to critically think about your project. But don’t let your critical side overtake your creative side yet. Just give all your ideas a chance at this stage and analyze their usefulness later.

Organizing

Now you know the why, what, and how. Once you’ve emptied all the clutter in your head, your mind will naturally begin to organize those thoughts. You’ll think in relationship to sequences and priorities. What are the essential components for the final paper? Which of the brainstorming ideas will best support my argument?

Organizing is a matter of identifying the significant pieces, then sorting by

• Components
• Sequences
• Priorities

In relation to an argument paper, what are the major components needed to reach your vision? This will most likely be the major points of argument that will support your thesis or reasons why your policy proposal should be implemented.

For example, the policy proposal, increasing spending in the city budget to increase the number of bike lanes in your town will save money in the long run, will require the components of argument points, such as

• reducing road maintenance
• reducing traffic
• reducing automobile accidents

Other components might include the opposition’s side, outside research, and a call to action.

The sequences are the natural progression of the paper. How should you order the ideas – which should come first, second, and last? How will you organize the paper to best present the information for a logical flow? Should you introduce the opposition for each point, or should it come after the points are fully laid out?

Finally, what are the priorities, or essential information that must be included? What must you do first to meet these objectives? For example, once you determine your topic and brainstorm ideas, you might need to gather information from research, data or statistics. Consider what is your next step, and what steps should follow, prioritizing your work into manageable steps. Every essay is different, and no two projects are the same, so for one you might need to do more initial research before you begin, and for another, you might need to write out the points of opposition first.

Identifying Next Actions

So far, you’ve considered the why, what, and how, and begun the steps to organize how you are going to approach the work, prioritizing your next steps. The final stage of planning your writing project should come easily once you’ve defined and clarified your project.

Any writing project, especially longer projects, will have lots of moving parts. For each step above, decide what the “next action” is for each moving part of the project. For example, if you know your paper’s thesis, but not quite sure on your major points of argument, your next “action” might be to brainstorm a bit more to decide on your points of argument. If the components of your essay will require quotes from experts, your next “action” will be to locate research from reliable resources. This will most likely require you to find library databases with peer-reviewed research, read lots of articles, and begin keeping notes on source information that will best support your essay.

Make A Plan!

As you can see, a lot of planning goes into a writing project before the actual writing begins. How much planning is enough? As much as you need to get the project off your mind. The reason things are on your mind and causing you worry is that the outcome and action steps have not been clearly defined, or you may not have developed the details sufficiently to trust your plan. If you are worrying about the project, you obviously need to spend more time planning.

Feeling confused or lack clarity? You need more planning in stages 1, 2 or 3. Are you getting bogged down in research? Do you need more action? Move down to steps 4 or 5. You don’t need to read every single article on your topic in EBSCO to collect 6 or 8 required sources for your project. Focus on what you need that will meet your objectives, and move out of the research phase and onto writing.

Applying project management steps in your writing will not only save you time in the end, but will also create a mental environment where worry, stress and anxiety will be reduced, allowing creative ideas to flourish, one step at a time.

The Perfect Ending: Concluding the Narrative Essay

Concluding a narrative essay can be a challenge for experienced and beginning writers alike. Writers often fall into the trap of tying the narrative up too neatly, telling the readers what they are supposed to take away from their story instead of letting the reader come to their own conclusions. Study a few essays from some of the great writers and notice how they conclude their stories. Often the ending to their narratives is left ambiguous; the reader isn’t exactly sure how everything will turn out. The reader should be left with a sense of closure, without being told how or what to feel. 

Conclude with an Image

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Show, don’t tell”? Showing an image puts a visual in the reader’s mind, an effective way to conclude without telling too much. Showing an image prevents you from telling your feelings, which, in most cases, you want to avoid. In the essay “Buckeye,” Scott Russell Sanders uses the image of a grazing deer to conclude his narrative:

. . . within a few paces of a grazing deer, close enough to see the delicate lips, the twitching nostrils, the glossy, fathomless eyes.

This lyrical conclusion comes from “Bathing,” as writer Kathryn Winograd shows the last moments of her bath:

The wind sings through the window like a siren, and the steam floats from my skin like milk.

Conclude in the Action

Show yourself in action. Move. Do something, anything, to avoid telling the reader how happy, or sad, or hopeful you are in the end. Look at something, and walk away, as Edward Hoagland does in “The Courage of Turtles”:

But since, short of diving in after him, there was nothing I could do, I walked away.

