Sometimes the hardest part about writing is getting started. So let's
talk tips on how to get your brilliant thoughts from your brain to the
page.
Pre-Writing
There are a lot of different methods you can use for
pre-writing. We’ll be doing some pre-writing as a part of our course work, like
the Notice and Focus Exercise and the Process Posts. If you just can’t get
enough pre-writing, you can try working up an outline to organize your
thoughts. (I personally prefer to write first and organize through outlining
after I already have a draft, but you do you). Free writing, where you have a
general idea, set a time for 5-10 minutes, and write continuously until the
timer goes off, just letting the writing flow, can also be a good way to get your
creativity a-flowin’.
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| This is EXACTLY what free writing looks like |
Start Wherever Makes Sense
Confession: I always write my introduction last. I start by
with paragraph topics and then weave them together in a way that makes sense to
me, and THEN I go back and write my introduction and conclusion. If you want to
start writing in the middle, do it. Want to start at the beginning with your
title then your intro? Go for it! Don’t get hung up on working your way from
Point A to Point B when Point C might actually be a good place to dive in.
Obviously order matters when it comes to your finished draft, but the writing
process can be a bit more fluid.
Put your Subconscious to Work
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| Bathtub Genius! |
Suspend Judgment
This is more for the revision
phase, but at some point, you are going to read what you wrote and hate EVERY.
SINGLE. WORD. When that happens and you want to start hitting the delete button
until you have a blank document, take a breath. Open a new document and save it
as “YOURTITLE—scraps.” Whatever you want to cut, should be pasted in there.
That way if you end up needing some content, you can dip into your scrap
document. You might not use it at all. You might use it for a future project.
Or you might just be glad that you have some already written content that you
can access if you’re up against a deadline and are experiencing deleters
remorse.
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
Grammar, sentence structure, and
spelling are all important, but those are issues that you can worry about when
your draft is in its final stages, ready to be polished and submitted.
Stressing about grammar and smaller order issues during the drafting stages
will just stunt your writing progress. Let your writing flow, and worry about
the clean up later.
For your comments: What part of the Writing Process is the hardest/least fun for you? Getting started? Revising? Peer Review? Citations? Or is there a part of the Writing Process that's your favorite? Either post a comment OR respond to at least two classmates.
Happy Writing, Y'all!
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe hardest part of the writing process for me is actually beginning the essay or whatever I am writing. Once I begin writing it is usually easier to keep writing the rest of the essay.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI feel the exact same way. I hate starting an essay because I don't know where to begin. Once Im about a quarter of way everything just seems to flow.
DeleteYeah, it can definitely be hard to start, especially if you aren't sure where you're going. And once you start, you have to actually do the work, so that's a lot of incentive for me to just not start!
DeleteMichael Ross
ReplyDeleteross.1455
For me, the hardest and least fun part of the writing process is definitely getting started. I feel that one’s introductory paragraph is key to the overall quality, structure, and argument of one’s paper. Thus, I feel that I have to make my introduction perfect before I can move on. This leads me to taking way too much time on my introductory paragraph, and really creating unfounded frustrations for me. On the other hand, my favorite part of the writing process is revising and putting in the citations/works cited. This is due to the fact that for me this means I am almost done with the paper. When completing the revision and citation processes, it also helps me to look at the big picture of my writing, and to see how all of my arguments and persuasive elements came together.
Kathy Cordova
DeleteCordova.33
I agree with you, Michael. My least favorite part of the writing process is the introductory paragraph because it is the first paragraph that the reader is exposed to. I find it very difficult to capture the readers attention. My favorite part is revising! Like Michael said, revising means that you are close to finishing the paper. During the revision process, I enjoy seeing how all of the portions of my paper flow together, and I have a sense of accomplishment when finishing a paper.
Kathy Cordova
DeleteCordova.33
I agree with you, Michael. My least favorite part of the writing process is the introductory paragraph because it is the first paragraph that the reader is exposed to. I find it very difficult to capture the readers attention. My favorite part is revising! Like Michael said, revising means that you are close to finishing the paper. During the revision process, I enjoy seeing how all of the portions of my paper flow together, and I have a sense of accomplishment when finishing a paper.
Yep, this is why I save intros for after I've written the body paragraphs.
