Writing Advice From a Novice...

What makes a great writer?  Some witty prose and fancy words?  Excellent sentence structure?  Perhaps conviction and clarity in the work?  It is my opinion that there is no "magic" recipe for a great paper. 

What are some important things to do/rules to follow to make your paper better, from the point of view of a novice writer, typing this blog for an assignment in WRIT 101?   I'm so glad you asked! 

1.  Write, write, write.  I for one write quite often.  Mainly it is an avenue for me to release frustrations, concerns, and fears after physical activities have failed as methods to release these types of stress from my life.  I have never been incredibly effective at vocal communication methods.  I think this is the reason I have always enjoyed writing.  When I was young, I would write short stories with plots running parallel to my own life.  I wouldn't share them or even really tell anyone about them; it was merely a stress-reduction technique I adapted to my own life.  Write, then destroy the writing.  When I was in grade school, my teachers were constantly praising my stories; this continued through high school.  I am confident that the quality of those writings was due mainly to the fact that I had already written countless pages on menial subjects, trying to turn silly subjects into something I would find interesting when I read what I had written prior to destroying the work.  The old adage "Practice makes perfect" seems to ring true; though I doubt I will ever have the necessary amount of practice to write a "perfect" paper.

2.  Grammar.  There is nothing that can destroy your message faster than improper grammar.  Grammar can make the paper shine, or it can turn it into something that your audience cannot tolerate to read.  Sentence fragments, run-on sentences, over-utilization of punctuation (e.g. commas, semicolons, colons) is something that EVERYONE is guilty of at one point or another.  I, for one, tend to insert excessive commas every time I write a first draft.  They may even survive into the second or third draft.  I know I do it, so when I am editing I tend to become overly-critical of commas and remove MORE than need to be removed. 

3.  An 'outside' eye.  Someone should always read your paper before you are finished.  Even if you consider it to be perfect, always get someone else to read it and give you comments on the paper.  While we may be happy with our writing, something we need to remember is that we are not writing it for ourselves.  If we love it and our audience hates it; we may as well have never written it.  I always have a few of my local family members give me notes on major papers before I call it a "finished draft." 

4.  Build your paper.  Every word, every sentence, and every paragraph contributes a brick, a wall, a room to the construction project that is your paper.  Think about it as such:  If you were building a house, you would have to have some sort of floor plan put together so you have something to guide you through construction, right?  So why would you randomly try to group things together for a paper, paying no mind to the placement or flow of the paper?  Try constructing an outline before writing your first draft; make the order of information logical and as easy to follow as you can.  The better your layout is, the easier and more pleasant your paper will be to read. 

5.  Don't be critical, Be the largest critic.  This phrase may not make a lot of sense right off the bat.  My intention here is to say early in the writing process you should consider every word, every phrase, every sentence to be suitable.  Don't pay attention to the details; get your idea and message on the paper.  When this is roughed-in, re-read and edit, change, add, or subtract points to clarify your message.  Once you have the message 'honed' to what you want to say and how you want to say it, have someone else read your paper.  Take their notes and combine them with your own thoughts on the paper.  Scrutinize your work as though you were reading someone else's paper.  Read it as though you carry a grudge against the author.  Mark it up.  Destroy anything you think could be better, write notes on how the author could improve it, then get going on revision.  Incorporate your own notes, as well as those of the outside source as you see fit.  To me, revision is THE major step in the writing process.  No one will ever get every aspect of a paper 100% perfectly honed.  But that shouldn't stop you from trying to be the one who does.

From one novice to his classmates, these are things that I believe to be very important to the writing process.  Take them or leave them, I am sure your papers will turn out well.  Best of luck in your endeavors in WRIT 101, and I look forward to hearing about your success.

Which Might it Be?

1. After high school I dedicated nearly 10 years of my life to the military before moving back home, working a few years, and starting school.