Or look at something, and become mesmerized. A chapter from the classic memoir, Stop Time by Frank Conroy, “Yo-Yo Going Down, a Mad Squirrel Coming Up,” shows a young Conroy as he watches a girl through a window:

That same night, hidden in the greenery under the window, I watched a naked girl let down her long red hair.

Conclude with Dialogue

Dialogue can be tricky to conclude with, but can work if it avoids a message or moral. You’ll only want to use this concluding technique if it has been maintained in the narrative; you probably don’t want to throw in spoken word if we haven’t heard anyone speak up until that point.

David Sedaris, in his essay, “Cyclops,” ends with the voice of his father, who is the main character in this essay:

“I don’t know where you got it from, but in the end, it’s going to kill you.”

The following brief reply, taken from Jo Ann Beard’s “The Fourth State of Matter,” shows an image, followed by unquoted dialogue. Beard uses italics instead:

Around my neck is the stone he brought me from Poland. I hold it out. Like this? I ask. Shards of fly wings, suspended in amber.
Exactly, he says.

Another example below comes again from Scott Russell Sanders, this from “Cloud Crossing,” as his toddler son babbles:

“Moon,” he is piping from the back seat, “moon, moon!”

Conclude by Reflecting

When used well, reflection is a great way to convey feelings without telling the reader how you felt – or how they should feel. Reflection offers the writer’s thoughts about what is happening or has happened. Reflection can include thoughts about the moment or thoughts looking back, about the experience. Reflection can add clarity, as we see the writer thinking through the experience. This concluding moment is from James Baldwin’s, “Notes of a Native Son”:

. . . I wished that he had been beside me so that I could have searched his face for the answers which only the future would give me now.

Bret Lott, in his short essay, “Brothers,” reflects on childhood memories of his family, taking him into the present with his own two sons:

What I believe is this: That pinch was entry into our childhood; my arm around him, our smiling, is the proof of us two surfacing, alive but not unscathed.
And here are my own two boys, already embarked.

In Conclusion

When writing your own conclusion, think about what you want your readers to take away from your story. Then think about how best you can show it. You seldom can go wrong with images. Dialogue is a great way to let a character have the last word. Ending with reflection, sharing thoughts or feelings, works when a bit more needs to be said. Think about what feeling, emotion, or question you want to leave your readers with, the take-away, then choose the type of conclusion that best suits the narrative. It’s not unusual to actually write the conclusion first, and it often serves as a road map to get the narrative where it needs to go. Taking time to carefully craft a conclusion can make or break your narrative.

 

 

 

What Makes Good Writing and How to Make Your Writing Better

As we embark on a new fall term here at Metro Community College and many students will be taking their first college English class, let’s talk about what actually makes good writing. Of course, there are many variables in effective academic writing, but below, we’ll discuss writing in relation to freshman writing expectations.

First Things First: Follow Assignment Guidelines

Has your instructor given you assignment directions, either in the syllabus, or a separate handout in class? Perhaps your instructor will assign reading from your text, and ask you to follow the guidelines in the assigned chapter. Assignment directions should be read, re-read, and critically analyzed if you expect to meet the instructor’s expectations. We see numerous low marks on well-written essays that fail to follow the assignment guidelines. If your guidelines direct you to write a “critical analysis” of a short story, and you write a “summary,” your grade most likely will reflect this oversight.

Use Standard Written English

You might think this is obvious, but many beginning writers fall into slang, colloquialisms, and even text-speak when writing. You most likely know and unconsciously follow the rules of standard written English, but it’s easy to fall into ingrained speech patterns when we write. Slang is perfectly acceptable for conversation, but in writing, it can get in the way of the writer’s message and distract the reader. In persuasive writing, falling into an informal tone or slang will lead your reader to conclude your writing shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Write Effective Sentences

What makes an effective sentence? It’s about choosing the best words, understanding parts of speech (noun, pronoun, verb, adverb), and organizing the words in the most logical order.

In contrast, ineffective sentences often utilize poor word choice, confuse parts of speech, and organize the words in illogical and sometimes grammatically incorrect order.

