Lesson 19: The 5 paragraph Essay

Alright class, here is the promised post about moving away from the standard 5 paragraph essay format (if you don't remember, I mentioned this in Lesson 12). Pretty much from grade school through high school (and maybe even your freshman English class), you were taught to write essays in this way:

1. Introduction Paragraph: Hook, background, thesis statement.
2. Body Paragraphs: (transition) Topic sentence, quote/paraphrase/summary, commentary, repeat two and three depending on paragraph length, concluding sentence (transition).
3. Conclusion Paragraph: Restatement of argument/summary of most important points, restatement of thesis, leave the reader with something to think about.

Does this sound familiar? I have written countless essays that follow, roughly, that format. I even had a high school teacher count the sentences in the body paragraph to make sure I only had one sentence after a quote. It was pretty confining and limited my creativity and ability to write a really great paper.

So, let's move away from this traditional essay format. One word of caution: as with many other rules in English, you have to know the rules before you can break them. If you cannot write well using this format, the odds are, you won't be able to with another either.

Alright class, this will be all for today. Think about the strengths and weaknesses of the standard essay. What are some other formats available? We'll discuss this next time.

Lesson 18: Coming up with a Topic

Okay class, here we go. How does one figure out what to write about? It can be hard sometimes when teachers don't give you a topic to write on; one would think that being able to write about anything would make life easier, but that is not always the case. For example, just a few minutes ago, I logged onto blogger.com to write a blog post, but could not figure out what to write about. So I decided to write about how to come up with topics when writing papers.

Of course, this depends greatly on what class you are writing for, whether it's an English class, a business class, or a science class. This goes back to audience awareness. Not only your topic, but also your writing style, will be greatly affected by who you are writing for. You will want to make sure that what you write will benefit your reader, and hopefully be interesting, too.

But I think that the most important thing to keep in mind when trying to come up with a topic is to make sure that you have plenty of things to say on that topic. You wouldn't want to start writing your essay or report, only to find out that you have nothing else to say on the topic half way through. That would be really sad, because you would then have to think of a new topic and start all over, or rack or brain to find more stuff to say. So it is always a good idea when beginning a paper to brainstorm to see what you know about the topic and how much more you could find out about it.

Well class, this will be all for today. Good luck with coming up with a topic for your next paper!

Lesson 17: Avoiding Writer's Block

Okay class, now that we have talked about audience awareness, grammar and mechanics, revising and proofreading tips, let's talk about how to avoid writer's block.

For many people the hardest thing about writing is getting started. They simply just don't know how to begin. They get so stuck on trying to find the right words, they take forever to actually start writing. For some people, writer's block don't come right away, but rather at some later point in the writing process. Some of the reasons that this happens may be because they have run out of things to say, are trying to fill a page/word requirement, can't focus, have been writing for too long at one time, and so on. Here are some suggestions to avoid writer's block.

1. Just put your thoughts down: When you begin writing, especially a first draft, don't worry too much about how the words sounds or how the sentences flow. Simply get your ideas down on paper and go: type or write away. You can fix grammar and content later when you go back and revise your writing. Some people don't even bother with punctuation or paragraphs, opting for a pre-writing type first draft. The assumption that some writers have is that if they get it as polished on the first draft as possible, they won't have to do as much work. However, the opposite may be true. If you are constantly focusing on getting it all perfect, you might inhibit your ability to express your ideas. Plus, you might make writing that paper even longer.

2. Take breaks: Don't sit down and write it all in one sitting. Take breaks every 30 minutes or so (depending on how long you can write at one time and still be productive), even if it is just for a few minutes. Sometimes, you may need to "sleep on it" to really get your mind working again. Like with the previous suggestion, taking breaks may actually help you write that paper faster than if you tried to do it all at once.

Well, I hope that these suggestions are helpful to you as you write your papers. Good luck, and don't sweat it!

Lesson 16: Proofreading Tips continued

Alright class! Here are some more proofreading tips. I hope that the ones I gave last time were helpful to you. If not, I hope that today's will be. Here they are:

1. Read your writing backwards, sentence by sentence: Doing this will help you catch grammar and mechanical mistakes. Also, if there are any awkward sentences, you'll notice it easier and be able to fix it. This will help you focus on your essay from a sentence-to-sentence level, so you won't focus on other things like content. At this point in fixing up your essay, you've probably read it through half a dozen times or more. You can get so used to the way it sounds, mistakes start to hide themselves. Reading your essay backwards will help with this problem.

