Warm Up Drills

Feeling pretty cold this week? I know I am. It's only the second week of school, and I'm already dreading classes--not because of the coursework, but because of the time spent outdoors to get to said classes! The temperature has been pretty close to zero this week, and, consequently, so has my tolerance for these drastic weather changes. Living in Morgantown, though, this weather is just something we have to accept. There's nothing we can do about it. The cold is going to come--we just have to be prepared to face it!

Similar to this cold weather, writing assignments are also inevitable with the start of a new semester, and, again like this cold weather, we just have to deal with it.

Like all skills, writing requires practice. After a month off from school, during which there was no required writing, we might experience a little bit of stiffness when starting to write again. The reason is simple: our writing muscles are cold! In order to get back to the proficiency we had prior to Christmas break, some warm up exercises are drastically needed.

One warm up we can do to loosen up our writing muscles is to choose an event from Christmas break and write about it. For example, I might want to write a brief, reflective piece about my New Years. I could start by writing about the delicious steaks I cooked for dinner, and then I could write about how my boyfriend and I watched The Tigger Movie until 11:30 and then drank some champagne as we watched the ball drop in Times Square from the comfort and warmth of his apartment. Then, I could write about the next day and how ridiculously delicious my parents' wedding soup is. I could also write about how I almost had enough tickets to purchase a toaster at Dave & Buster's later that evening. Anyway, just writing about an event is a good exercise that will definitely warm up our writing muscles and bring us a step closer to composing some good academic writing during the next couple weeks.

Another warm up we can do is brainstorm. If you have a writing assignment already and you aren't quite sure where to start, brainstorming is always a great starting point. All you need to do is take a blank sheet of paper and write down your subject in the middle. To make it stand out a bit, try to write your subject a little bigger than you normally write or simply draw a circle around it. Let's pretend your subject is gun control. JUST KIDDING! Let's pretend your subject is puppies! Next, write down everything you know about puppies: cute; cuddly; fluffy; adorable; small; playful; biters; lickers; snugglers; squeaky; loving; lovable; man's best friend; etc. Okay, I know you probably won't be writing any papers on puppies, but anything to get the juices moving in both your hand and in your brain is helpful and effective!

This last warm up suggestion doesn't involve physical writing at all, but mental writing. If you have a writing assignment and you haven't had the time to sit down and physically write or type anything out, just taking the time to think critically about your subject before writing anything is very helpful. If you don't put any thought into it before you sit down to write, you aren't going to get very far. So, when you're walking to and from class in this crazy weather, try to keep your mind off the cold by deeply focusing on your writing topic. If any good ideas come to mind, make sure to jot them down on a piece of paper or in your phone!

That's all I got. Stay warm, everybody, and don't forget to do some writing warm ups before your first writing assignment is due!

Confidence: Mad Lib Edition

1. noun
2. adjective
3. plural noun
4. plural noun
5. adverb
6. verb
7. verb
8. noun that begins with a vowel
9. plural noun
10. number

Confidence: Mad Lib Edition

When writing, it is easy to lose your (1. noun). Writing is (2. adjective)! From finding (3. plural noun) to attempting to convey your ideas, you can often become discouraged. As a tutor who often works with discouraged (4. plural noun) (and as a student who also finds herself (5. adverb) in that state), I have attempted to create a guide to work through one of the most difficult aspects of writing: loss of confidence.

1. Take care of yourself; shower, (6. verb), drink water and eat healthy. When you take care of your body, you will feel more relaxed.

2. Return with a positive attitude and (7. verb) a smile! Faking a smile can "can raise endorphin levels in your body and trick your brain into thinking your mood has improved" ("Truth or Myth: Making Yourself Smile Improves Your Mood," 2012).

3. Make an (8. noun that begins with a vowel) at the Carruth Center. Though therapy appointments have a stigma associated with them, mental health is as important as physical health. Visit http://well.wvu.edu/ccpps or call (304) 293-4411 to schedule an appointment with trained (9. plural noun) who will work to help you.