One of the most common punctuation errors made in freshman writing classes is a comma splice. A comma splice is incorrect punctuation created by combining two independent clauses with a comma to separate the two clauses. An independent clause is a full sentence, containing a subject and predicate (ex. noun, verb, object). If you are not able to identify what parts of speech make up a sentence, you will most likely have grammatically incorrect sentences.

To learn more about sentence-level issues, click here to read more.

Write Effective Paragraphs

Effective paragraphs are unified, focusing on one main point. In persuasive writing, the one main point of the paragraph will support one main idea from your thesis.

An effective paragraph is cohesive, each sentence logically flowing from sentence to sentence. In turn, each paragraph should logically flow one to the next with effective transitional sentences.

Effective paragraphs are fully developed, containing enough information to fully convey the main idea of the paragraph in a thorough way. In research papers, direct quotes are smoothly integrated into the text, and contextualized in the writer’s own words. Paragraphs avoid beginning or ending with direct quotes.

Effective paragraphs utilize topic sentences, commonly the first sentence of the paragraph, though it may come later or be implied. To read more about introductory and concluding paragraphs, click here.

Know Your Audience

Effective writers understand who their audience is and what they know about their topic. If you are writing a persuasive essay to lower the drinking age, a reading audience of your state’s alcohol commission would be persuaded with a different line of reasoning than a group of seventeen-year-olds. Effective writing always takes into consideration who the audience is, what they know, and how they feel about their topic.

Writing is a Process

When we write, we do more than sit in front of a blank computer screen and type. Thinking, planning, drafting, and revising are all part of the process of writing effectively. Most college-level writing classes will expect you to write several drafts of your assignment, and may require you to turn in each draft for assessment. Waiting until the night before the due date to begin writing a college-level essay can be a costly mistake.

Final Thoughts

If you feel your writing skills are lacking or need improvement, don’t wait to seek help. Your instructor may be able to offer assistance, or visit your writing center for help. You can visit writing centers at any stage of the writing process, even to brainstorm topic ideas.

If you have questions, ask! Guaranteed, if you have a question, others do as well, but may be too embarrassed to ask.

Below, you’ll find links to more online resources.

Purdue Owl Online Writing Lab – A wonderful resource for anything writing-related.

Bedford St. Martin’s – Tutorials on grammar, punctuation, and other writing-related topics.

Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips – A popular and easy-to-understand website on all things writing.

MCC Writing Center – Our own Writing Center’s website with a link to student resources.

Dialogue 101: How to Format Narrative Dialogue

When composing a narrative essay, you have to tell a story. In telling a story, it’s always more effective and engaging to tell the story in recreated scenes. In scenes, you’ll have people, and those people have to talk. Writing a scene where people talk to each other sounds simple, however, writing dialogue can be complicated. Do you include author tags, like he said/she said? If not, how can you tell who is speaking? If more than one person is speaking, how do you format the interchange between two people? How do you format the interchange between three or four people? What if you’re just talking to yourself? (I talk to myself all the time, but I wouldn’t want to put it in quotes!) Is talking to yourself considered dialogue? Are you confused yet?

Formatting with Speaker Tags

When beginning with the speaker tag:

John said, “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Note that in this example, a comma is placed after the speaker tag. The first word in the dialogue is treated like the beginning of a sentence, so the first word is capitalized. The quote is ended with a period which is placed inside the quotation marks.

When the quotation ends with speaker tag:

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” John said.

Here, use a capital letter to indicate the beginning of a sentence of the quotation. A comma is placed at the end of the quoted dialogue, inside the quotation mark, before the speaker tag. A period completes the sentence, but after the speaker tag.

When the dialogue tag is placed in the middle:

“I’ll call you,” John said, “tomorrow.”

In this example, a capital letter begins the quoted sentence. A comma is used inside the quotation mark preceding the speaker tag, and again after the tag, before the quotation mark that completes the quote. A lower case letter indicates the second part of the quotation is a continuation of the first part of the quotation.

When the speaker tag separates two complete quoted sentences:

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” John said. “Have a nice day.”

A capital letter indicates the beginning of the sentence, and a comma ends the quoted sentence before the speaker tag, followed by a period after the tag. The quoted sentence after the tag is again capitalized just as any sentence would be.

Note that the second part of the quote remains on the same line. This indicates that the same person is speaking. If a different person was speaking, the second piece of quoted material, “Have a nice day,” would go to a new line/paragraph.