DeleteThe first sentence is often the hardest for me to produce. I get caught up in whether it captures the attention of the reader enough, or whether it can flow nicely into the rest of my paper. I can write and rewrite this single sentence for 30 minutes until I am satisfied. Don't even get me started on titles; its impossible to be creative and descriptive in under 7 words. Being the first thing a reader glances at, the title has to wow them, fascinate them, intrigue them, make them want to spend hours of their lives reading words on pieces of paper that they didn't themselves write.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI can absolutely relate to this, and in general starting an essay is very difficult. I also get caught up like you do on many sentences in my essay, because I want each sentence to be absolutely perfect.
DeleteKathy Cordova
DeleteCordova.33
The first sentence is by far the hardest sentence to write! As Jacob said, the first sentence has to capture the readers attention! I also find the thesis in the first paragraph to be hard to write because you are trying to tie in all of the components of the essay into one single sentence.
I agree with your idea about the first sentence! Every paper or article's first sentence is important and hard to write. Because the first sentence take a very important role for the whole article. It should be cover some main ideas of your paper. The title looks like same as the first sentence. Titles summarize the main idea, and when readers are reading your article, they can know what you want to say in the following paragraphs.
DeleteFor my titles, I almost always go back through my paper and find an interesting phrase to use. This is a creative writing example, but in this short story I wrote, I used the phrase "the lights went out" in one of my sentences, so I just ended up using that as the title. This can work for academic papers, too.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe hardest part of the writing process is simply beginning. Usually, I spend too much time thinking the paper over in my head, wasting time correcting myself and trying to make it perfect. This ends up with me not putting anything down, and procrastinating until I churn out an awful paper the day before it is due. Currently, I am working on simply putting words on the page, then coming back and admitting that I made mistakes, at which point I fix those mistakes until I have something decent to turn in.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I can't get my name to show up so here it is:
Jason Guo
guo.1249
Your name did show up, so we're extra sure it's you! Sounds like you actually have a really healthy way of working through the writing process.
DeleteI always have difficulty coming up with a good conclusion for papers. My favorite part of writing is organizing it into main ideas.
ReplyDeleteIzzy Schlachter
schlachter.17
Organizing can be fun if it's clicking. Sometimes you just can't make the tetris pieces fit, and that's not so fun. Labeling my paragraphs helps me figure out where I want them to eventually go. Conclusions aren't the most exciting things for me to write since you aren't really adding new info, so I get why it's hard to write those.
DeleteThe hardest part of the writing process is just getting the creative juices flowing. I often have a lot of ideas in my head but it is very hard for me to put them down on paper for the first time. When I get the ball rolling, it is much easier to continue to punch out a lot of ideas.
ReplyDeleteSam McGhee
mcghee.118
Yeah, it can be hard to decide which idea you actually want to work with.
DeleteFor me the the most difficult part of writing is the beginning, in particular the introduction, because its difficult to choose the topics you want to talk about in your body. Personally, my introductions also change a bit as I write my body paragraphs. Once i write the introduction, I can write the rest of the body pretty easily.
ReplyDeleteVarun Kovvuri
Kovvuri.1
Interesting point, and I also think concluding his hard because you have so few words to wrap up an entire paragraph long explanation while also transitioning.
DeleteIt makes total sense that your intro will evolve as your body paragraphs involve.
DeleteThe hardest part for me is to get started. Because I am a person who keeps changing ideas, and always overthrow the previous points. Thus, it is difficult for me to pick several supporting ideas for my topic, and I just waste too much time on it. When I begin to write, it gets easier for me to complete the rest. In addition, my favorite part is peer review, for during this process, I can gain different opinions on my writing and revise more successfully.
ReplyDeleteYuqi Cai
cai.694
I like getting peer feedback, too. It's always nice to see how other people view what you've created (as long as they're nice about it).
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ReplyDeleteOften the hardest part of writing for me is getting started. I try so hard to try and come up with just the right thing to say, that it takes me forever to be satisfied. I really like the idea of not starting with the intro, but rather from somewhere in the middle. One of my favorite authors (Diana Gabaldon) works this way with her novels - she writes scenes as she sees them and then weaves them together. I would have never known that she doesn't write in a linear timeline because everything flows so well. I must admit also, that I am not looking forward to citations just because I worry so much if I have the right format or am doing it correctly.
