Know Your Voice

What do you think makes some of the really great authors different from all the other writers out there? They are distinct in many ways - but that one defining factor is their voice. It's like how you know your talking to your best friend because you've gotten to know them so well they sound like no one else you talk to. If your paper sounds really different from your classmates the professor can't compare your paper to another...which means no one can do it better, guaranteeing you a better grade.

Never Visit.....

Here is a short list of sites never to visit while doing college writing homework. Or you could use it as a checklist of sites to visit before you start so you will not be tempted to visit them while you are working.

1. facebook
2. twitter
3. yahoo
4. espn
5. tumblr
6. barstool sports
7. imdb (maybe its just me but I can spend days wandering aimlessly on this site)
8. hulu
9. ebay
10. amazon
11. youtube
12. pintrest

Maybe I just made it easier to distract yourself. But honestly you knew these sites existed its not my fault you love them. If you can hold off good for you. If not its gonna be a long night, have fun finishing that paper at 3AM. Especially when you have a test in another class the next day.

Make A Plan

It's kind of hard to write a paper when you have no idea WTF you're talking about. So, make an outline. It gives you a place to brainstorm and organize your thoughts so that revising becomes a little easier. helpful for Units 2 and 3. This is especially Use this as a model.

Outline: "Title of Essay"

I. Introduction

                A. Subject: Put the topic of your paper here..."Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter..."

                B. Direction: Put the direction of your paper here..."is a literary classic because..."

                C. Reasoning:

                                1. Reason 1:

                                2. Reason 2:

                                3. Reason 3:

II. Reason 1:

                A. Evidence 1

                B. Evidence 2

III. Reason 2:

                A. Evidence 1

                B. Evidence 2

IV. Reason 3:

                A. Evidence 1

                B. Evidence 2

V. Conclusion: Sum up the paper

                               

Time Management

Despite what you think you learned in high school, writing a paper is not a one night affair. Even though you are not an English major your paper will still be graded like one. Trust me, you do not want to be that one kid falling asleep in all your classes the next day because you tried doing the research paper in one night. There is NO way that your going to be able to do the research, writing, and bibliography in the span of a few hours. Doing all that work in one night will probably cause you to have a terrible paper. Believe it or not your grammar is probably not as good at two o'clock in the morning after working on the paper for six hours as it it at eight o'clock at night for a few nights in a row. I know my grammar at two o'clock in the morning slightly resembles this girl. Hence why I am a kinesiology major.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsld9K8z2Ns

Some Helpful Websites...

Especially if your not inclined to writing and English-type things, these are some good websites to guide you through step by step in each unit...

Unit 1 - http://www.poynter.org/uncategorized/2067/tips-for-writing-a-personal-essay/

Unit 2 - http://writingcenter.tamu.edu/2005/how-to/academic/analyzing-novels-short-stories/

Unit 3 - http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/01/

Unit 4 - http://www.cccmyc.edu.hk/subject/eng-dept/sba/doc/Writing%20a%20Documentary%20Review.pdf

Essay 3

In my opinion this is the hardest portfolio of the year. To start picking a topic is incredibly difficult because this is the first time in most of your lives where you can write about anything. My advice is to make sure you like the topic. Nothing is worse that writing about a boring topic and with such a free reign, anythings possible. An easy way to solve this problem is to write about something within your major. You will be killing two birds with one stone and learning some new stuff along the way. I have already spoke about my feelings and advice for the research process and you can find them in the previous post. Next for most of you this is the first time you have to write an annotative bibliography. This is not as difficult as you think, think simple. The key part of the annotative bibliography is the briefness of it. If you have no intention of using parts of the source, don't talk about those parts or find a new source that you use all of. Like most things in this class its the stress that gets you, if you relax you are made in the shade. Then you just need to write. Let your research do the talking, its hopefully more intelligent than you. Lastly you are in the revision process and it becomes just like any other essay you have edited.If you find yourself still alive after the essay is done, consider it a win.

Research Tips

Researching can be a painful process. The first thing you need to do in order to make you not want to rip your eyeballs out is refraining from being on any non pertinent sites. These sites include all of the fun ones such as facebook, twitter, espn, youtube, yahoo, tumblr, and basically anything you normally do on the internet whatever that may be. That will improve the amount of time spent not researching dramatically and reduces any time it takes when you need to do anything else, like writing blog posts as shown by the time I am posting this. Another useful tip is to get creative with wording. When searching on google or any databases for some unexplained reason, small changes in search terms dramatically change results. This difference has nearly caused me to tear all of the hair out of my head because the one article I need is always under just slightly the wrong search term. Also research in a comfortable area, if you are going through the tortuous process of research you might as well be comfortable. Other than that the only advice I can give you is to pick a topic you like and one that you know will have research available. Research is never fun even if you are an english major, its a fact of life all you can do is try to make yourself comfortable.

When The Writing Meetings Start...

This is probably going to be your reaction when there is no class and you can sleep in.

Take Peer Review Seriously

This can be a HUGE help to your writing. It just seems like an extra in class assignment you have to do, but it can really so helpful in writing your final drafts.

Obviously, there's going to be some people that could care less about the class or any assignments for that class - it's just how things are. Make sure you have people in your peer group that are at least semi-good students and that are going to give you a solid peer review. It's going to be one of the biggest helps your going to get in this class.

Non Essay Advice

Believe it or not there are parts of your grade that do not involve your essays. I know that's a win for you. The biggest of all is attendance. Being in class makes all other aspects of the class easier. For example you get useful advice on papers but more importantly you actually learn what you are supposed to be writing about. Nothing could be worse that writing a paper that you have no clue how to write. The most important thing about attendance is that if you are gone too much it kills your grade and if you are as bad at writing as me or do not care about it seeing as it is not your major you will need those points. Another part is homework. Its never fun but its simple and if you ever find yourself truly challenged about what you are doing on a homework assignment you either did not go to class, or you are over thinking it. Your homework for core classes may seem more important but this homework does not take much time at all you can use it as a break from other homework. The last of these non essay components of this class is the presentation you make in the end. And as my blogging shows its not difficult, unless you procrastinate and are lazy like me. When you get to this point in the class you have seen it all and can give the advice you just need to put your ideas into some medium. Simple. These non essays seem boring and unnecessary but in the grand scheme of things they are easy and free points. Everybody likes free things except the baby in those bad credit card commercials but that's just me rambling.