Formatting Two (or more) Speakers

When two or more people are speaking, each line of dialogue must go to a new line or paragraph. It’s a new “paragraph” because each time a new person speaks, the line must be indented.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” John said. “Have a nice day.”

“But I thought you might stay,” Diane said.

“I can’t. I have to go.”

“I wish you wouldn’t.”

“Mom! I need a drink of water!” Diane’s daughter yelled from her bedroom.

Even though the lines are short, they each must begin on a new line. Note that two exchanges have no speaker tags. In this example, it is clear who is speaking, as each person’s name has been given previously, and the order of exchange established. Only drop the tags when it is clearly evident who the speaker is.

In the final quoted dialogue, notice that the quote ends with an exclamation point. The exclamation point (to indicate yelling) is placed inside the quotation mark, and no other punctuation is used until the end of the tag.

In this example, if the tag did not happen to include a proper name, you would not capitalize the first word, as in the following example:

“Mom! I need a drink of water!” her daughter yelled from her bedroom.

Even though the quote ended with an exclamation mark, the tag is not capitalized, as it is not a complete sentence. If it were a complete sentence, it would be capitalized, as in the example below:

“Mom! I need a drink of water!” The young daughter, tucked in her bed, never went to bed without at least one request for water.  

Also note in this example that the tag remains on the same line as the dialogue, as the “action” described in the speaker tag is related to the speaker who has been quoted on the same line.  If any action needs to be described of John or Diane, that action would be placed on a new line.

Final thoughts

Even though we’ve all spent a lifetime reading, until we actually have to write dialogue, we don’t often realize the intricacies involved. How do you decide where to place a dialogue tag? That’s often a stylistic choice, and not necessarily any hard and fast rule. I often incorporate the tag where it seems least intrusive. A speaker tag, when necessary, should be as “invisible” as possible so as not to detract from a smooth reading.

Next week, we’ll delve further into writing dialogue, and discuss the secrets to effective dialogue.

First to Final: How Many Drafts does it Take?

When assigned to write a paper, many student writers begin their process with their first draft, hope to do a thorough revision, and turn in the final draft for a grade. However, the process of writing a quality college-level essay may take many more revisions than students are prepared for. How many drafts are enough? How many are too many – or is it even possible to have too many drafts?

Students who aren’t familiar with the “writing is a process” model think it possible (and maybe it was in high school) to crank out a quality paper at 2:00am the night before a due date. This effort might get a strong writer a passing grade, but most of us need several drafts to produce the quality of writing needed for more complicated college writing assignments. I have never been able to sit in front of a blank computer screen and churn out anything worth reading on the first try. In fact, it might take me 5, 6, or 10 revisions before a piece is ready to be read by an audience.

The word “essay” derives from the French essayer, “to try” or “to attempt.” First drafts will often be an intro that leads to nothing, a conclusion with no beginning, or a middle with no engine or caboose, or simply some scribbled notes. First drafts are just that – a first attempt. Too many beginning writers believe it possible to compose a full first draft – an essay with an introduction, body, and conclusion – do a little tweaking, and call it done. But does this produce the best possible finished product? Probably not.

If the thought of writing several drafts feels overwhelming, consider breaking the drafting process down into manageable parts. Hopefully, you have an outline of where you want to go with your paper. Consider drafting the introduction first, and take a step back from the essay. Let the paper simmer for a few hours or a day, thinking about how you want to proceed. Come back at another time to flesh out the body paragraphs. Stop and take another step back. Coming to each writing session with a set of fresh eyes (not to mention a fresh brain!) will help you see more clearly.

In these initial draft stages, don’t overwhelm yourself with too many concerns, such as worrying about grammar and punctuation at this point. Trying to correct as you go will only slow your writing process down. Save this for the final stages of the revision process.  Once your first draft is complete, revisit the body paragraphs to consider global concerns, such as if the essay has a thesis, maintains focus, and is organized logically. How many revisions will this take? That’s anybody’s guess. Maybe 3. Maybe 10. Don’t worry so much about the number of revisions it will take. Each draft will get you one step closer to the finished product.

Share your writing process with us.
How many times do you revise a piece?
When do you know it’s done?

How to Develop a Research Question

Before you begin the work of writing a research paper, it’s essential to first develop a research question. A research question is simply a focused question about a problem you and your readers think is worth solving. The answer to the research question becomes the thesis statement.