4. Make an appointment at the WVU Writing Center. Though our primary role is to help you become better writers, our secondary roles include working to help you navigate the stresses of difficult classes and their respective papers. You can schedule an appointment at G02 Colson Hall, call 304-293-5788 or schedule online through http://www.snapappointments.com/listing/1ow.

Whether you complete one of these steps or (10. number) of them, you will be on your way to more confidence, less stress and a much healthier mind!

 Blog original answers:
1. confidence
2. tough
3. research
4. students
5. commonly
6. exercise
7. force
8. appointment
9. professionals
10. all

References

"Truth or myth: Making yourself smile improves your mood." (2012). P&G Everyday.
     Retrieved 7 Dec., 2012, from http://www.pgeveryday.com/pgeds/articles-
     tips/ATAAC/truth-or-myth-making-yourself-smile-improves-your-mood

This blog post has been cited using APA.

Write Your Troubles Away

            A common occurrence throughout my college career has been the dreaded essay test.  This is a concept that strikes fear into the heart of every student, and it actually can introduce a negative connotation to writing itself, for some.  Many people write in college, whether it is in the form of essays, short answers, or something similarly torturous, largely because they have to.  These students often limit their writing to hastily thrown-together essays done in the early hours of the morning.  It is viewed as a chore and a necessary evil to pass certain classes.  What is lost in these kinds of routine writings is the potential for catharsis and enjoyment that writing can bring.

           

            Many students, such as myself, are in majors like sciences and engineering, which involve an extremely technical writing style.  There is no room for flowery detail and colorful prose.  These students typically produce papers that have facts and findings straightforwardly presented in a logical, clear, and concise manner.  Writing such as this is extremely important, and, as a biology major, I can certainly attest to this fact.  This type of writing, however, is really all the exposure science majors have to writing, unless they take steps to make writing a stress-relieving aspect of their daily routine.

Students who are somewhat disillusioned with writing can take several different approaches to making writing an integral part of their relaxation. There is nothing quite like sitting down after a long, frustrating day and simply writing in a diary or journal to get some frustrations out of one’s system.  It is a harmless, fulfilling, and productive way to work through difficult or confusing situations.  Seeing one’s thoughts written on a piece of papers gives them substance and meaning.  Also, college is all about diversifying one’s surroundings, so a great idea to break up the monotony of technical writing is to take a creative writing course.  These types of courses require a different outlook than the clinical one used in the sciences.  Utilizing varied aspects of one’s brain helps widen perspective, and this is very beneficial in all parts of life.  If all else fails, and creative writing doesn’t seem like a good fit, merge some of your interests together.  I took a literature survey class once and was stuck on what to write about.  Instead of writing some generic paper analyzing the themes of the literature, I wrote a comparison of Thomas Jefferson’s editing of the Constitution to the proofreading that occurs during DNA synthesis.  It was very fun to write, and my professor loved it.

Writing doesn’t always have to be a chore, despite college’s best efforts at times.  Utilize it to your advantage as Finals Week rolls around.  If you are frustrated about something, write about it.  DNA synthesis and Thomas Jefferson aside, you never know what kinds of epiphanies you will have!

Good luck with finals!

Opportunities Abound

      Around this time in the semester we’re all recovering from one break and trying to punch through the last few weeks before finals. Many of us are busy writing up our final papers for the semester or preparing to do so. As I begin working on my own I was reminded of what one professor said to me last spring. She was giving a lecture before the whole class about our final research papers when she said that college papers are an opportunity for us as students and writers to be heard.

     While I hope you’re not cringing at that, and even if you are I hope that in a weird way it can make sense for you the way it has for me. Consider a few things if you will. Someone is paying for your college education, whether it’s scholarships, grants, your parents, grandparents or student loans that you will one day have to pay back. Doesn’t that mean you should make the most of it? And to make the most of your money shouldn’t these papers be an opportunity?  They can be if you look at them the right way.