ReplyDeleteAmy Mabey
That's really interesting about Diana Gabaldon. Citations aren't terribly fun, but sometimes the databases or even Microsoft Word will generate them for you (you just need to double check because sometimes they're a little off).
DeleteQiumeng He
ReplyDeletehe.1506
Personally, my favorite part of the writing process is peer review. Everyone has experienced the dilemma that we thought our articles were perfect but professor only gave low score. We felt sad but did not know how to improve ourselves by few comments from professor. By peer review, classmates will tell me some mistakes that I always ignore and give lots of good advice. We can learn from each other and have a clear understanding about our shortages in writing.
Your point is interesting to me Qiumeng. I don't normally think of peer review as something that happens after the paper is submitted. All peer review I have experience happened before submission which is why I tend to not like it. Although I know that I can learn from other people, often times that's how we learn best, I don't like when people are critical of my work.
DeleteYeah, for this class, we do WEx which is a type of intensive peer review before your final drafts are due. It's as much about receiving feedback as it is about training your eye to look for improvement potential in your own essay. And yeah, critical comments aren't too fun, but hopefully everyone will remember to word their revision suggestions in a constructive non-jerkish way.
DeleteJacob Perch
ReplyDeleteperch.8
My least favorite part of writing is getting started. I often find that I have issues simply finding a place to start with my writings. Sometimes the opposite happens where I think of multiple different ways I could start my writing, and I have trouble choosing one. My favorite part of writing is revising because that when I have a draft to work with. I find the revising stage easier because I already have material to work with so nothing needs to be created from scratch.
Megan Cimorell.2
DeleteI 100% agree that getting started at writing is the hardest part. I often times want to start from the introduction and write straight thru to the conclusion when in reality that doesn't always work the best. I also personally don't enjoy peer review very much either though. I am super critical of my work so having other people read it over is nerve wracking.
This is something really comforting about knowing you have a full draft and now your only responsibility is to make it better.
DeleteNicole Hoeflinger
ReplyDeletehoeflinger.8
The hardest part of the writing process for me is 100% beginning. I normally stare at a blank screen for a decent amount of time before I can really get going on my paper. Recently I have found that doing a detailed outlining of my thoughts before my rough draft is incredibly helpful because I know what I want to write which helps stop me from getting stuck as often as before. As soon as I have my general idea going normally the rest of my thought flows nicely.
I really wish I was an outliner. It seems so much easier, but I just can't make my brain plan things out ahead of time.
DeleteNicole Hoeflinger
ReplyDeletehoeflinger.8
The hardest part of the writing process for me is 100% beginning. I normally stare at a blank screen for a decent amount of time before I can really get going on my paper. Recently I have found that doing a detailed outlining of my thoughts before my rough draft is incredibly helpful because I know what I want to write which helps stop me from getting stuck as often as before. As soon as I have my general idea going normally the rest of my thought flows nicely.
Madison Blanchard
ReplyDeleteblanchard.123
The hardest part of writing a paper for me is simply getting started. I often have so many thoughts and go between writing a sentence then deleting it or rephrasing it. I can't seem to move on until I perfect it. While I'm writing that sentence, I have multiple thoughts about where I'm going to take it yet after I finish, I forgot everything. I have tried to simply type without hesitation but it just doesn't work for me. Next thing I know, it's been 2 hours and I have one paragraph complete. After I finish the introduction though, the rest of the paper flows easier.
I totally agree with you! I have the same feeling as yours. At the beginning of writing a paper, I always have many different and unlogical thoughts want to be write down. But at the end, when I wrote some sentences, then I always forget what I want to write at the beginning. Therefore, for that problem, I will write down an outline first, and then begin to write a paper. That works for me.
DeletePerfectionism can make writing so hard. You might want to try setting a timer and not letting yourself go back and tinker with wording until the timer has run out.
DeleteMadison Blanchard
ReplyDeleteblanchard.123
The hardest part of writing a paper for me is simply getting started. I often have so many thoughts and go between writing a sentence then deleting it or rephrasing it. I can't seem to move on until I perfect it. While I'm writing that sentence, I have multiple thoughts about where I'm going to take it yet after I finish, I forgot everything. I have tried to simply type without hesitation but it just doesn't work for me. Next thing I know, it's been 2 hours and I have one paragraph complete. After I finish the introduction though, the rest of the paper flows easier.
