English Final Guide

Guide to Writing

“Easy reading is damn hard writing.” ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

This humorous quote from the author of the Scarlet Letter, a great example of literature, illustrates something that I’m sure most college students struggle with; the art of writing clearly and concisely. Nobody wants to read difficult writing or dense literature; of course that is a personal choice but I’d like to think that the easier the text, the more it appeals to your audience. I’m sure not everyone will agree with what I have to say or supply in my guide. As for me I would like to think I am part of a big group of average student writers and maybe your average college student who can get by with minimal effort. If you can call this a guide, great, but I see it more as a reference to kick start college students into better writing and maybe avoid the mistakes I've made, but I will try to do my best at “guiding” you through the writing process.

This is a two-part guide in which I will: 1) discuss the format of a basic outline 2) consider potential ideas for your papers.

Classroom Expectations

One of the primary concerns as a writer is the task of identifying and addressing your audience. As with any class, understand the professor’s expectations, as they are your audience and each professor is unique in his/her styles. Some might ask for ridiculous formats and concepts, others will simply give you free reign to impress them with your superior expository style. Your first paper will give you some indication as to how your professor grades and what they are looking for in your writing. This is important because this will determine whether or not you will need to adjust your writing styles for future papers.

Part I: Getting Started

Usually, when getting started on a paper, brainstorming for ideas is great first step. Brainstorming gives you the opportunity to map out what you want and what will satisfy the requirements for the paper, but most importantly key concepts for the assignment. Great! So let me show you what you should be thinking by now.

Setup: Basic Essay Layout

· Introduction and Thesis (This is the most important part)

· Body paragraph

· Body paragraph

· Body paragraph

· Conclusion

Introduction

The introduction paragraph and the included thesis statement is by far the most important part of your paper. You could have the world’s most interesting topic ever and your paper would still be mediocre, because you did not introduce it well in the beginning. Introductory paragraphs should generally start out broad and narrow down to the thesis that will state the main point or argument of your paper. A clear, focused, and well-developed thesis statement will guide your reader and actually give them a reason to read it. Besides setting up your argument or topic, it will also set your tone for the rest of the essay.

The Bulk

Most of your writing is done here. Of course by now you should know that each of these paragraphs needs a topic sentence. The topic sentence will tie your paragraph to your thesis, thus reinforcing your thesis. Usually, body paragraphs are used to provide evidence that supports your thesis.

The Finale

You’re almost done! Finally. Before you can ride out in style, make sure you conclude your essay well. A well-developed conclusion goes hand in hand with a well-developed introduction. Review your thesis and reiterate your arguments, facts, and opinions, depending on what kind of essay you are writing. A flimsy ending to your paper could mean a weak paper overall. Remember that the conclusion is the last part of the essay that your audience will read and concurrently, probably the last thing that will stick in their minds.

Part II: Inside the Essay

Everything I’ve said so far may sound boring, even I know that following basic procedure can put anyone to sleep and to a lot of people even be scary. I know it is quite daunting because sometimes you might think to yourself, “How am I going to write 10 pages on that?” Or “How am I going to squeeze so much information into 5 pages?” No matter what you do there will always be an issue with the paper, either a topic or a format issue; the important thing is to keep cool! Just start writing and see where it takes you, you can work out the kinks later on.

So now that we have material to work with, we can put it to use and polish it off. Here is where we can talk about the technicalities: grammar, spelling, transitions, citing, rewording, revising, rewriting, elaborating, etc, the list goes on and on. It’s mind blowing how many things you can do to make your paper standout and flow better with a few sentence tricks.

Some important rules to remember while writing:

· Audience: Remember who your audience is no matter what, of course the instructor will read it but keep in mind that usually your essays are written for people who have no idea of the concepts and you are the means of informing them in the best way possible.

· Cohesion: Make sure your writing makes sense. Know what your talking about, or at least sound like it. Credibility goes a long way with your reader. A neat trick that will help your with sentence flow is simply reading it aloud. Your writing should sound natural when spoken aloud.

· Tone: This can make or break your essay. The tone will affect your audience and will affect your credibility. This will let your reader know how serious you are or if you are coming across too strong.

· Timing: The more time you give yourself to work, the better your paper will be. More time equals more drafts, thus better work, right? Procrastinate? Prepare for death. Late night paper brawls will not only leave you drained, but will set you up to commit regrettable mistakes on your paper.

Revision

If you haven’t done anything of what I’ve recommended…DO THIS PART. Revision is the most important part of any writing assignment. Here is where you catch all of the “what was I thinking” moments that most likely exist in your essay. Also, revising does not mean, EDIT -> CHECK SPELLING AND GRAMMAR->SAVE. Usually professors or English teachers recommend going through 3 drafts. My suggestion is to do as many as you feel you need to do. Go back to your brainstorming or outline you had in the beginning, check your guidelines for the essay. Make sure your essay has everything you want it to accomplish. Make sure your thoughts are organized and well developed. Often times, when rereading your paper, you will find sentences that can be reworded to flow better.

Final Thoughts

I know I did not give specific examples because I feel that at this level, students should know what a thesis looks like or what a topic sentence is. Like I said before, this guide is mainly a reference to remind students what they need to do. Also given that the word “essay” means a lot of different things to professors, some might be more unforgiving than others. So it’s up to you as a student to know what’s up.

All in all the most important thing I can tell you about writing is that the only way you can get better at it is by…more writing. Like anything else we learn, writing is learned by repetition and by trail and error. I’m sure it’s easier for some but for students like me, the only path to improvement is by continuing to do papers at school. Finally I want to say thank you, for giving this guide a look and considering my thoughts. If my guide has helped you out, great! If it didn’t help at all, I apologize for the bad grade. Good luck with your writing endeavors!

Recommendations

· Adios, Strunk and White by the Gary and Glynis Hoffman. I personally recommend this book. It offers a lot of valuable information on how to improve and change your sentence structure. It has everything to offer, from Anecdotes to Freighting sentences to Melted-together words. Simple to read and understand.

· They say/I say by Graff, Birkenstein, and Durst. The English book I used this semester. I was surprised to find out that this book to is helpful and easy to read. I also used some of the techniques illustrated in my papers this semester.