What do you want to know?

I'm about ready to start a new semester teaching a whole new group of students.

As I'm preparing my course-work and reviewing assignments, I'm reminded that some (many?) students are anxious about this course because they haven't written an academic composition in a while, or they just haven't had good experiences with writing.

If you're a former student (or someone who has stumbled on this blog), and you have a question about writing that is not addressed elsewhere, would you please send me an email? I'd like to add more relevant content.

Thank you!

Keep pen to paper!

Prof. Rinehart

Turabian Formatting

The last two blogs have dealt with the two more common styles: MLA and APA. Today, we're looking at the least common, but one that is used by Liberty students who are majoring in religious studies or similar.

I have to be honest ... I am not well-versed in Turabian. In fact, whenever I have a student who writes according to Turabian requirements, I have to research and view those standards.

So, instead of trying to communicate something with which I'm not familiar, I'm just going to point you to a couple of sources that I think might be helpful.

The first comes from The University of Texas at San Antonio. This first link includes basic formatting information (margins, headers, etc.). This link shows you a sample paper. This final link is a sample of a paper for a Liberty grad student.

My recommendation is for you to review these sources carefully before (and while) writing your paper.

Keep pen to paper!

Prof. Rinehart

APA Formatting

Last time, we focused on formatting according to MLA standards. Today, let's take a look at the other more common formatting requirements: APA.

Just as we asked with MLA, why APA? While MLA is used more often by those in the arts:

“Most disciplines in the social sciences – psychology, sociology, political science, and economics – use the name-and-date system of documentation put forth by the American Psychological Association . . . this citation style highlights the dates of publication because the currency of published material is of primary importance in these disciplines.”
(The College Writer's Reference, Fulwiler et al, 2001, pp. 375-376)   

So how do you make certain you're following the proper guidelines? First, if you're one of my Liberty students, check out the resources that are available through the library and online sources. Second, visit one of my favorite sites for APA (OWL: APA Formatting). Finally, for a quick overview, review the following:

 

If you have any questions about APA formatting, talk to your instructor BEFORE you submit any papers.

Next time, we'll have a brief overview of a less-common style: Turabian.

Keep pen to paper!

Prof. Rinehart
                    

The Writing Process (steps three through seven)

Last time, we finished up step two of the seven-step writing process. As I mentioned, if you master the first two steps, you'll lay a solid foundation for any academic essay ... and that's before you really begin writing!

Now you can really put pen to paper.

Step Three: Drafting

Once you've determined your subject, purpose, and audience, and you've developed a solid thesis and outline, you can begin writing your essay. [NOTE: Take a look at the blog "Academic Essays ..." for more information on what an academic essay should look like ... more or less.]

Using your outline as a guideline, draft a solid introductory paragraph, including your thesis statement. Then, draft your body and concluding paragraphs. The key is: While you want to write as clearly as possible, don't worry about perfect grammar or punctuation. You'll cover that in steps five through seven. The point of drafting is to get your thoughts on paper.




Step Four: Incubating

This step is often skipped, but is oh-so important. Many students begin the revision process right after they finish their rough draft. The problem is, when they go right back to the draft, they're still in draft mode, so they often miss errors and flow issues.

Incubating allows you to step away from your draft and then come back with fresh eyes.  This may be the one and only time you have a professor giving you permission to go and play for a while, so take advantage of it!



Step Five: Revising

When you get done playing, come back and look at your essay objectively before moving on. HELPFUL HINT: READ YOUR PAPER OUT LOUD. If every student did this during the next three steps, I GUARANTEE he or she would correct many errors and submit better papers!

Once you've read your work out loud (I really do recommend this!), move on to step five. This is what I like to call the "macro-revision." Ask questions like:

• Do the paragraphs flow smoothly?
• Does each point support my thesis?
• Do I have enough support?
• Have I included relevant information?
• Should I move any paragraphs for logical flow?

This step allows you to take a big-picture look at your essay and revise accordingly.



Step Six: Editing

Once you've looked at your essay overall (and made any large adjustments), look at your essay paragraph by paragraph. Ask questions like:

• Are my sentences structured correctly?
• Do I have any comma splices or run-ons?
• Am I using the right words to say what I want to say?
• Am I being concise? Or too wordy?
• Do my paragraphs flow?

Step Seven: Proofing

This step puts the final touches on your essay. I recommend you read your paper out loud again as you keep an eye out for punctuation and spelling errors. I do recommend you use the resources available with your word processor; however, do not rely on them! Spell check only catches spelling errors, not words that aren't used correctly. So, for example, it would catch:

I don't think thair car is here. (Thair is misspelled.)

