Download
1 / 20
200 likes | 309 Vues
A Guide to Writing. And a good one at that. Brought to you by…. Melissa A. Fabello And, more importantly, Ms. Molly Metzler (She was my writing teacher in college.). Introduction. This is where you explain what it is you’re going to discuss.
E N D
A Guide to Writing And a good one at that.
Brought to you by… • Melissa A. Fabello • And, more importantly, Ms. Molly Metzler • (She was my writing teacher in college.)
Introduction • This is where you explain what it is you’re going to discuss. • This is important because your reader wants to know what s/he is about to read. That way, s/he can decide not to read it. ;) • This is NOT just a boring necessity! • It should be interesting and engaging. After all, if this part is lame, no one is going to read the rest of it.
Introduction, cont. • START WITH A BANG! • Your first sentence should be fascinating. • It should hook your reader right off the bat. • We don’t care what your name is, how old you are, where you live, or what school you go to – so leave that out. • (This is an introduction to your paper, not your life.) • Try: a quote, an interesting statistic, a shocking idea.
Introduction, cont… • EXPLAIN YOURSELF! • Lead your reader into your thesis. • Be quick, but be effective. • Find a way to explain what you’re writing about or why you’re writing about it without giving away your topic.
Introduction, cont… • GET RIGHT TO THE POINT. • Don’t dilly-dally around your thesis. • Just say it! • It should be one sentence – and a good one, at that. • You want your reader to go, “Oh, hm, I never thought of that before. Interesting.” • What is a thesis? • It’s really just a fancy way of saying “topic.” • It, essentially, is the CrAzY idea you’re trying to prove in your paper.
Introduction, cont… • END SIMPLY. • Be straight-forward. • Introductions don’t have to be long and drawn-out. • They are NOT part of the “meat” of the paper.
Body Paragraph • This is the meat – or, uh, tofu – of the paper. • The body paragraphs are where you have the opportunity to explain yourself in long, drawn-out ways.
Body Paragraph, cont… • TOPIC SENTENCE • Explain what this paragraph is going to be about. • Do NOT say, “Now I’m going to tell you about BLAH.” • I mean, seriously. That is boring.
Body Paragraph, cont… • EXPLAIN YOURSELF • What evidence do you have to support your idea • Tell the reader. • SHOW EVIDENCE • Got a quote? USE IT. • Quotes are the most important piece of evidence you can use in a paper about literature because it proves that your interpretation is correct. • You can’t write a lab report without data; you can’t write a literature paper without quotes.
Body Paragraph, cont… • COMMENT ON YOUR EVIDENCE • Don’t ever (evereverEVER) leave a quote untouched. • You need to explain why that quote is important – how do you interpret it? How does it apply to your thesis? How does it prove your point? • TRANSITIONAL SENTENCE • Make this sentence flow nicely into the next body paragraph. • That way, it seems like it all makes sense together.
Body Paragraphs, cont… • You can have as many body paragraphs as you want to. • A lot of people think that five paragraphs is the maximum – that is ridiculous. • When you get to college and have to write eight-, ten-, twenty-page papers, you’re going to need way more than five paragraphs. • I mean, really, you cannot have a four-page-long paragraph; that’s ridiculous.
Conclusion • This is where you wrap it up! • A lot of people think that you’re supposed to repeat what you wrote in your introduction – WHAT? Why would you want to be redundant? That’s boring – for you and the reader. • This is where you make your final point and say new things without introducing a new topic.
Conclusion, cont… • EXPLAIN YOURSELF. • Get any last ideas out of the way. • Anything that will cause you to lose sleep if you don’t say it goes here. • HOWEVER (and this is important, so listen), you should NEVER bring up a whole new topic. • More on that later.
Conclusion, cont… • SUM IT UP • Like I said before, do not (DO NOT!!!!!) repeat yourself. • Instead, give a sentence or two to remind your reader of what you’ve been saying. • Without repeating. • No repeating. • Don’t repeat yourself. • Please, don’t repeat yourself. • Don’t be redundant. (Don’t “reword” it.) • Just stop.
Conclusion, cont… • CONVINCE YOUR READER • This is your last chance to prove your point. • So… prove it. • Sound convincing. Official. Like you know what you’re talking about. • END WITH A ZINGER! • Leave your reader wanting more. • Do NOT bring up a new topic.
The Conclusion Problem • Sometimes, something very crazy happens when you write a paper. • Sometimes, by the end of the paper, you’ve come up with a whole new cool idea! • The paper will be finished and in the conclusion, you’ll notice… A BETTER THESIS.
The Conclusion Solution • Unfortunately, the best thing you can do when that happens is to… • START OVER. • Yes. You read that right. • The best thing you can do is to start a whole new paper with the new and improved thesis. • Hey, the good news is: you’ll get a better grade.
Some Random Advice • Read your paper aloud. • It should sound natural. • Don’t be afraid to take chances. • Risk-takers are often rewarded. • Write on the short side if you need to. • It’s better than repeating yourself. • Write something to be proud of.