The first step is to find a topic you are both interested in and one that can be researched. You may think of many topics that interest you, but if there is no research available, it’s not going to work for a research paper topic. Likewise, if you find a topic with lots of available research but you have little interest in, you’ll want to poke pencils in your eyeballs as you try to write a long research paper about it. Spend some time considering a topic that interests you or that you have some prior knowledge about, and the research paper will be a much more enjoyable process.

Picking a Topic

A topic provides a focus for the paper, and a major topic can often be broken down into smaller components. For example, you want to write about pollution. What type of pollution? Air pollution? Noise pollution? Trash pollution? You pick trash. What kind of trash pollution? Keep narrowing the topic until it’s well-defined.

Once you have narrowed your topic, define the issue. The issue is the research problem on which you’ll argue. What about trash pollution? Trash pollution can be broken down into still more components, but you want to focus on plastic water bottles. The topic is trash pollution, and the issue is the environmental impact of plastic water bottles.

How would you formulate this topic and issue into a research question?

Research Question: What are the environmental impacts of using plastic water bottles?

Great start! This is focused, not too broad, and not too narrow.

Narrowing Your Topic

Say you wanted to research the topic of standardized testing; so what about standardized testing? The topic of standardized testing itself is too broad, so you will need to create a focused question you want to investigate. Try to ask yourself as many questions as necessary until the topic is well-defined:

Do you want to focus on elementary, high school, or college? You decide, since you are a college freshman, you want to focus it on college freshmen.

So what about standardized testing and college freshmen? Maybe you think that standardized testing doesn’t really reflect a student’s ability.

Good. This is more focused, but still not a research question. So what about the connection between standardized testing, ability and college freshmen?

Research Question:

Is standardized testing a good predictor of college academic success?

Bull’s-eye! This is a focused question, with available research. If you were to answer the question, you would have an arguable thesis.

Narrowing your Topic #2

Perhaps you are interested in the effects of television. This topic is much too broad; what about the effects of television? On who? What type of television? Reality TV or the 6:00 news? Positive effects or negative effects? Too many questions are unanswered and still need to be defined.

You decide you want to focus on violence and television. This is more focused, but still lacks a well-defined concept. What about television and violence? You wonder, does watching television cause violence? That’s a start, but still leaves too many unanswered questions. Again, what type of television? Does television cause violence in children, in adults, or both? Continue to narrow the topic until it is well-defined and considers a researchable question.

Research Question

Does watching violent television programs cause violent behavior in adolescents?

Good! This is narrow enough to focus a paper, and the question can be answered with research focused on adolescents, or puberty-age to pre-adult teens.

Re-considering Your Topic

It’s not uncommon to pick a topic, develop a research question, start digging into the research, then find that you want to go in a different direction. Let’s consider the previous topic of the effects of television violence on adolescents. You still want to research the effects of television, but after sifting through the research, you decide it’s more interesting to focus on television’s positive effects. You decide to shift from researching the negative effects of television to researching the positive effects. Again, keep answering the “so what?” questions; so what type of positive effects? What type of television? What age range?

Research Question

Does watching children’s programming have a positive effect on language learning in preschool-age children?

Interesting! You hadn’t even thought about this topic, but once you started considering a related topic and reading the research, you re-formulated the topic and narrowed it down into a research question that is well-defined, has lots of research available, and is interesting to you – the perfect combination!

 

As you can see, it takes some time and thought to formulate a strong research question, but taking the time to develop a strong research question will pave the way for a strong essay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flex Your Writing Muscles

Unlocking Your Creativity

 

A student just came in the Writing Center requesting help for her first English Composition assignment. She was a whirlwind of bookbags, notebooks, textbooks, class handouts and assignment guidelines. She said she hadn’t written a thing since high school 15 years ago, and needed help with her Narrative Essay assignment. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, where to begin, or what to write,” she said as she logged on the computer. After showing me her assignment, she pulled her chair up to the computer, readied her fingers on the keyboard like a sprinter about to take off at the sound of a gunshot, and said, “I need you to help me. How should I start?”

My eyes widened, terrified – for her ­and myself. As a practicing writer, the sight of a blank computer screen sends me into a panic, kind of like Indiana Jones’ terrifying aversion to snakes. My own heart started racing, and I slowly backed away and took a long breath. “Whoa!” I said as I turned away from her blank computer screen. I wondered how she could possibly think she could create a piece of writing with no preparation. She sat before a blank computer screen, an act alone that would cause an anxiety attack for most professional writers. “Let’s think about this for a minute,” I suggested, motioning her away from the computer.