But it would think the following sentence is spelled correctly (which it is):

I don't think there car is here. (However, while there is spelled correctly, it is not the correct word.)

It is YOUR responsibility to make certain your final paper is as correctly- and well-written as possible.



Writing is a skill to be learned, so I encourage you to use all tools available to you in order to be as effective a writer as I believe you can be!

Keep pen to paper!

Prof. Rinehart

The Writing Process (preparing part two ... and Step Two: Planning)

Last time, we talked about the first step of the writing process, focusing on determining your purpose and your audience. I ended with determining your subject and mentioned that it's often necessary to do some brainstorming to get started (this is still part of the preparing process).

There are three brainstorming activities I often recommend: freewriting, clustering, and mind-mapping.

The theory with freewriting is that you start with an idea or a thought and expand on it through just writing whatever comes to mind. This is a great exercise for kinesthetic learners because it gives them a hands-on approach. The theory with clustering is that you start with an idea or a thought and expand on it through logical hierarchy. This is a great exercise for visual learners because it gives them a linear view. Mind-mapping is a combination of the two and works well with most learners.

Okay. You've completed step one! You've determined your purpose, audience, and subject.

FINALLY!

Let's move on to Step Two: Planning.

This step is often skipped, but I learned the hard way how important it is. I used to skip planning. I'd go directly from preparing to drafting, and usually did okay in high school and as an undergrad. However, when I started grad school and began writing longer papers, I realized how important a good outline can be (my first few papers weren't as well-structured as they could have been, and once I began outlining, my drafts flowed much more smoothly!). I encourage you to incorporate this step with all your writing assignments!

When you begin planning, follow these four steps:



You will have determined your topic during your preparing, so now you're delving more deeply into that topic. A couple of blogs ago, I talked about developing a good thesis, so review that blog as a refresher. As a quick reminder:



Next, put together an outline (the same blog mentioned above deals with outlines as well, so take a look at it again). Outlines help to structure your essay and help you determine if you have enough support.


A sample outline:





See how a good outline can help structure your essay? If you have solid main and supporting points, you already have your paragraph topics!

Once you've written your thesis and have a well-developed outline, you're ready to move on to Step Three: Drafting. We'll talk about this next time.

Keep pen to paper!

Prof. Rinehart

The Writing Process: Step One (Preparing, part one)

One of the most difficult parts of writing is simply getting started. I highly recommend your following some kind of process to help get past that dreaded "writer's block." If you Google "writing process," you'll get countless responses. Some recommend three steps; others recommend five steps. I recommend seven. This blog will cover the first step: Preparing.

Before we start, let's take a quick true/false quiz.

So, what do you think?

Now, comes the hard part. While you may feel confident that you're not alone in this sometimes frustrating world of essay writing, you still may be asking: How do I get started?

STEP #1: Preparing

First, you need to determine three key elements: Purpose, Audience, and Subject. Until you know these three things, you can't really get started.

Purpose is the "why." Why are you writing this essay? The obvious answer for academic essays is often "to get a grade." While that's certainly true, you also need to understand what kind of essay you're writing. Are telling a story? Analyzing a piece of literature?  Explaining a procedure? You need to decide what your purpose is.

Next, you need to determine your audience. This is the "who." To whom are you writing? Yes, your instructor will be reading your paper (and of course, grading it!), but usually, he or she is standing in for a general audience.

Finally, you need to determine your subject. This is the "what." About what are you writing? Most often with academic papers, your subject will be given to you (or at least you'll have a choice of prompts or subjects). If this is the case, you can go write on to developing your thesis (see blog on that topic). However, if you find yourself having to come up with a topic of your own, you may want to try some brainstorming. Unfortunately, I'm running out of space, so come back next time for brainstorming and Step Two: Planning.

Keep pen to paper!

Prof. Rinehart

Thesis Statements and Outlines

Well ... if you're following this blog, you may have thought I'd disappeared. No, it just turned into an incredibly hectic season.

I'm hoping to get back to an every week or two week schedule, so please come back periodically!

One thing I hear often from my students is how difficult it is to get started. The next two blogs will cover the writing process, but as a starting point, today, I'm going to offer some advice regarding how to write a solid thesis statement and outline. These are the foundations of a solid academic essay.

Writing a solid, easy-to-support thesis statement may seem difficult, but it's really not as difficult as it seems. In addition, outlines help you organize your thoughts and make certain you have support for your thesis.