I totally agree with you! I also have problem choosing a topic. Sometime the topics that you are interested in are so difficult to start with. The teacher would tell you that you have to keep narrowing it down to one point and sticking to it till the very last paragraph.
Deletezhu.2166
Sheridan Ave
ReplyDeleteave.3
I struggle the most with revision. I have trouble finding and fixing my own errors. The errors I struggle finding the most are comma splices and run-on sentences. I also struggle with writing enough to clearly convey the idea that I am trying to.
I used to have major comma splice and run-on sentences issues, too. I had a militant high school English teacher who made us do error logs, correcting our grammar errors ten times each. Cured me.
DeleteQingwen Cui
ReplyDeletecui.468
The hardest part of writing for me is getting started. I am the person who kind of have procrastination in my daily life. It is actually a normal circumstance right now. People who struggle and not doing their jobs until the last second commonly have this problem. Thus, for me, if I start writing, nothing will be a problem.
Qingwen Cui
cui.468
All our major essays are due in stages, rough drafts for WEx before final drafts are due, so it's kind of impossible to procrastinate.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe hardest part for me is the citation. I can easily get some idea. But it is realy hard to find some essay or papper to support it. May because I'm not used to read other's reserch paper in english. In the most time, I do not know where to find the citation, and even i got some papaer related to my topic, it is not perfectly fit to my thought. I like the start of writing most. Because whenever I start, that means i have found some citations successfully.
ReplyDeleteYuan Zhao
zhao.2284
That interesting because the work cited is honestly my favorite part. All I do is copy and past the url into bibliography generator websites that do all the work. I used to use easybib but now they charge. There are still a bunch or work cited generators that find all the necessary component of a bibliography, even when its not clear from the source.
DeleteNeway Araya
araya.21
We'll go through different research methods for finding great sources, and sometimes the databases will actually generate the citation for you.
DeleteDavid Bair
ReplyDeletebair.135
The hardest part of the writing process is deciding what to include in the writing and what to exclude. I have always found balancing arguments and ideas that address issues from multiple angles is an effective strategy for writing a good paper, but it is very difficult to find the right arguments or ideas to discuss. This typically means the most difficult part of writing a paper for me is beginning and revising my work when I discard an argument or idea.
I agree that sorting different ideas is difficult. Besides writing, our life is also full of various arguement contradicting with each other. Sometimes I choose the one that is easier for me the develop and write.
DeleteThat's a really good point. Make decisions about what not to include can make a huge different in the strength and coherency of your paper.
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ReplyDeleteNicholas Keating
ReplyDeletekeating.108
My least favorite part of the writing process is the beginning. I have trouble thinking of what to write at first and what to put in my introduction paragraph. I enjoy writing in the middle of the paper because it is where all the creativeness and details occur.
I agree with you. I think that the begining part may be difficult for most of us.
DeleteSo many people hate starting!
DeletePersonally speaking, getting started is the hardest part for me. Because I have to choose only one theme from many of my ideas. And I need to give up some of the ideas that not easy for me to write enough thesis statements. Also, I have to draw my audiences' attention and give them a clear theme of my writing in the introduction paragraph, which is a tough call for me.
ReplyDeleteFan Liu
liu.6303
It's definitely hard figuring out exactly what you want your thesis to cover.
DeleteWubin Tang
ReplyDeletetang.1251
The hardest part of the process for me is the beginning.I often spend more time trying to figure out what I want to express, then I find it is inappropriate and delete it, and then repeat this process. Also, I often wander between various points of view and cannot decide which one to use.
Outlining might be a good option for you in terms of pre-writing.
DeleteIt's obviously that get started is the hardest part for me. Every beginning is difficult; when as for me, at my beginning of writing, I usually have no idea, and don't know how to get into the topic. I usually spend the most time on the introduction, and once it's done, it will be much easier for me to finish later steps. However, the peer review is always useful and interesting for me, since I can learn a lot from my peer and also introspect myself by examining others' mistakes.