     Whether you’re looking to break into the field of Biochemistry, Business Management or just to become an English teacher, the writing assignments you get on the university level are about allowing you to express an opinion you hold and maybe to discover something about yourself. Not only can the writing you do in your field provide you with a background, it can be one of the first and biggest steps you take in determining what it is you want to do with your life. The research you do now is no less important than the research you do in five to ten years. What is different is that on the university level there is room for you to make mistakes and to explore new ideas in your writing and research that may disappear once you commit to your career path.

     The point is that writing is not meant to be a way of filling up our time just to prove we're doing the work, even if we may sometimes see it that way. Many students, myself occasionally included, can have a bad habit of reading a prompt and seeing a requisite page length or word count instead of a chance to learn. The mistake here isn’t necessarily the fault of the student or the professor either. That does not mean that we shouldn’t make the extra effort for our own sake, because as one of my writing center colleagues pointed out, you lose nothing by trying to do better for yourself.

     So in the next couple of weeks as the semester winds down and you get ready to churn out those last few pages, think about how you can make the most of your opportunities. You can go about doing just that by first thinking about what argument your paper is making and see if you actually support it. If you support your argument, think about what you would want to get out of the assignment. You should consider your sources if you have any, and then make sure that you have a clear goal for what your paper should achieve. In the end the work you put into the paper and what you get out of it is a lot more significant than just a grade. Last of all, remember that if you can’t take your own work seriously then there is no reason anyone else should either.

Your Voice Should Be Heard

Over the past several years, I have personally experienced and found through talking with others that voice is something that often gets lost in writing. Using your “voice” is what distinguishes your written words from those of hundreds of thousands of other authors.

Why is it that you and a friend choose to write a paper with the same requirements on the same prompt, and your papers look nothing alike? No two people are ever going to write exactly the same way, and this has everything to do with voice.

If everyone wrote in exactly the same voice, reading would not be a joyous activity. So, where do you find your voice? It sounds easy enough. You write in a way that reflects upon your own personality. However, you still have to develop an appropriate voice for your writing. Simply writing the way you would speak does not necessarily work. Your voice must match the type of writing you are doing. A personal statement would not sound the same a research paper. This has to do with how you personally convey the message. A serious tone may be needed for a paper that relies on credibility, where you may want a lighthearted tone when talking about fond childhood memories.

It is very important (especially in college, during which you write a wide range of prose) to think about and look for voice in writing. To start building the confidence to write in your own voice, write what you know. Writing from your own thoughts and memories, things that you are most comfortable with, will make it much easier to focus on your own voice. After all, these are your thoughts. Because of that, it is easy to begin writing the way you would speak, thus invoking voice.

You must also read and write works to learn more about voice. All writing personifies the writer’s voice, whether it is a classic novel, a fictional short story, a poem, or an academic journal. Read genres that you do not typically pick up, and write things that are foreign to you- a haiku, a memoir, a short story- to become more comfortable with other styles of writing. This will build your skills in letting your voice shine through your work.

The most important thing to remember is that the voice must be your own. Modeling your writing after your favorite author or your professors’ example essays will only make you feel less comfortable with your own writing. You are most comfortable when you are being yourself. Practice showing your true self through writing, and you will find the results much more satisfying.

Personal Statements

Around this time of year, many people are going through the complicated process of applying to graduate schools. First, you have to choose which programs and universities you want to apply to. Then, as if finally deciding which program and university is right for you does not present enough of a challenge, it's time to actually work through the application material. A common element in almost all graduate school applications is the personal statement. Whether you're applying to a master's program, law school, or medical school, you will most likely need to write a personal statement. 

Universities receive thousands of applications a semester, and your personal statement gives you a chance to stand out from the crowd. Sometimes programs cite specific requirements for what to include in personal statements, but for the most part the content and structure is left up to you. In general, your personal statement should include the program you are applying for, the reason you are interested in the program /university, you education/professional goals, and contributions you can make to the program. When drafting your personal statement, try to keep these points in mind:

1. Be Original-Try to avoid writing a bland personal statement that does not communicate your personality and enthusiasm.

