Monday, October 22, 2018

How do I EDIT an Essay?


What is Meant by EDIT an Essay?
                                           
Editing is not the same as revising. 
Revising is the seeing again of your essay at the sentence-level, at the paragraph-level, and as a fully-formed essay. 
Editing is where you go through your essay and check for grammatical issues in word choice, spelling, and contraction use.

Edit Writing for…
Elements of Style
Understand 1st, 2nd, 3rd Voice so that you can properly use them
Eliminate Improper Font Usage
Carefully Choose Your Word Choice for Academic/Professional Terms
Eliminate Clichés
Eliminate all Contractions
Eliminate Questions from your body-paragraphs
Handouts and Style Guides


What is Editing?
Editing is a step in the Writing Process often dreaded by students due to their lack of grammatical knowledge. 

To be able to properly EDIT your work, you need to pay attention to the comments from previous writings you have submitted for review.   The feedback on those writings will let you know your common errors, and from there, you can begin looking for and modifying these errors in your writing.  Your instructors have taken time to review your writings and provide you with constructive feedback.  Do not overlook these comments as they will greatly improve your future writings—if you take the time to eliminate these issues.

Editing Assistance
Editing the Essay, Part One
Editing the Essay, Part Two
Tips on Grammar, Punctuation and Style

Common Errors
Stylistic Guidelines
As, Because, and Since
Behalf Of vs. On Behalf Of
Use of Brackets
Capitalization Rules
Confusing Words and Homonyms
(Connecting Sentences) Commas & Semicolons
Different Than
Different From and Different Than
Ellipsis Marks
The Elusive En Dash
English Usage Videos
Good vs. Well
Good, Well, or Fine?
Grammar Rules
Hyphens
Hyphenation with Numbers and Units of Measure
Idioms
Into vs. In To
Its vs. It’s
Lie vs. Lay
On to vs. Onto
Parentheses
(All About) Parentheses
Prepositions
Punctuation or Chaos
Punctuation Rules
Semicolons
Sic for Sick Sentences
Subject-Verb Agreement
Using Commas, Semicolons, and Colons
Whoever vs. Whomever
Would vs. Used To
Writing Dates & Times
Writing Numbers
Editing for Style


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Saturday, October 13, 2018

Your Instructors

... are the Experts!


Standards for Writing: Basics 
As the class starts, you could be wondering, “What is my instructor going to expect me to write?”  Well, the beginning of this document contains basics to help you get a general feel for the writing that will be acceptable in our class, and the rest of this handout will explain more elaborately the details associated with writing in a persuasive, academic-style while arguing a point.  Be sure to use the links provided at the bottom so that you can properly arrange your content and flow.




Learning from the Experts—Your Instructors

I remember my years in college, where I mistakenly believed that my professors had to allow me open-creativity while completing my assignments.  After all, I was an adult, now. 
I was led to believe that after high school, I would get to begin making my own choices in life: whether positive or negative.  However, this did not happen in my college classes, nor did it occur in the ‘jobs’ that I worked to help pay for my studies. 
Each professor—no matter the discipline of the course—had a specific requirement that I had to follow.  Whether it was the precise set-up of my Chemistry lab reports, the required step-by-step showing of my equation solutions in Calculus, or the seemingly restrictive structure of my essays in Studies in Medieval Literature, I was certain that I knew how to organize, sort, and present my information better than they did.
Looking back, I now realize that they were correct.  Each professor—whether I liked or personally related to him or her—had insights that I did not.  Each professor had experience in his/her field-of-study and knew best how to most productively succeed in that field. 
It only took me through my first year of college-level-studies to realize that the structure and organization touted by each of these professors, in their given fields, were the most logical and useful way of proceeding.  While I did not always agree with their personal views, one thing I could not dispute was that they all knew how to be methodical in their fields.
I retell this so that you can, hopefully, learn more quickly than I did to respect the experience of professors.  While you may not always like their approach, beliefs, or views of the world, their experience in their fields are valuable. 
Once you have learned from them—throughout your years of study—you have the option of stepping out of that ‘box’ of organized, prescribed structure and venturing out on your own.  However, while within the confines of the academic society, you will want to follow the pattern of presentation pre-set by your field.  In our case, this is writing. 
There are basic standards for writing in English.  While your content may be subjectively reflected upon at times, the structure of your writing is objectively scored based on whether you have followed the pre-set conventions that best work to order ideas in a predictable and informative way. 
Please review the organizational structure below and know that there is a method to my (writing) madness. 
There is a reason that I want you to follow a specific order in your writing.  It is not so that I can have control over you. 
I want you to follow this order so that YOU can have CONTROL over your presentation of material and CONTROL over the way you lead your reader through your argument. 
I believe you will find ease and comfort in this structure once you use it effectively.  Try to respect the experience of those whom you have gone to for education and guidance.  We are here to help.


Introduction
Parts of an Introduction
Body-Paragraphs
The BODY of an Essay
Conclusions
Wrapping it All Up for the Reader
Revision and Editing
Double Check These Items
General Content
Drafting Your Essay
Rhetorical Devices and Strategies
Basics


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