Tips to conquer writing ~ Uconn events and resources

When I came to this university I certainly did not expect to actually need help with my writing. I expected everything to be as simple as it was in high school, but, unfortunately, I was mistaken. You will find that the professor’s here have very high expectations and what you thought may be worthy of an ‘A’ might actually come back to you with a big fat ‘C’ in that horrible red ink pen on the front of your paper. It is helpful to know where you can turn to when the paper you are asked to write seems a little too difficult or if you need a better understanding of how to do some aspect of writing.

 What I did not know was that, here at the Stamford regional campus at Uconn we have a place where you can go to get help with your writing. Sure, you may be a little nervous at first or ashamed at the fact that you need help, but there is nothing to worry about because it might just end up saving your paper and your overall grades.

 Visit the Student services room 2.01, you can call 203-251-8484 to make an appointment and you will get yourself a 40 minute session with a writing consultant in room 302.

All you need to do is bring in the assignment sheet and instructions (and maybe your paper if you have it written and want help with that) and they would be happy to assist you in any stage of your writing process.

Now, don’t get me wrong, they will not rewrite your paper for you it’s just too good to be true, they want your paper to show your own thoughts, ideas and opinions. They are there to train you into becoming a better, more confident writer.

I urge you to take advantage of this opportunity if you are ever doubtful in your writing ability for it could really turn your writing around.

Be sure to keep a look out for events coming up that involve writing, you could really benefit from them. I happened to attend one event on using and quoting sources with the MLA style. I remember thinking, oh great this is going to be so boring and pointless I totally know how to do MLA already that’s too easy. But, actually, I found it to be extremely beneficial and even entertaining. Melissa Mullins, who is one of our english professors did a great job at keeping everyone who attended entertained with her quirky humor and with the way she interacted with everyone. I learned things that I really had no idea how to do like citing sources with more than one author, citing a source that has no author and so much more. So, take a chance and go to an event, you may find that it is more helpful than you expected.

-Katherine Grierson

Tips to conquer writing

We all experience it, or at least I do, the dreaded announcement of a writing assignment commonly given in many classes, but especially those English classes. I don’t know about you, but I have always had a distaste for writing. Every time a teacher announces a writing assignment there is a brief moment where it seems as though the world I live in is coming to an end. I always feel that my writing is not good enough, or that I just do not have the precious time to consume in order to write the paper. It just sits there and eats at the back of your mind until you finally sit down and do it. If you are a procrastinator like I am, you should know how writing a paper at the last minute can be very stressful.

So here are a few tips on how to get that paper done without feeling the strains of stress:

1.) Start early (and I mean way early)- Simply begin by understanding exactly what your professor is asking you to write in the paper.

2.) Develop a thesis statement – It should be clear and to the point stating exactly what you are going to talk about in your paper and should contain a lot of supporting evidence.

3.) Develop an outline – Take out a piece of scrap paper and briefly outline some of the main points you want to talk about within the paper.

4.) Write down your sources the moment you find them – This is a tip I have always failed to follow, but it can be a serious time saver. The moment you find something on the internet or in a book, or anything, write down everything it is you will need to make that bibliography page.

5.) Make a first draft – don’t worry about spelling or grammatical errors just get all of those ideas scrambling around in your head onto paper.

4.) Verify that your sources are valid – don’t cite wikipedia (trust me I’ve tried it), professors do not like that website at all because of the simple fact that it can very well be completely made up information since it can be edited by anyone at any time.

5.) Always revise your work after the first draft is written – Have a friend or parent look over your paper for any errors. Believe it or not, it is very common that they will find problems within your paper that you most likely bypassed.

6.) Take your time writing the paper – Do not rush through any paper, you could do so much better if you just pace yourself and start early.

7.) Do not do the paper all in one day – You will feel so much less stressed out if you split up your writing time. Come up with a set schedule to write the paper and abide by it.

8.) Take breaks – In addition to not doing the paper all in one day, be sure to give yourself breaks while writing your paper so you can rest your mind. Get a drink, eat some food, anything so long as you are sure to return to your paper shortly.

 If you are having trouble developing a schedule to writing up that paper, go to http://www.lib.uconn.edu/using/tutorials/freecalc/index.php. This is a great resource that actually makes up a schedule for you and gives you tips on how to get started, writing your thesis, and a whole lot more.

 Now, what I always believed to be one of the most difficult parts of writing any paper is the works cited page. This can drive anyone insane trying to figure out what should be cited and what does not need to be cited, and even the format can be stressful.

So, what is it that you should cite?

Anything that is not common knowledge, what the average person would not know. For example, we all know bananas are yellow that is common knowledge, but I doubt everyone will know how many people live in the United States with cystic fibrosis or even what cystic fibrosis is.

Cite anything you find from outside scources. If you have any doubt at all at what needs to be cited, cite it.

 The following is a list of things that need to be cited:
~ newspaper articles or magazine articles
~books or book chapters
~web sites and web pages
~encyclopedias
~statistics and charts
~emails, interviews or speeches
~group projects

 OWL is a great resource for writing up a works cited page:  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ It gives you all of the up to date styles such as MLA or APA as well as tips on writing a paper.

Citing sources can be very time consuming and monotonous so what I find to be the best way to get those sources cited fast is using one of the following machines, however, they may not always be up to date so you need to be sure to check OWL before printing out that works Cited page:

1.) www.easybib.com

2.) www.Citationmachine.net

3.) http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/

They are easy to use and can really come in handy especially if you are running low on time writing that paper. With these tips and information, writing those papers could be a whole lot easier than you once thought. Just remember to start early and take your time.

 -Katherine Grierson