Check out these writing tips from Peer Advisor Matthew Stauder!
Coming into college, I thought I was a great writer. I soon learned, however, that simply utilizing a number of words one would only find in a thesaurus plus sentences with 3 separate clauses was not what constituted “great writing.” And I will be honest—upon getting back my first ever writing assignment, I went back to my dorm room, laid on my bed, and cried. Since that first paper, I have been able to grow in my writing abilities, and with midterm papers and exams with short answer questions looming in the weeks ahead, I want to share some tips you may find helpful.
1. Create an outline. Outlines help you organize your initial thoughts to the prompt you have been given, and also help you recognize the main points you want to make, and the supporting details to those points. Most likely, your outline will start out very vague (even in timed exams, I would recommend writing out even a vague outline if you are having writer’s block. It is better to think about what to write on paper than in your mind where golden ideas may suddenly slip away out of memory!), but as you do research, you will be able to add more detail, and may even change what is in the outline. Which brings me to the next point…
2. Do not be afraid to change your thesis! Perhaps one of the greatest mistakes I have made writing research papers is “declaring” a thesis and sticking with it even as the research consistently debunked what I wanted to argue. Better yet, if it is not required to declare a thesis straight away, do some preliminary research first just to get an idea of what the data and scholars say.
3. Work out of order. This tip used to bug me. In fact, as a little kid doing word searches, I had to find and circle the words in the order they appeared on the bottom of the page. This made things difficult, especially as I tried to remember where that word was so I could circle it once I found all the other words before it! It is similar when writing a paper—the wonderful gift of technology
and word processors is that we can write above, below, and in between what we have. If a thought comes to mind, do not hesitate to write it down and write down everything you want to say about it. Furthermore, the introduction of all things should be the last part of the paper you write. Since it is meant to serve as a summary or foreshadowing of what is to come, it is easiest to write after you already know what is to come.
4. Be straightforward and concise. Believe it or not, writing long, “complex” sentences going in multiple directions is not a great way to keep the readers attention. Just because the literature you may read sounds complex and “heady” does not mean you need to be, especially when you do not understand what you are saying! Always err on the side of shorter sentences with one or two clauses.
5. Use strong verbs. This may seem as a given, but it is always a good idea to proofread for the number of times you have forms of “to be” or “to go” or “to do” in your papers. Replace when possible!
6. Avoid using the word “this.” This tip comes from the great Professor Winstead. As you can see from my writing so far, it is neither possible nor encouraged to fully eliminate using the word “this.” Instead, you should always eliminate its usage as a noun. In other words, specify what you mean by “this.” Notice above, I said “This tip comes from the great Professor Winstead” not “This comes from the great Professor Winstead.” This example may not seem to bring the point across too much. But trust me, when you are on the reading side of a long essay, it helps to have a reminder of what came in the last preceding sentences. Otherwise, this word “this” can be very confusing and cause your reader to backtrack and lose interest. If you still do not understand this point, try reading Zhuangzi and then get back to me.
7. Avoid passive voice. I was disappointed by my brain when I was told by it that I had to write this one. The passive voice was used many times by me in the past. But not anymore, because it only further complicates your readers’ understanding. Plus, it is easy to fix. Just flip the subject and the object of the preposition and conjugate the verb accordingly. If you are saying to yourself, “I was confused by this point,” then please stop. This point confused you.
8. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your professors, TAs, and the Writing Center. Check your syllabus for your professors’ and TAs’ office hours. I assure you, they will be happy to meet with you! If these types of meetings make you nervous, I would suggest finding one or two specific questions you may have or thinking of one or two specific things to bring up, just to give yourself that sense of structure. It is also a great idea to go to office hours after an assignment is graded, and ask questions about the professors’ comments about what you can do for next time! Secondly, the Writing Center is a great resource that you should be able to use for almost any class at GW. If you are unsure whether you are allowed to use it for a course, reach out to your professor. They typically offer one-to-one peer tutoring and maintain academic integrity.