ReplyDeleteXianqin Qiu
Qiu.367
I also agree that the peer review is one of the most important steps in the writing process. Another person's opinion will usually help us improve the quality of our writing. They will also help us find mistakes that may have gone unnoticed.
DeleteI agree with you, since the beginning is the foundation of the whole article, if we do something wrong, it will influence the whole one. So we have to consider it again and again to make sure there is no mistake.
DeleteHopefully with the different pre-writing assignments we've got going on, you'll have a start to your paper before you begin.
DeleteMax Andryushchenko
ReplyDeleteAndryushchenko.1
For me, and I assume this is the same for many other people in this class, the hardest part of any paper is the beginning. Once I get past that, I get into a rhythm and I just go with the flow and continue writing about what my mind desires. However, I will give an honorable mention to the citations, just because they are so annoying to do. Other than that, writing is pretty fun for me, and its is usually not too big of a challenge.
Citations are annoying, but thankfully some databases or Word will do them for you, but still have to check them.
DeleteSilvana Garcia
ReplyDeletegarciaserrano.1
For me, the hardest part of writing an essay is the introduction. An introduction has to be interesting enough to hook up the reader but it also has to show some background information. On top of this, it also should contain the thesis statement and a small overview of what the rest of the essay is about. Writing an introduction like this is quite tricky and it usually takes me several hours. Nonetheless, the body paragraphs that follow the introduction are much easier to write. My favorite part is revising because I can read and feel proud of what I've written.
Revising can definitely be fun.
DeleteActually, for me, I think the hardest or least fun part of writing process must be the "Getting stated". It also my most time-consuming part. There is a proverb in China: Everything is difficult at the beginning. And I'm not good at Brainstorming method, so I usually come up with an idea for several days, sometimes I change my idea after I have written most of my article since I believe a good beginning are helpful to my following writing. And I always have a high expectation for the beginning. Additionally, my favorite part in Writing process is "peer review". This is different from the suggestion provided by instructors. Peers can give you some advice form different perspectives. You can learn a lot from your classmates and making a progress together.
ReplyDeleteYiyi Wang.
We'll be doing a couple of different exercise to help you get started, so hopefully that'll help!
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ReplyDeleteYutong Han
ReplyDeletehan.1424
The most hardest part for me is getting started. I am always confused that how to choose a appropriate topic. In my pervious writing exercises, I am always required to narrow down my topic, which is the most difficult thing for me. I have to take lots of time read more materials, put forward more ideas and write a outline. It's a boring process but it really does help a lot. Anyway, when I finish my paper after revising again and again, I will have a feeling of satisfaction. I enjoy this kind of feeling.
It is really the best feeling when you've finished the writing process.
DeleteI totally agree with you! I also have problem choosing a topic. Sometime the topics that you are interested in are so difficult to start with. Sticking to one topic is harder than I could imagine because as you dig deeper of the theme, you will find more aspects.
DeleteHopefully all the pre-writing activities we're about to do will help!
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ReplyDeleteFor me, the hardest part of the writing process is getting started. Since coming up with a great idea is indeed time consuming. I need to decide a topic based on varieties of factors and need to make sure that I can have enough content to expand my theme. In order to make this process much easier, I think reading some sample writings are necessary, which can not only provide a right direction that what we actually need to write about but also give us more ideas.
ReplyDeleteMingxia Qian.395
The hardest thing for me is also getting started. I find it very difficult to come up with a good start to my essays and I often change my introductions to my essays because I keep coming up with better ideas as I think on them more. I also believe that reading samples make it much easier to get the ideas flowing in my head.
DeleteWilliam Lhota
ReplyDeleteLhota.6
The hardest part about writing for me is almost always the beginning. It takes a lot of time to design the "hook" for my piece and introduce all of my topics in the least boring way possible. On the other end of the spectrum, my favorite part of the writing process has to be when I'm having a peer revise my paper. With their help, I can get a new perspective on my writings, and am able to address issues with my writings that I may have never noticed.
It is really helpful seeing how someone else views your writing.