Just as bodybuilders can’t begin weightlifting by trying to lift a 500-pound barbel, writers – beginner or professional – can’t expect to pump out a 4 or 5 page Narrative Essay with full story arc, rising tension, climax, dénouement, all while utilizing all five senses, by sitting down in front of a blank screen with no preparation.

~ First Thoughts ~

Most writing instructors employ the “process” model of writing, which means drafting, revising, re-writing, revising, and so on, culminating in a final draft. But before you can even begin the drafting process, you’ll need to take some time to warm up, do a writing stretch. Take at least ten minutes and fully commit yourself to writing your first thoughts. If you have twenty or thirty minutes to write – great. If not, write as long as you can, but no matter how much time you commit, time yourself. Don’t allow yourself to get distracted during your writing time. Turn off your phone. Let the texts go unanswered. I like to write with a fine-tipped pen and yellow legal pad. If you love the sound of the computer keyboard, use your computer, but turn off the monitor so you don’t feel the urge to edit as you write.

The following writing “muscle” exercises come from Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, by Natalie Goldberg:

1. Keep your hand moving. (Don’t pause to reread the line you have just written. That’s stalling and trying to get control of what you’re saying.)
2. Don’t cross out. (That’s editing as you write.)
3. Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar. (Don’t even care about staying within the margins and lines on the page.)
4. Lose control.
5. Don’t think. Don’t get logical.
6. Go for the jugular. (If something comes up in your writing that is scary or naked, dive right into it. It probably has lots of energy.)

In her book, Goldberg says that “First thoughts have tremendous energy.” Unfortunately, we tend to think too much and censor our writing, and as a result, quelling our creativity. Don’t question the rules, just stick to them. When your time is up, see what you have written. You may find the seed of a story or an idea worth pursuing. Soon you’ll find your mind brimming with creative possibilities as you let your writing run loose and uncensored. Your once-weak writing muscles will grow stronger and stronger, and writing will become something you approach with confidence instead of dread. You might even begin to look forward to writing.

Maybe. I’m not making any promises.

Simple Steps to Improve Your Writing Over the Summer

 

We’re at the end of the term here at Metro Community College and heading into summer. Many new students will be planning to take their first-year writing classes in the fall. For students who may not love writing as much as we do here at the Writing Center, taking their first college writing class can be unnerving. However, taking a few simple steps over the summer to prepare yourself for college-level writing will put you one step ahead in the fall.

1. Read. It’s that simple. Read as much as you can over the summer. It’s obvious to instructors the students who are readers and those who only read text messages. When you read, read like a writer. What does that mean? Reading like a writer means to read with a critical eye, analyzing the choices the writer has made. If you are reading literary fiction or nonfiction, study the language the writer uses. Read setting details with a critical eye, considering how the writer has avoided telling what something looks like and instead has shown through sensory specifics and literary devices, such as simile and metaphor.

 

2. Fix your Problems. You know what I mean. Fix those problems you’ve had since 7^th grade, when you learned – or didn’t learn – what a comma splice was. College instructors aren’t always going to teach you a lesson on how to fix your comma splices, or fragments, or run-on sentences; they will assume you have learned how to fix them yourself. If your high school essays were marked for the same punctuation error over and over, it’s time to learn how to fix it. Don’t carry the problem with you to college. I know some college professors who will hand a paper back ungraded with more than two punctuation errors on a page. There are hundreds of websites where you can brush up on punctuation and grammar, and many even have online quizzes. Two great ones are Purdue Owl and The Grammar Book.

 

3. Break up with Semi-colons. For some unknown reason, beginning writers are in love with semi-colons. The problem is that most beginning writers misuse them. Semi-colons are used to separate two independent clauses, which are complete sentences (as well as items in a multi-word list). You create fragments, another punctuation error, by inserting semi-colons in the middle of sentences where there is only one independent clause. Most semi-colon errors in student papers are made when the writer tries to separate an independent clause from a dependent clause. If you just read this explanation and have no idea what all these terms mean, that means you should use periods. Period.  

