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Unveil the truth behind common writing myths and discover effective strategies for successful writing. Learn crucial dos and don'ts along with practical exercises to enhance your writing skills.
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WRITING AND REVISING A Workshop from the Writing Support Center
Talented writers can produce good writing without revising. One should write only when inspired. It’s best to edit while one is writing. It’s best to revise immediately after one has written. Ernest Hemingway revised the last page of A Farewell to Arms 47 times. The most prolific, experienced writers have daily writing schedules. Editing while writing can produce writer’s block. A writer should wait at least 48 hours before revising. MYTHS vs. FACTS
DO’s • Do delve into current research that interests you. • Do carry a small writing pad and pen at all times. • Do write down your ideas for research rather than simply discussing them. • Do form a dissertation/writing support group. • Do have a daily writing schedule. • Do outline. • Do revise—after at least 48 hours. • Do freewrite and brainstorm whenever you feel “blocked.” • Do praise and reward yourself after each writing session.
DON’Ts: • Don’t check your e-mail just before you begin to write. • Don’t surf the Web “for research” or any other purposes before beginning to write. • Don’t begin errands just before you sit down to write. • Don’t stop writing during your allotted time; keep going even if you feel you have nothing to write. • Don’t write beyond your allotted time. • Don’t be self-critical before or after you’ve written.
Free-writing Exercise A: Write one well-crafted, polished sentence about the research you’d like to do. (1 minute) Exercise B: Write for 1 minute (non-stop) about the research you’d like to do. Which generated more ideas? Perfectionism → Procrastination → Paralysis
Free-writing (continued) Acceptance → Exploration → Creation How to free-write: 1. Time yourself. 2. Write non-stop. 3. If you run out of ideas, write: “I have nothing to write” until you get back to ideas. 4. Start with the words “What if…” and have fun; play with your research ideas. 5. If you’re angry, write some angry ideas. Channel your energy.
How To Revise • Wait 48 hours. • Start from big to small: • Organization (outline) • Unity of ideas* • Clarity of language* • APA • Punctuation • Revise a section that you haven’t recently worked on.
Unity/Coherence • “In good writing, the eye does not pause and the mind stumble on a passage” (Creswell, 1994, p. 203). • What makes you stumble with the sentence below? Alaska has majestic glaciers, but most Americans must travel great distances. • In good writing, the writer explains the relationships between ideas so that the reader doesn’t have to: Alaska has majestic glaciers, but to see them most Americans must travel great distances.
Techniques to “Connect the Dots” • Explain overall relationships at the beginning of a paper, section or ¶: • In this model, leaders are characterized by theirthinking patterns: absolute, relativistic and dialectical thinking. • For each ¶, use topic sentences that refer back to your main & preceding ideas by repeating words or ideas previously mentioned: • Leaders who are absolute thinkers reduce complex thoughts to dualistic paradigms of right vs. wrong, weak vs. strong, etc.
Connecting the Dots (continued) • Fill in any missing links from one sentence to the next: Jones was advised to hire a tutor in French immediately, but his long hours of work at the florist shop kept his grades low. • Use words that explain relationships: Because his long hours at the florist shop kept his grades low, Jones was advised to hire a tutor in French immediately. • Use transitional words & phrases between paragraphs when needed:Despite the overwhelming criticism of Freud’s theories, most psychologists embraced Freud’s theory of the unconscious.
Revising For Unity There are many types of bores at social gatherings, but I prefer a quiet evening at home. → There are many bores at social gatherings, so I prefer a quiet evening at home. A telephone lineman who works during heavy storms can prove a hero, and cowards can be found in any walk of life. → Just as cowards can be found in any walk of life, so too can heroes: Telephone line-people who work during heavy storms, for example, risk their lives simply to complete their jobs.
Revising For Unity (continued) The transformational leadership model is an integrated theory of exemplary leadership behaviors. As a result, these leaders build emotional bonds with the followers to maximize performance. The transformational leadership model is an integrated theory that examines exemplary leadership behaviors. According to this model, leaders build emotional bonds with followers to maximize their performance.
CLARITY After he was asked to write a memo instructing federal workers what to do during an air raid, Roosevelt’s aid wrote: “Such preparations shall be made as will completely obscure all Federal and non-Federal buildings occupied by the Federal Government during an air raid for any period of time from visibility by reason of internal or external illumination. Such obscuration may be obtained either by black-out construction or by termination of the illumination.” “’Tell them,’ Roosevelt told the writer, ‘that in buildings where they have to keep the work going to put something over the windows; and, in buildings where they can let the work stop for awhile, turn out the lights’” (St. Petersburg Times, 15 January, 2003).
Five Steps to Clarity • For each unclear sentence ask, “Who is doing what to whom?”There was effective staff information dissemination control on the part of the secretary. Who? The secretary Did what?controlled To whom/what?staff information dissemination Add adjectives/adverbs last:The secretary effectively controlled how the staff disseminates information.
CLARITY: STEP TWO Un-smother the verbs. Smothered (noun) Un-smothered (verb) Discovery→ Discover Refusal → Refuse Authorization → Authorize Suggestion → Suggest Try steps 1 & 2: Authorization for my absence was given by the leader. The leader authorized my absence.
CLARITY: STEP THREE There was/There is…NOT! • There was an objection on the part of the parents toward the suggestion of the principal to increase the size of the classes. • Parents objected to the principal’s suggestion to increase class size. • There was vehement opposition from the representativesof the labor union regarding the changes of policy made by the CEO of the company. • Labor representatives vehemently opposed the CEO’s policy changes.
CLARITY: STEP FOUR AVOID WORD INFLATION! INFLATED → CONCISEAlong the lines of → likeAt this point in time → nowBy means of → by Due to the fact that → becauseFor the purpose of → forIn spite of the fact that → althoughIn order to → toSpeak out in favor of → supportSpeak out against → criticize, oppose
CLARITY: STEP FIVE AVOID REDUNDANCY The colors of the reproductions were precisely exact. The quilt that was the highlight of her collection was a quilt dating from 1889. The Department of Redundancy Department is closed all week, including Friday.
Before and After… • This theory provided an organizing framework to synthesize the research on the affective phenomena as well as extending the traditional view of intelligence to include emotional systems that define differences in the emotional competencies of an individual. • This research examined the notion of traditional—i.e., intellectual—intelligence and broadened its definition to include affective intelligence, thus providing a framework to study and define individual differences in emotional competencies.
