Online Writing

As you work on your final projects for the semester, remember  that you not only want them done, but done right.  Think you want to spice up the paper with a few big words?  Look them up first!  Assuming a word fits if you are not certain can end up making you look silly- and result in a deduction in points. 

So, what is an easy fix for this potential problem? www.dictionary.com  You will also find a thesaurus here.  It takes only a few moments to look up a word.  After all, you will already be at your computer! 

Remember also that online tutoring is available 24 hours-a-day!  Good luck on your papers and the end of the semester!

Did you know that APA recently revised their style guide?  Yep, that’s right- even more stuff to learn.  So, why should you care?  Hmmmm….  Well, besides being accurate simply for the sake of accuracy, you may find it interesting that some of these changes involve improving access to online sources.

Straight from the mouth of the beast: “All content on the Internet is prone to being moved, restructured, or deleted, resulting in broken hyperlinks and nonworking URLs in the reference list. In an attempt to resolve this problem, many scholarly publishers have begun assigning a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to journal articles and other documents” (http://www.apastyle.org/elecmedia.html).

Now, what can you do with this information?  Well, you could throw around your newly learned three-letter acronym as if it is old news.  “You don’t know about DOI?!”  Or, you could shock and impress your instructors with this advanced knowledge.  It takes a while for this kind of regulation to get around educational circles.  Be the first on your block to use it!

The most exciting thing about DOI is what it says about the educational world in general- we are going digital!!!  This is exciting.  Yes, we have been working towards digitization for a while now, but this is one more point of evidence that digital works are going to be a mainstay.  Need more proof?  Look at all of the digital history sites (both physical institutes and websites) that are popping up.  Very exciting. 

So, where should you put the DOI? After the last period following pages numbers type doi: 010292374017340198 (or whatever the number actually is).

That’s what is new with APA.

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Sometimes, after spending hours or even days on a paper, the last thing you want to do is start all over again with revision.  I liken it to climbing a mountain just to see you have yet another to cross.  However, there are some steps you can take to make this process less painful.

First, developing good writing habits means less revision is needed.  Don’t know where to start?  Pick anything.  Develop a habit of writing out words instead of using contractions.  This is a simple habit that will save you a lot of time in the long run.  Once you write several papers where you consciously look out for contractions, it will become second nature.  Now that you can apply this rule easily, try something else. 

Second, read the paper aloud.  I cannot emphasize this enough.  If you have to catch your breath while reading the paper, your sentences are too long and quite possibly run-ons.  Aside from run-ons, there are a million other things you can catch just by hearing what you wrote.   I read to my dog and he sits and tilts his head and he is quite interested in what I have to say, I assure you.  Of course, he can’t actually help me fix the problems; that’s my job.

Third, remember that everyone revises.  Your instructors revise, grad students revise, business execs revise, we all revise.  Don’t look at it as a punishment, look at it as a necessity.

Finally, recognize that sometimes revising your own paper just isn’t enough.  Do you need help?  I know I do!  I write and read dozens of papers a week and I still like to get a second opinion. 

To review: 1) develop good writing habits, one by one; 2) read your work aloud; 3) remember you are not alone; and 4) get feedback.

Writing papers in college is training for writing in the real world- from a career in business all the way to research in academics.  Part of that training involves learning the difference between writing formally and informally.  Here are some things to think about when writing formal papers:

• Do not use contractions in papers.  Contractions make the writing look lazy and informal.
• Do not use slang or colloquialisms in a paper.  He hit the nail on the head might mean he got it exactly right to you, but someone else might take it literally and wonder why you are talking about construction. 
• Do not end a sentence with etc.  It looks either lazy or as if the writer could not finish his or her thought.

These are all easy fixes to a paper that will make it look like you took the time to polish your writing.�

Wordiness in a paper distracts readers from the content and style. It may be tempting to use wordy and flowery phrases in an effort to boost word count or in order to appear more artistic. Ultimately, wordiness detracts from the quality of a paper. Instead of using phrases like How is it that, use the word Why. Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, a source every college student should know well, provides an excellent summary of this topic. Did you know you can access this source online? Here is the link: The Elements of Style

Meet the Online Tutors

When: Monday, January 28, 2008
Where: Hallway outside of the PDR
Who: Tammy Clark- Online Tutor Coordinator and Online Writing Tutor
Suzanne Cercone- Online Math Tutor
What: We will have a drawing for a Superbowl gift basket- just in time for Superbowl weekend! We will also be showing you the ropes of online tutoring and getting your feedback on the program.

We look forward to meeting you!

When an instructor asks you to make an outline for a paper, you may moan and groan about it. After all, why do all that extra work? They ask for a reason- it actually saves you time in the revision process!

Writing an outline may take a few moments of your time. It might also keep you from diving right into the paper. However, time spent here saves time during revision. It is much harder to conceptualize the proper layout of the paper once it is already written. Here is an easy guide to writing an outline for a paper:

I. Introduction
A. Thesis sentence
II. Topic One (each topic should support your thesis)
A. Supporting evidence
B. Quotations to include (with page numbers so you can cite them correctly)
C. Sources for in-text citations (for easy reference)
III. Topic Two
IV. Topic Three
V. Conclusion

Now when you go to write the paper, all you have to do is simply convert your outline into text. The outline also makes it easier to see in what order your topics should go. Do you want them to progress through time, from general to more specific, or geographically? The outline is the best place to see this layout and cut and paste as necessary.

Check out the contest on Keystone’s ACT 101 contest page.

Could it be any easier? I think not.

Online writing tutoring is available via synchronous chat two nights a week in blackboard:
Sunday nights from 7-9 and Wednesday nights from 8-10.

You can pop in and just ask a quick question. You can also email me your paper and we can go over it together. “See” you there!

In an effort to better serve you- I would like to know what you want to see on this blog. Curious about a faculty member? See the same comments on your papers over and over again and don’t know how to address the problem? Let me know. I will post an entry that deals with the topics that students want to hear. After all, this blog is for and about students. We aim to please!

Simply click on the comments button below this post and submit your question/comment. I look forward to hearing from you!