Six Road Signs For Your Trip To Writing Success!

1. Six Road Signs For Your Trip To Writing Success!

2. Prepared by Thomas J. Buttery School of Education Austin Peay State University

3. 1. ReadAll writers read. Totally original ideas are few and far between. Reading allows you to learn the trends in your field and what others are writing about.

4. Leverage your reading time, pick up ideas and writing techniques, clever introductions, nicely turned phrases quotations and examples, even details of punctuation and grammar.

5. Hot Tip: • Create a writing resource book. Copy these samples down on a sticky paper and later add them to your book.

6. For Example:A disparity of view points exists onIn accordance with…presenteda similar observation by……philosophy is shared by…A kaleidoscope of differing view exists about… In fact the research evidence is not sanguine concerning

7. Consider your ability to translate work from one discipline to another. The new audience probably didn’t do the reading you did or see the connection that you helped to develop.

8. W. Clement StoneCreativity FormulaR2 ~ A2Recognize, RelateAssimilate, and Apply PrinciplesFrom everything you see hear,read and think.

9. 2. Write-Ability Makes For Readability Define your audience and purpose: Your purpose in writing The reader’s purpose in reading The subject matter you will communicate; and The language you will use.

10. Language:Consider the nature of the audience you are addressing; Avoid jargon, pedantic mumbo jumbo, and the pedaguese;Simple vocabulary works best – don’t dazzle them with bull… Substitute short and simple words for the ninety-five cent variety.

11. Similar sire, similar scion.

12. Father like son.

13. Tenants of vitreous abodes ought to hurl no lithodial fragments.

14. Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

15. It is not proper for mendicants to be indicatrous of preferences. to be

16. Beggars can’t be choosers.

17. Cleave garmineous matter for fodder during the period that the orb of the day is refulgent.

18. Make hay while the sun shines.

19. It is fruitless to become lachrymous because of scattered lacteal fluid.

20. Don’t cry over spilled milk.

21. Compute not your immature gallinaceans prior to their being produced.

22. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

23. Every article which coruseates is not fashioned from aureate metal.

24. All that glitters is not gold.

25. A feathered creature clasped in the manual members is equal in value to a brace in the bosk.

26. Failure to be present causes the vital organ to become enamored.

27. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

28. One pyrus malus per die restrains the arrival of the hippocratic apostle.

29. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

30. Avoid Lengthy introductions:Use a short two to three paragraph introduction to make clear what is coming.

31. Be Logical and Sequential:Are your ideas clearly outlined and developed or are they hidden?A reader should be able to skim your manuscript and understand its organization.

32. Use an organization that encourages the audience to read the article.Remember, like you, most educators are pressed for time and their reading tends to be “catch the highlights variety”.

33. Make your key points visible:Sometimes you can help the reader with subheads, italics, boldface, or by numbering the points made.Spread out your material with paragraphing. There is little need for page long paragraphs.

34. Invite reader involvement:Effective writing causes readers to identify themselves with the writing; one technique is to ask questions.

35. Use Visual Material:Simple diagrams and charts may sharpen your presentation. However, keep in mind clarification and not decoration is the essential aim.

36. What is the journal format? If a journal typically prints manuscripts in the area of four to six pages avoid submitting one of twelve to fifteen pages.

37. Document with the style used by the journal you are submitting to for review. If the journal uses APA style be sure your references are correctly cited.

38. Repeat and summarize thoughtfully:As you approach the end ofyour manuscript consider the reader’s questions. So what? What is the author driving at? Don’t leave your readers up in the air when they have finished your work.

39. Rewrite:Few good manuscripts spring from your computer fresh and clean on the first draft.

40. A good manuscript, like a painting, emerges gradually from conceptualization to completed product. Paintings are blocked out, and once done can be touched up, and sometimes completely redone.

41. Once you complete the draft of your manuscript concentrate on its flow. Good writing requires much revision before rough edges are worn away and the material reads “smoothly”.

42. 3.  Reference books, computer aids, and proofing.Good writers put their thoughts down on paper or on the computer screen and then adjust their spelling and grammar.

43. Don’t avoid using words or terms because you’re not sure of their meaning. Once drafted you can use reference aids to check your writing.

44. Good word processing packages have spelling and grammar checks built in. These tools are a tremendous help. Make frequent use of either the computers thesaurus or a book version to improve your wording.

45. Vary your sentence length. A good rule of thumb is that any sentence over three lines of 12-point type should be divided.

46. Condense your writing as much as possible.“there are many who would argue” use “many would argue”“the reason for this is that” use “because”“at this point in time” use “now”Read Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style.

47. Read your writing. Spell check and grammar check only identify incorrectly spelled words and inappropriate grammar. Errors of properly spelled words will go unchecked yet will not make sense. YOU need to proof read your writing.

48. 4. Remember Punctuation Makes A Difference!An English professor wrote on the blackboard,"Woman without her man isnothing"and directed the students to punctuate it correctly.

49. The men wrote:"Woman, without her man, is nothing."

50. The women wrote:"Woman! Without her, man is nothing."