2.  Up until a few years ago I ran a sled team; I didn't race, I simply ran them in the mountains through the winter.  I still care for 10 dogs though they are no longer a working team

3.  I was a very athletic young man, playing football mainly; I played on the losing-est team in the state of Montana

The Big Bang Theory

     I admit it.  I love nerd-based humor.  This series, about a group of "power nerds," demonstrates the oddities and quirks of the super-intelligent in a humorous fashion.  With a combined IQ over 590, the three main characters embark on the typical day to day tasks, one hopelessly in love with the beautiful woman who lives across the hall, another wholly unable to even speak in the presence of a woman, and the third, too intellectual to consider breeding worth his while.  True to life, this show is low on the debauchery meter and high on the geek-humor.  Plenty of jokes involving verbage the average person has absolutely no chance of deciphering paired with jokes made "on the level" of those of us with sub-160 IQ's, all the while making you wonder what ever would make a grown man decide he is going to transfer his personality into a robot, so that he may bless the world with his mind even after his body dies.  As difficult as it may be to believe, much of the humor and value of this show really is derived from situations that everyone finds themselves in at one time or another, they merely present themselves on the show in ways that we may not be overly-excited about in real life.  For example, perhaps you won't get a chance to visit the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, but chances are at one point or another you'll get the chance to do something you've always wanted to do, and maybe your friends will argue and try to bargain their way into accompanying you.  This is the show that can brighten my day every time.  Thought-worthy story, unpredictable jokes, quirky humor, and a gorgeous blonde neighbor.  How can you go wrong?
     

Op- Ed -itorium. Not a word? Piffle.

                Trifecta of Torment.  This is the title of an op-ed piece I read regarding the differences between democrat and republican policies on employment and financial matters.  I found this piece to be rather entertaining, though a bit slanted, as most op-ed’s tend to be.  This piece, to me, carries in its words a strong ethos, makes me believe what the writer is portraying.  Perhaps I find this to be the case because I agreed with him before I started reading, who knows?  The whole article, from my point of view emanates with logical statements, or logos.  It seems as though this article could sway the views of a non-extremist view, though I doubt anything will get through the hard-shell that is the extremist point of view from the right.  Perhaps the pathos meter is a bit lower than the others, but all in all I enjoyed reading the article, likely because it did agree mainly with my train of thought.

                Is Facebook a horrible, vapid waste of time?  I tend to lean toward yes.  But, as always, there is that little voice in the back of my head telling me if I remove my profile time and space could tear apart at the seams.  Okay, not quite to that extent, but for some people that truly seems to be the case.  As is the subject matter in the op-ed piece Facebook, I just can't quit you.  The author speaks of Facebook as though it is the “in” thing to have a profile.  Just as in the 90’s you weren’t “connected” unless you had a pager, and later, a cell-phone; you now cannot be “connected” unless you have a facebook page.  Sadly, this does seem to be the case for a lot of people; heck, I even have a facebook page, though I am careful not to use it much, and I never put anything deeply personal on there.  Just my paranoia perhaps.  I found myself agreeing with what this author had to say, though I was wishing it weren’t true.  Despite my need to disagree, this article was written in a very sensible manner, plainly stating how important Facebook is to survival in today’s “high-tech” times.

                An amusing article about the naivety of people was New York is Yours for the Taking, in this piece a sarcastic author explains how every New Yorker tries to fool themselves with a small town mentality.  As we know, New York is a MASSIVE city.  One should never leave anything where anyone could possibly get their hands on it.  Leave your phone in a cab?  Maybe everyone in your phone book will get a txt message asking when last they were tested.  Maybe, on the rare occasion, it will be returned by a kind soul.  But really what do you suppose the odds are of that actually happening in a city of 19 Million people (give or take)?  I agree mainly with the sarcastic, skeptical attitude I picked up through the words in this piece.  Through that, the piece has good ethos and pathos from my point of view.  Is it just me, or does it sound quite strange and awkward to incorporate words such as ethos, pathos, and logos to a paper? 

