A strong start to any writing assignment can set you up for success with whatever project. Staying organized helps with motivation and time management and can guide you through writer’s block. These are some tips I’ve gathered along the way which will let you tackle your next assignment. Breaking down an assignment into smaller steps … Continue reading Staying Organized Throughout the Writing Process
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Writing Content for Search Engines
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I have avoided writing this article for probably eight years now, maybe more. We get asked a lot about the skills needs to write pages that rank. It is such a spammy topic and one that seems like you only write if you yourself are trying to get traffic from search engines and claim you … Continue reading Writing Content for Search Engines
Developing a Thesis
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We’ve covered a few aspects of writing that can be applied to several situations and forms. The thesis is a bit different; while every piece of writing should have some type of thesis or purpose statement, the ways in which writers craft their theses depend entirely on the type of writing. As with my other … Continue reading Developing a Thesis
Writing a Conclusion
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Just as every piece of writing needs an introduction, every piece of writing needs a conclusion. As with my piece on introductions, I’m going to discuss this aspect of writing in the context of an academic, analytical paper. However, my comments and suggestions can be easily applied to nearly any type of writing or form. An effective … Continue reading Writing a Conclusion
Writing an Introduction
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Introductions are essential to a piece of writing’s structure and argumentative or narrative development. A good introduction will grab the reader’s attention, provide enough background information for the reader to understand the topic, define necessary terms, make clear the writer’s driving question or problem, and provide a roadmap for the direction the writing will take. … Continue reading Writing an Introduction
Most people develop writing skills and techniques in school—through writing essays, papers, and opinions. However, not many people formally learn how to craft analytic essays. In my next few posts, I am going to try to fill that gap. There are countless parts to an analytic essay, and understanding the function of these pieces is … Continue reading Discussing Essay Structure as Various Parts and Functions
Most of my experience and memory with writing and writing skills education comes from high school and college—both as a student and later as an instructor—but I recently had a chance to sit down with Jennifer, a primary school educator who had lots of experience teaching reading skills to young children. After all, you have … Continue reading Teaching Reading Skills to Young Children
5-Paragraph Essay Construction Revisited
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You know the one we’re talking about. The 5-paragraph essay is composed of a one-paragraph introduction (head), 3 main paragraphs (body), and one concluding paragraph (tail). First, you clearly state a thesis which explains to the reader what you’re going to tell them. Then, you tell them. Finally, you sum up what you’ve said in … Continue reading 5-Paragraph Essay Construction Revisited
One of the things we’ve heard from and told to writers is that you should look to vary your sentence length and structure. Ask them why, however, and you’re liable to get a range of answers that all kind of circle around the same insight: Because that’s how you create voice. Because that’s how people … Continue reading Exploring Varied Sentence Structure and Length
How Math People can Approach Writing
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One of the ways in which I like to recognize that writing is a skill is that it can be easily distinguished from general intelligence. To be fair, there is definitely a connection. I’ve talked to psychologists and linguists who say one of the individual measures that are most closely related to general intelligence is … Continue reading How Math People can Approach Writing
I’ve heard a lot of great writing advice over the years. To cast away the 5-paragraph essay and staid, over-standardized rules, I think of the succinct quote from Elmore Leonard. “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” To maintain my passion for writing even when it doesn’t feel like fun anymore, I think of … Continue reading What’s the Single Best Piece of Advice to Teach Writing Skills?