So, the first question is obvious: What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement:

• States the theme or gives the point of your paper in one sentence.
• Is essentially your paper in a sentence.
• States what you plan to say, describe, or prove in your paper.
• Tells your reader what you want him or her to know about your paper.

For academic essays, most of the time, you'll be given a prompt or a topic about which you're to write. So, if your prompt is to write an essay that compares and contrasts two things, you need to ask yourself, What areas will I compare and what areas will I contrast?

To keep it simple, let's compare and contrast domesticated dogs and cats.

How are they the same?

• They can both be great pets.
• They both offer companionship.
• They both need to be fed and cared for.

How are they different?

• Dogs tend to be more dependent while cats tend to be more independent.
• Dogs learn tricks while cats don't seem to care to be trained.
• Dogs can be more empathetic while cats don't seem to care about their humans.

Once you've determined your areas of comparison and contrast, you can write your thesis statement:

While both dogs and cats can be great pets, dogs are usually more dependent, trainable, and empathetic whereas cats tend to be more independent, stubborn, and apathetic.

You can revise with your thesis as you go through the writing process (again, come back in the next few weeks for more on that topic).

Once you've determine a working thesis statement, the next step is writing an outline. You can start by using some of the bullets you used in determining your thesis. Keeping in mind that most academic essays require a minimum of three major points, a template for outlines could be something like this:

I. Introductory paragraph including thesis statement

II.  Major point #1

1. Supporting point
2. Supporting point
3. Supporting point

III. Major point #2

1. Supporting point
2. Supporting point
3. Supporting point

IV. Major point #3

1. Supporting point
2. Supporting point
3. Supporting point

V. Concluding paragraph

So, going back to our dog versus cat example, your outline might look something like this:

I. Introductory paragraph

II.  Similarities between dogs and cats

1. They're both popular pets.
2. They both offer companionship.
3. They both require care and responsibility.

III. Distinctions of dogs

1. Dogs are eager to please and dependent.
2. Dogs are easy to train.
3. Dogs are empathetic to their owners' emotions.

IV. Distinctions of cats

1. Cats are independent.
2. Cats are more stubborn and difficult to train.
3. Cats are apathetic and indifferent to their owners' emotions.

V. Concluding paragraph

If you can master writing thesis statements and outlines, you'll find your essays will be easier to write as well. As I always say, practice these concepts. Only by practicing and perfecting your writing can you be as effective as you want to be.

Keep pen to paper!

Professor Rinehart

Ooops! How to avoid common sentence errors.

Hello again!

Last week, we looked at the four ways sentences are structured in English writing. Can you name them? (No peeking! Okay, if you need to peek, go ahead and do so!) Even more, can you use them correctly in your writing?

As I said, once you grasp the proper way to structure sentences, you're well on your way to building a solid foundation in your essays. However, it's really easy to make mistakes. Take a look at today's video about common sentence errors (good news: there are only three!):

Come back next week and learn about the exciting world of prepositions!

Keep pen to paper!

Professor Rinehart (or Saundra or Sauni ... you pick a title!)

Inaugral Post

Hello terrified writers!

If you've read my profile, you know I've been teaching composition and literature at the college level since 1999. I am passionate about the English language. Seriously passionate. I love to read more than just about anything else. In fact, the only thing better than reading is doing so by a clear mountain lake, just a whisper of a breeze through the trees.

As much as I love to read, I love to write. I've self-published several books, have seen my work in several anthologies, and have free-lanced for local papers. I have to admit: I'm also a "hopeful" novelist. I've finished the first books in two different trilogies. Perhaps one of these days, I'll actually do something about them.

Now, you may be asking yourself, why another blog about writing? Aren't there countless such sites already? Well, yes. However, this blog has a two-fold purpose.

The first (and more important) is that it is a resource for my students, especially those I teach online. While I certainly post information on the appropriate portal, there's only so much I can do online ... or even in the classroom. This blog gives me the opportunity to expand on classroom discussions, presentations, lectures, and readings. I'll be able to go into more detail or offer other ways of tackling assignments.

The second purpose is that we all learn differently. People who are looking for help with their writing might stumble upon a video or blog that I've produced, and for some reason, my approach makes more sense. In addition, I'll sometimes touch on issues, such as how to publish or how to combat writers block, that might be helpful for any writer.

Frankly, whatever we can do to get the message out and help people become more effective writers is fine with me.

I'll be posting lectures, presentations, and other helpful hints each Friday, so bookmark this page, and join the discussion. The first "real" post will be this Friday, July 12. See you then!

Keep that pen moving!

"Professor Rinehart" (as my students call me) or (more formally) "Saundra" or just plain "Sauni"