Just as I suspected...

ISTJ - "Trustee". Decisiveness in practical affairs. Guardian of time- honored institutions. Dependable. 11.6% of total population.

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Enneagram Test Results Type 1 Perfectionism |||||||||||||| 60% Type 2 Helpfulness |||||||||||| 43% Type 3 Image Awareness |||| 16% Type 4 Sensitivity |||||||||||| 43% Type 5 Detachment |||||||||||||||| 70% Type 6 Anxiety |||||||||||||| 53% Type 7 Adventurousness |||||||||||| 50% Type 8 Aggressiveness |||||||||||||| 56% Type 9 Calmness |||||||||||||||| 63% Your main type is 5 Your variant is self pres

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Main type	Variant

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      After taking three of these tests, two of the three have told me the same thing shown above, which I can relate to.  The third told me I was a "very social being, overly sensitive to external criticism."  I know the people in this class don't know me well, but this isn't me.  
      In regard to the results shown above, in short, they infer that I am a withdrawn personality, living in my own world.  I can see this being somewhat accurate as I am not the person who tends to be out to meet people.  As a matter of fact, I am not the person you want to talk to if you're looking for a sympathetic point of view in regard to the human race as a whole.  Personal problems?  I'll gladly listen and offer my sympathy, even try to cheer you up; but ask me for a sympathetic ear on a subject which I view as something we as a species have brought upon ourselves (which is most issues people will talk about regarding the human race) and I will not have much positive to say.  The results from my tests also speak of me having traits trending toward self-preservation.  True, but to a point.  I have been in bad situations, and know from experience that I will throw myself into the jet-blast from an F-18 on the flight deck of a carrier if it means I can stop you from being blown overboard into a 70-100 foot fall to the ocean, so I know I am not all about me.  That being said, I do tend to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best.  I have a "bug-out" bag which is always packed and in my car, I have freeze-dried food, and I possess wilderness survival skills that make me confident that, worst-case scenario, I have a better chance at survival than the average person.  
     I'm sure I sound like a conspiracy nutter.  I do not believe that something horrible is going to happen to decimate the human population.  I merely like the prospect of being prepared and knowledgeable enough to know I will survive.  I suppose this shows that, as the results say, I need to be knowledgeable and independent to be happy, eh?  Among my other "higher" scores is Calmness.  I never realized this was a personality trait; I guess I always thought of it more as a relaxing state of mind, temporary to the occasion.  
     The low score.  Image awareness.  This eludes to me not being concerned with impressing the people I meet or stressing over a first impression.  I don't believe that you can learn much of anything about someone from the "first impression."  The only thing you will accomplish through a first impression is a stereotypical judgment which is rarely 100% accurate.  It amuses me that people might decide they do or do not like me or someone else simply by looking at them.  I will not let you know much about me until I know you; I know it may not be a fair system, but I don't entrust my personal life to everyone I meet.  I don't believe in personality tests much more than I do first impressions.  While answering the questions, how many people will be 100% honest with every answer?  My money is on few to none.  Perhaps it is my skeptical side shining through, but people as a whole (not excluding myself or anyone else I know) have an inherent need to impress.  To make themselves sound better than they are.  I am citing no references for this because it is my opinion, and mine alone.  
     So the questions on the test are answered, in theory, honestly.  Now there is an algorithm that computes your personality traits and issues you with a personality type which is worded in a way which has been determined to be "least offensive" to the typical reader.   Part of my skepticism stems from the fact that I can take multiple tests and 1/3 of the results from similar tests tell me I love being around people while the others say I am a solitude-seeker.  Granted in this case 2/3 were pretty accurate to my personality, from my own point of view, I believe that if you already know how you think (and I suspect you do) then why are you taking these tests in the first place?  Unless, of course, it is for a college level writing class so  you may expunge the information into a blog and find out what your classmates and instructor thought of your documentation.