Advice from Michael: Tips on Starting an Essay

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Lately, I have had several students come in with no idea where to start on an assignment. Sometimes this is a result of never writing a proper academic essay in high school, and at other times they simply have always had trouble starting an essay. To help them, I always start off with the same basic advice: remember the five paragraph essay structure.

The five paragraph essay structure will not always be helpful in college writing since you will sometimes need significantly larger or shorter essays, but it is an easy way to begin developing organized thoughts. For the intro, consider what the overarching issue that is being addressed and then try narrowing that issue down into the specific thesis statement you will be arguing. Then figure out three arguments that can be made for what you want to say, and treat that as the body paragraphs. Be sure to include these arguments in the thesis statement. Finally, conclude everything, and be sure to restate the thesis without adding new information in the conclusion.

Once you get at least part of this information down, then start writing. You don’t even have to start at the intro. You can begin with one of the body paragraphs if you prefer, but getting the words and ideas down on paper tends to help the students I’ve worked with gain a stronger grasp of what they are trying to argue, and how they can argue it. As you continue along this path, the essay structure can change to include more or less paragraphs or arguments as it becomes apparent to the writer. More advice on paragraph structure and how to structure an essay can be found on the Writing Center’s online resources under “Composition and Writing in the Disciplines” at this link. However, the key to all of this is to simply trust yourself enough to start writing. Once the words start falling on the page then everything will start to get easier.

Hang in there. You’ll get it done eventually.

-Michael

Writing Center tip: Time Management--Make Your Writing Center Appt. before the Due Date

Hi, RSU students,

The Writing Center is a place where you can find engaged readers who are ready to support you as a writer.

All writers--from students to scholars to professional writers--benefit from feedback on their ideas and their wording. Faculty, myself included, ask peers, editors, and sometimes even novices to read our drafts because feedback from thoughtful readers is valuable. I know other people can see things in my writing that I can't and their feedback can help me make my writing better. (I've even asked 2 of the Writing Center staff members to read over this very email to help me make it as effective as possible!)

Here are 3 optimal times to ask for feedback on an assignment:

1. When you receive the assignment sheet: we can help you make a plan for writing and help you make sure you're on the right track from the start.

2. When you have an outline or partial draft: we can help you make sure you are on-track to meet assignment requirements and help you make sure your outline/draft is shaping up to be focused and unified.

3. 2-3 days before the due date, when you have a full or mostly-complete draft: we can help you check to make sure your citations are correct and help you check to make sure the writing is clear and concise.

Remember, you can have 2 appointments per paper assignment and we don't offer appointments on the assignment due date (though we will answer 2-3 specific questions if we have time), so plan ahead. These policies apply on all 3 RSU campuses.

Our schedule is filling up, so call, drop by, or email writingcenter@rsu.edu now to reserve an on-ground, over the phone, or online appointment in advance.

Happy writing,
Sara

Thinking about the Process

Timelapse Writing of a Research Paper

Last time I wrote, I blogged about being in process. You should know three things about the writing process if you don't already:

1. The writing process occurs in stages. 

Those stages include all the things you do in preparation to write, all the things you do as you write the lines/sentences, and all the things you do after you've written to tidy up and polish the work.

Earlier Stages                               Middle-ish Stages               Later Stages
Prewriting                                      Drafting                                 Revising/moving sections
Free writing                                   Filling out the outline               Proofreading
Outlining                                       Integrating evidence                Editing
Researching topic/audience            Peer review                            Fact-checking
Peer review                                                                                 Peer review

2. The writing process is not linear, which is to say that it doesn't happen one separate activity at a time. 

It's more cyclical, more messy.

For example, sometimes while I'm attempting to fill out my rough outline, I realize I need to do more research, so I return to that stage. Or, sometimes as I'm integrating evidence, I'll realize that my argument is just not working and needs to be tweaked, so I turn to free writing, prewriting, or outlining again to help me re-organize or re-think my argument.

3. Everyone's process is different. 

Every single writer's process is different. From the tasks that they find most helpful and rely on, to the environment and media they prefer to write in, to the order that they perform the tasks in, to their back-up plan if the regular process does not work--

every. writer's. writing. process. is. different.

Here's what good writers do: every good writer thinks about his/her writing process and makes an effort to figure out what works best. Good writers experiment with different writing activities.

Good writers aren't always the people with the natural talent for writing--more often, they are the people who think about their habits, who are conscious about what works and what doesn't.

Looking back at that last blog entry, I notice that my particular writing process is heavy up front. I spend most of my composing time gathering information and cycling between outlining and researching, as well as prewriting my thesis and topic sentences. I have to do these tasks together to do them efficiently. (This is me thinking about my writing habits.)

Happy writing,
Sara