 

4. Brush up on Research Skills. If you didn’t have access to library databases in high school, such as EBCSO or Lexis Nexis, or have a chance to learn the ins and outs of academic research, spend some time over the summer to familiarize yourself with your college’s database resources. Having even a slight familiarity with how to use these resources for your inevitable research paper will save you an enormous amount of time and trouble. We see so many students who have never used databases or even know what they are, that it puts them way behind when it’s time to write their first research paper. Websites, blogs, YouTube, and yes, even Wikipedia, are not acceptable modes of research for college. Use your down time this summer to visit your college’s library or writing center and tool around their online databases. You might even have fun doing it.

 

5. Keep your Voice. Many new college students have the opinion that the more “academic” their voice in their writing, the better. This is a mistake. If you are using a dictionary to find fancy words when writing a paper, it’s painfully obvious in the final product. Write within the limits of your vocabulary. This isn’t a bad thing; it’s being authentic. Your voice is the one thing that makes your writing unique. Don’t bury it under academic jargon. Just today when I was reading a student paper, I crossed out the word “hence” in the middle of a perfectly good sentence. So throw away the list of academic lingo you’ve been compiling, and go with what you know.

 

Have a great summer!

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Writing Assignments: Getting Started

One of the most common problems with student writing we see here in the Writing Center is actually not with the writing itself. It’s a failure to understand the assignment guidelines. Just this week, the majority of those I’ve helped have either not fully read their instructor’s assignment guidelines or simply not followed them. This is a sure way to get started on the wrong foot and waste a lot of valuable time.

What is Your Purpose?

The assignment should direct your research and set boundaries. Last week here at Writing Center Underground, we talked about beginning your research with considering what type of topic it is. Some topics are better suited to the requirement of peer-reviewed sources. If that isn’t a requirement, then you’ll have more flexibility in terms of source material. Newspapers or websites might be acceptable. You’ll only know this, however, with carefully reading your assignment guidelines.

What is the Product?

Has your instructor asked for a short opinion piece, or a longer in-depth research paper? What is the required number of pages? Are there any restrictions on the topic you can choose? Instructors often have their own list of topics that are overdone (legalize marijuana), too broad (we shouldn’t go to war abroad), too narrow (our school needs to recycle glass) or just too boring (cats make better pets than dogs).

Does your instructor ask that he/she approve the thesis statement? If this is a requirement, don’t skip it. Revising your thesis after you’ve started writing is often difficult. Do you know how your project will be assessed? Instructors often hand out rubrics, or a grade sheet, of how each section or requirement will be assessed. This is a gift. Make sure you study this carefully so there won’t be any surprises.

What is the Process?

How much time do you have to complete each step? It’s important to chart out at least a rough timeline to keep yourself on track, otherwise, it can get overwhelming and you can easily fall behind.

Do you have to turn it in after you’ve completed each step? For instance, is an outline one assignment, an annotated bibliography one assignment, and a first short draft another assignment, each related to the whole?

It’s common for instructors to ask that you write the first draft of an argument paper as an opinion piece, without the use of research. This prevents the writer from taking on the ideas and voice of outside experts that so often can happen when we read too much research in the beginning.

What Types of Sources are Expected?

Primary research involves interviewing subjects, conducting surveys, or making observations. Primary research may not be required for your argument essay, but it’s often acceptable to instructors, as they see it as the student taking initiative and showing interest in their topic.

In the past, it was common for instructors to require only print sources, such as books or academic journals. However, that’s becoming less and less important with the proliferation of credible sources now found online and especially in library databases. If you are allowed web sources, do they need to be .gov or .edu?

Other Considerations

Will you be expected to define who your audience is? For instance, is the audience in agreement with your position, or are they a hostile audience? This will determine many aspects of your paper, including the organization and the type of research you’ll include.

Are there any key words in the assignment guidelines that specifically ask you to evaluate, analyze, or compare and contrast? These key words each ask for the writer to do something different. If you are not familiar with their meaning in regards to your assignment, ask your instructor to clarify. Click this link to read more on these terms.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, understanding assignment guidelines is a key component in a successful final paper. No two assignments are alike, so don’t assume since you’ve written an argument essay in high school that an argument essay in college will require the same components. Schedule enough time in each step of the process to do a thorough job and not rush yourself. Finding credible research is time consuming and always takes longer than students often anticipate. Once you feel confident you understand the guidelines, you have overcome the first hurdle toward a successful paper.