2. Be Concise-Try to avoid wordiness. Application committees have to sift through thousands of statements, so they will want you to be clear and to the point.

3. Be Relevant-Application committees are only interested in information that relates directly to you reasons for applying to their program and why you are a suitable candidate. Including unnecessary anecdotes and details will work against you.

4. Be Careful-Follow any guidelines the program provides, such as content, word count, and format. You do not want to be disqualified for not following directions.

These are only a few of the points to consider when writing a personal statement. You can access many personal statement related resources on the internet, as well as asking professors for advice. Writing a personal statement can be a stressful experience, but following these rules and using all of the available resources will put you on the path to writing a successful personal statement.     

  

Don’t Judge a Book by Its – Author?

           If you’re as much of a Potterhead as I am, J.K. Rowling’s name on the cover of any book is enough to pique your interest. Unfortunately, the nostalgia-induced excitement won’t be enough to get you through Rowling’s first post-Potter attempt, The Casual Vacancy. The story gets its impetus from the death of Barry Fairbrother, parish council leader and pseudo mayor of Pagford. The seemingly peaceful English village is secretly on the cusp of civil war with its citizens divided over how to deal with The Fields, the housing projects on the edge of town. Under Fairbrother, government housing is protected from the opposing political faction that wishes to foist it off into the hands of a neighboring town. With his seat up for grabs, tensions between the Pagfordians heighten and the future of The Fields is called into question. The remaining 400 pages detail numerous political and personal quarrels that are intended to offer a searing social commentary pitting the selfish, class-conscious citizens against those fighting on behalf of the Fields. Rowling’s argument, though noble, falls flat. Rather than allowing you to become emotionally involved in the conflict, the characters used to narrate the story alienate you through their pettiness and preoccupation with local gossip.

It’s understandable that Rowling, after completing Harry Potter, would want to deviate from her previously spell-strewn path. However, in creating the antithesis of Harry and his world she goes too far, trapping herself within the dank, lack-luster walls of reality. Where Hogwarts is enthralling and warm, Pagford is isolating and generic. Potter characters are fully developed with faults and backstories that reveal their motives, earning your admiration or censure. The Pagfordians are as charismatic and well rounded as ply board, leaving you uninterested in their successes and failures. Ultimately, weak characters and tedious plot lines combine to form a novel that is as disappointing as it is dreary. 

Moving Past Disappointment

On Saturday, October 13, the Mountaineers suffered their first defeat. With hopes for a perfect season dashed, players and fans felt disappointed, to say the least. However, we don’t have much time to dwell on this blunder since we face the Wildcats on Saturday.

Like a football player or fan, a writer often has to move past disappointments. One of the worst feelings that can overwhelm a writer occurs when a professor returns your paper absolutely covered in red pen. At this point, it can be easy to give up. Some writers don’t realize, however, that this seemingly disastrous predicament provides the best chance to really impress your professor – not to mention, yourself. Has your professor provided you with the opportunity to revise your paper? Yes? Great! The question then becomes how to transform your paper.

The first thing to do is to identify what works and what doesn’t work within your paper. Is your topic too broad? If this is the case, you can narrow your topic by focusing on one main point and the implications of that point. An example of a broad paper topic is, “Chocolate is delicious.” A way to make this topic more specific would be to name the type of chocolate that is the most delicious and why. The new and improved topic could be something like, “Milk chocolate is delicious because its creamy texture melts in your mouth, making the taster happier by the second.”

If your topic was great but you didn’t support your argument well enough, try to add more force to your point. Go back and reread your paper from the opposite point of view. Do you see any claims you make that you would disagree with in this state of mind? If so, try to add emphasis to your original point. For the chocolate paper, you could reread the paper from a chocolate hater’s point of view.

Maybe your topic and support were great but your organization could be better. If this is the case, you’re probably better off than you imagined. Try taking a copy of your paper and cutting out each paragraph. With each paragraph separated, you can try different ways of organizing your ideas. The best part of this process is that you get to completely destroy and reconstruct your paper without doing lots of hard work!