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ReplyDeleteXinhai Ni
ReplyDeleteni.249
Personally speaking, the part I find hard to deal with would probably be developing the article, since after you choose your topic and have already got some supporting ideas, then you may found you have no more words to say or you start to realize there are some gaps between the arguments in each paragraph. The peer revise would be great and my favorite part of writing. The discussions between partners and myself could sometimes inspire me to view the topic in a brand-new way, improving the argument of my article.
I hope you'll still enjoy peer review since it'll be more written and structured rather than conversational. Benefits to both kinds of peer review, I think.
DeleteIn my opinion, I feel that the hardest part about writing is coming up with ideas to share. I tend to run out of ideas when writing a paper and in the end I black out in the middle of creating content to share. I hope I will be able to generate more ideas about my future topics which would then be helpful for me to make my paper more interesting.
ReplyDeleteOur pre-writing exercises will hopefully help you come up with plenty of sub-topics to cover.
DeleteYian Chen
ReplyDeletechen.6971
I actually love writing, but I don’t like reading, especially using the 2nd language so collecting resources like reading others’ articles becomes the least fun part for me. I still like reading some short interesting sentences but If it’s boring and long, I will feel exhausted. Therefore, searching and collecting resources is a boring and time-consuming part for me.
Tianyu Wang.9748
DeleteI totally understand, since English is not the native language for both of us. Even sometime we know something interesting in Chinese, but we do not know how to write it in English.
Yeah, writing an academic essay in a non-native language sounds so challenging!
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe hardest part for me is citation. When I started a paper, I know my topic but I don't know how to find other resources related to my topic. Also it's hard for me to find one or two particular sentence in each citation. Sometimes citation is hard for me also because I have some questions about the style of citation.
ReplyDeleteCitation is also difficult for me. Researching and finding quality sources can be very difficult and also citations can be confusing especially when the website does not show to authors or dates published.
DeleteYeah, using your research in a meaningful way can take a lot of time and effort.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYu Wang
ReplyDeletewang.10635
The hardest part for me is starting. I don’t know if other people have the same problem that I always avoid to start writing util the matter allows of no delay. I have thought about the reason for many times and I think it is the unhappiness when I am writing that makes me always try to defer it until the last minute. However, for me, if I can start writing with my courage and determination maybe it won’t be a problem. :-D
Necessity is the mother of invention. (In other words, we're all in peak creation mode at the last minute because we have to be.)
DeleteTianyu Wang.9748
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think the hardest part for me is to find enough resource to support my opinion. I always just find a little, so the process of proofing my opinion is not enough to persuade the reader and it always end suddenly.I will do my best to find resource.
I like the part of revising others' articles. Since i think this can help me to improve my article and gives me more ideas.
Tianyu,
DeleteI've ever had this problem before. But now I have a good idea to find creditable and enough resources. Just going to several websites of creditable newspapers, and search the topic of your writing or what you want to find, then you can get many good results which can be used in your writing. It is time-tested from my experience!
Finding credible sources can be tricky, but we have a blog post + activity to help with that later in the semester.
DeleteThe hardest part for me is citation. When I start a paper, I know what I want to write but don't know how to find papers related to my topic. When I finally find the papers, I don't know how to use sentences in it to support my opinion. Also I have questions about the style of citation sometimes.
ReplyDeleteWe'll talk about how to find great sources and use them well later on, so hopefully that'll help.
DeleteDenish Patel
ReplyDeletepatel.2778
First, actually getting started with a writing assignment is often the most challenging part for me. It seems as if I don't know where to begin. I find citations even more confusing as there are many different ways to cite and it is always made "extra" than need be. If we find an article online for example, why can't we just add the link in the citation, but my high school teachers always made us write out other irrelevant information with the citations. After my first sentence however, I find it very easy to write as I have already composed what I am going to write about in my head.
It would be nice if citations were just hyperlinks. Can't do that since hyperlinks change often, but yeah, it'd be nice.
DeleteQing Zhu
ReplyDeletezhu.2166
Personally, the hardest part is choosing a topic that is interesting and specific. I remember that I was told by my instructor to keep narrowing down my topic several time during my writing class last semester. Sometimes when you go further or dig deeper of your topic, you might be a little bit out of the track because you may overthink too much. The point is to stick to your point throughout the article. Moreover, as you open up your mind to find more aspects that related to your topic, you may find that you are more interested in other topics! At the end more topics are involved and you may have difficulty picking one!
