Thursday, March 5, 2020
How Your School May Have ruined your essay writing and online writing
How Your School May Have ruined your essay writing and online writing Most of us eventually realize that the things we learned in school donât always apply out in the real world. This fact is especially true in terms of our writing habits.I have been a private writing instructor for close to 10 years now and entered college at 16 myself. Most of my students are college students, though Iâve also taught middle and high-schoolers. Public education is a stressful and often thankless field, and I am not criticizing the many wonderful, hard-working teachers of the world. Rather, Iâm pointing out that the average English teacherâs job is to teach you the grammar and rules of VERY basic academic writing, generally in preparation for standardized tests. While these are undeniably important skills for that context, they donât all transfer to college and the real world. Here are three things that worked for your school papers school that you want to avoid online and in your admission essay. Finally, why am I talking about online and admissions in the same breath? These days, many colleges are now accepting online and html applications. If this does not apply to you, just file away the info about web writing for later. You're going to need it once you get to the university of your choice!*Pointless ElaborationIf youâve ever found yourself tempted to refer to Websterâs dictionary while struggling to write an introduction, youâre not alone. Similarly, if youâve ever wanted to use something like âFor the entire history of [insert field here], man has sought [insert value here]â to open a paper, you were probably doing so to fill up the assignmentâs minimum page count. By requiring you to fill up a certain amount of pages, your English teacher unwittingly taught you to use a lot of words to say very little. In online, college, and business contexts, being concise and clear are your top priorities as a writer. Let me repeat: good writing is clear, concise content. Avoid summarizing to fill space: it tends to be redundant, especially when you can link to/cite whatever youâre referencing. Think about your audience, and assume that they know the basics of your subject. Avoid jargon and clichés like the plague. They don't make you sound smarter.*Terrible Document DesignMost high school and college papers require the same recycled format: 12-point, Times New Roman font, double-spaced. Usually you will have to have a header. The double-spacing is practical in this context. For a teacher, itâs much easier to make notes and corrections in the spaces between lines. However, this practice also leads to many students never understanding the importance of white space. Though subtle, white space is one way that you know this paragraph isnât about the exact same topic as the one just before it. The space between paragraphs and headers helps the reader visually navigate a piece of writing. This visual cue is especially important online, where people tend to skim writing for its most interesting and relevant pieces. Headers and lists serve a similar function, though if your teacher was an MLA style purist, you probably never had occasion to use them in school. *Wordy, Excessively Formal ProseâDonât write how you talkâ is a common mantra of the grade-school English teacher. In the age of text-speak, most kids need to be told not to use acronyms and abbreviations. But often, this point gets driven home to hard, causing older students to try to âsound smart.â A common side-effect of this is using unnecessarily long or obscure words: âutilizeâ instead of âuse,â âequilibriumâ instead of âbalance,â etc. Rather than making the writer look smart, these verbal gymnastics make the writer seem pompous. (Ironically, someone who does this can be described as âsesquipedalian.â) Avoid verbose or confusing terms by choosing the simplest way to say what you need to say. Donât say âdue toâ or âin lieu ofâ where âbecauseâ or âinsteadâ will get the job done. As a rule, online writingâ"whether on a blog, social media, or message boardâ"tends to be informal. Context is the key to making decisions about mechanics and grammar. Avoiding contractions may be appropriate for a research paper, but in blogging thatâs simply not the case (see what I did there?). A sentence fragment would be out of place in a literary analysis, but can offer emphasis and style in conversation or story-telling. Many college applications have a narrative option for the essay prompts--mine had one about escaping from a pit of menacing wolves with a list of pre-prescribed items!Calvin and Hobbes, credited to creator of that legendary comic!As a rule, online writingâ"whether on a blog, social media, or message boardâ"tends to be informal. Context is the key to making decisions about mechanics and grammar. Avoiding contractions may be appropriate for a research paper, but in blogging thatâs simply not the case (see what I did there?). A sentence fragment would be out of place in a literary analysis, but can offer emphasis and style in conversation or story-telling.For your essay, you will:Avoid contractions, Allow yourself many drafts/brainstorms/ideas/topicsBe yourself/Brag a little (but make it a humblebrag!)Clearly and Concisely Convey your ContwntBut beyond that, stand out! What is unique about you? Why are you any different and why should the reader not sail your essay into the garbage? Grab attention and go forth from there! Good luck! If you're in Austin, I can help you craft the perfect essay.
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