Even if your professor will not allow you to revise your paper, you still have a chance to impress him or her with your next paper. Don’t be afraid to take some risks. For whatever reason, your original technique isn’t what your professor was looking for. A new approach might be exactly what you need to revitalize your paper. Most importantly, remember to take this great opportunity to really prove to yourself and your professor what you can accomplish!

Why Did You Say That?

      I think I can speak for a lot of students when I say, "Yeah, I know English pretty well and consider myself a good writer. Growing up in America and going to a school where English was the language used for class instruction, I'd become accustomed to the bombardment of grammatical rules and exercises that highlight K-12 English classes. Honestly, I never enjoyed those classes, especially high school level English, because classes often felt like one big grammatical exercise and my 10-11th grade teacher was pretty ruthless in the area of essay grading. After endless paper critiques and error filled grammar worksheets, I eventually came to accept the rigidness of English class, "sucked it up," and started making an active effort to ask why  rules were put in place in certain instances but not in others, what exceptions there were to different rules, and how I could utilize what I was learning to create a final product that I was proud of and enjoyed writing.
      From there I've worked to make each piece of writing a product of meticulous, cautious yet imaginative, always alliterative creation. I don't so much think of the why while writing anymore but rather the how  this  can be crafted in my usual writing style while addressing the given purpose. This brings me to the feeling of sudden discombobulation that I experienced while tutoring one day when an ESL student asked me, "How do you know when you're supposed to use in which and in that instead of just which or just that?"
      I was unable to produce an immediate answer because that wasn't something I had thought about for a long time, and I found myself mumbling up a storm as I thought out loud. While attempting to "jazz up" a piece of writing, I usually don't consider why saying a certain phrase in a certain instance is grammatically correct, I just think of the "fanciness" that I am thereby conferring to my paper. Instead of wasting more time trying to recall specifics, I used situational examples to illustrate how each phrase (that, which, in that, in which) could be used and how the meaning would be changed if one were used in place of the other. Although my initial confusion also inspired fleeting disappointment, as I like to be as specific and informative as possible, I was still able to elucidate some light on the complex process of writing, and for that the student (and I) were content, because we both learned something that day. Even though life is pretty yucked up with rules, sometimes you just have to go with what you know.

Even the Kids Are Doing It

After working at the WVU Writing Center for the past three years, I have applied my learning from my tutor training practicum appointment after appointment, day after day, and semester after semester. Although I was aware of the effectiveness of these strategies in practice at the center, I had thought that they were place-based, specific to the writing center learning environment.

As an Elementary Education major, I am learning how to teach students literacy skills in the classroom, helping them develop as not only readers and thinkers, but also as writers. In one of my methods classes, I am currently learning about the importance of establishing a time in the elementary classroom for "Writer's Workshop." During Writer's Workshop, students take part in the writing process and work collaboratively with their peers. Teachers model for the students how they should go through each step of the process and then allow the children to work with each other to develop their best writing possible. Students engage in conversations, brainstorming ideas for their writing, drafting pieces, and editing their work to make their ideas more clear and specific to their audience, all the while avoiding proofreading until they feel satisfied with all other aspects of their writing. This seems quite familiar...

Although I would never tell a second grader that they should think about the higher order concerns of their writing before they should think about their misuse of a comma, this similar structure applied in the elementary setting shows that learners of all ages benefit from their involvement in the writing process. When we can talk about our writing with someone else and bounce ideas off of one another, we are able to engage in collaborative learning experiences that help us foster our writing skills. And by going step by step to create a final product, we can look at how our writing has evolved and how we have grown as writers. This growth does not only occur for the person whose writing is being discussed, but also occurs for the peer.

Now reflecting back on these past three years as a tutor, I realize that just as the elementary-schoolers that I am student teaching benefit from their writing experiences, I too have benefited and am continuing to benefit from my work at the writing center. I have not only learned tutoring and teaching skills as an undergraduate tutor, but also have developed as a writer, appointment after appointment, day after day, and semester after semester.