2. Look for problematic words/mechanics/grammar: If you know you always mess up a certain grammar point, easily confused words, commas, semi-colons, or anything like that, now is the time to fix them! Check and double check everything you've previously had trouble with.

Well, this is all! Hope that this will help all of you improve your papers. I've included a YouTube video about proofreading tips given by a college professor. He gives some tips that I did not cover. Enjoy!

Lesson 15: Proofreading Tips

Hello again class! Now that we have discussed revising, let's move on to proofreading. Proofreading is different from revising in that you don't make as extensive changes to your document. Proofreading usually takes place just a few days before the paper is to be submitted. You are now looking for last minute mistakes. Content don't change much at this point either; at least it shouldn't if you have revised well. Things like formatting, grammar and mechanics, and flow is what you will focus on when you proofread a paper, either your own or another person's. Here's some tips to help you out:

1. Read the paper out loud: Read it slowly, paying special attention to whether the sentences flows and connects, how your ideas might come across to someone reading it, and if there are any left-over fluff previously missed. Reading your writing out loud will help you catch mistakes. Your ears will often hear what your eyes might have missed.

2. Read it out loud to someone else: When you do this, ask them what the point/thesis of your document was. Ask them to restate the main points of what you wrote. If they can't figure it out or gave you the wrong answer, you didn't communicate your ideas effectively. Fixing this problem may take a little more work, so make sure you don't leave proofreading to the last couple hours before the paper is due.

3. Have someone read your paper to you: This method is just another variation to the previous tips. Some people find this way of proofreading to be more effective for them because they can focus on listening. Sometimes when you have the words on the page in front of you, you get ahead of yourself and skim ahead, thus getting distracted. When you have someone read to you, do the same things mentioned in tips 1 and 2.

Well class, this will be all for now. Try each of these different ways of proofreading and see what works for you. But don't worry if you don't find any of these tips all that effective for you because more tips are on the way!

Lesson 14: Last of the Revising Tips

Hello class. In the past few lessons, I've discussed some simple revising tips with you, focusing on content, organization, tone, and conciseness. While these are great things to keep in mind when revising, different people revise in different ways. You kind of just have to try all these different suggestions that your teachers, I, or other people have given you. Once you have found what works best for you stick with it. But keep in mind that there are other ways out there, and don't be afraid to try something new. So here's a YouTube clip in which someone shares his ideas on how to best revise a paper. If the tips I have given in previous lessons don't really work for you or is not enough, consider this person's suggestions.

Lesson 13: Revising Tips, continued yet again

Welcome back class. Hope that you were diligent and successful in revising your papers from the advise given previously. Today we are going to talk about revising writing for tone and conciseness.

After the content and organization of your paper is up to par, tone is the next thing to worry about. This part has a lot to do with audience awareness. Depending on who may be reading your writing, you will want to use different types of tones. Academic papers generally need to have a professional tone. Depending on teacher preferences, you may not want to use contractions, first person (the dreaded "I"), second person (the almost as equally dreaded "You"), and so on. And it's pretty rare that you'll ever use slang (unless you're writing a paper on slang). So check your tone to make sure it fits your audience and purpose.

With conciseness, you want to go over your paper and make sure that you say what you want to say with as few words (or sentences, or paragraphs, or pages) as possible. Eliminate any "fluff." You know what I'm talking about; writing something just to fill page or word requirements. If you have any of this in your paper, cut it out, and write something that will actually add to your thesis. Now, don't get me wrong; concise doesn't necessarily mean short. It has nothing to do with length, but rather content. It all goes back to "content is king."

Well, if you have followed all these steps in revising your paper, you're well on your way to producing a great piece of writing! Note how I said well on your way. Depending on how good your first draft is, you may need to go through all of these steps several times before you have your finished product. Don't worry. Even though all this may seem overwhelming, you can do it; just follow these simple steps when revising: content, organization, tone, and conciseness. Writing isn't what Calvin, the boy in the cartoon above, says it is.