I have met this situation before in my high school. It's hard for me to focus on the particular topic and my marks have been deducted due to the excessive widen of topic. What I have done was I planned my mind map and draw it on the paper before I get start on my topic, it can narrow down the topic and choose the best subtopic to write. This is useful in every time as you follow what you have wrote on the paper, it will never goes too far.
DeleteYes, narrowing your topic is so important!
DeleteStarting my writing is the hardest thing for me because I find it very difficult to start my train of thought. But, once I begin to write, it becomes much easier for me to write. I get in a good groove and my ideas flow more easily. It is especially easy when I finish the introduction because then I can go back to my introduction to refresh my mind and start writing again.
ReplyDeleteMake sure you come back and comment with your name on here, so I can give you participation credit!
DeleteStarting my writing is the hardest thing for me because I find it very difficult to start my train of thought. But, once I begin to write, it becomes much easier for me to write. I get in a good groove and my ideas flow more easily. It is especially easy when I finish the introduction because then I can go back to my introduction to refresh my mind and start writing again.
ReplyDeleteAh, never mind, I see that you logged in for this comment but it's the same as the unknown one above.
DeleteYes, to begin writing is often not easy. My approach is, start pre-writing without thinking too much. If you begin to do a little bit pre-writing, you will feel that you are driven by great inertia and you will start your train of thoughts.
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ReplyDeleteI think the starting of an article is the hardest part for me. As I can gain lots of information to support my body paragraphs, but I just do not know how to get start. The first paragraph means it need to be the summery of my article and it also need to attract the reader, which seems difficult to me. I don’ t want the starting to confuse all the information I already got.
ReplyDeleteKaibo Zhang
zhang.8902
Kaibo,
DeleteIn my opinion, the starting of an article doesn't mean the first paragraph. Maybe you can write down a list of your many ideas, then give some details about the ideas and finally you may find a way to produce a good article structure with all your points.
Very true about not having to start with the intro.
DeleteHaojun Zhao (zhao.2576)
ReplyDeleteFor me, the most difficult process in writing is put a subconscious to work. I've ever thought about to take a notebook with me every time for taking some notes about the genius level ideas which produced by my brain immediately. However, I always forget to take a notebook or take one and forget to writ down my ideas, and then the genius ideas written in water. And also, in my previous writing, some small stuffs like mentioned in this article, grammar, spelling, and sentence structure, affect my writing process seriously. When I was busy correcting them, some detail ideas might disappear immediately. So I have to overcome these parts in later writing.
I sometimes take writing notes on my phone if I don't have pen/paper.
DeleteHaojun Zhao (zhao.2576)
ReplyDeleteFor me, the most difficult process in writing is put a subconscious to work. I've ever thought about to take a notebook with me every time for taking some notes about the genius level ideas which produced by my brain immediately. However, I always forget to take a notebook or take one and forget to writ down my ideas, and then the genius ideas written in water. And also, in my previous writing, some small stuffs like mentioned in this article, grammar, spelling, and sentence structure, affect my writing process seriously. When I was busy correcting them, some detail ideas might disappear immediately. So I have to overcome these parts in later writing.
Yes, although it's important in the using of grammar and tenses, but It could make us lose some ideas when we too focus on the correct tenses. I agreed that It could slow down our writing process to check of the grammar after finish every single paragraph. It would be better if we do our last checking after we finish our essay.
DeleteYes! Save grammar for the revision stage!
Deletelim.1215
ReplyDeleteLim Suk Foong Debbie
For me, the hardest part of writing is to start with a good introduction. Normally I will write my body part before I get to more explanation of what my topic about. We came out with a lot of random ideas but it just flash of eyes blink, we will easily lost the great ideas if we just focus on the introduction about the topic since the body paragraph is the most important element to support your essay. In my way, I will write down every subtopic for my body paragraph first before I go into details of it, and after done the paragraph, I will go search for extra resources and organized well it. Besides, I like to write conclusion, as it's to conclude all the important points of my essay and strengthen impression on reader and could be a perfect ending for the essay.
I strongly agree with you that start a good introduction is really a difficult thing. The introduction should be eye catching and briefly. And that is also difficult to myself, I cannot tell the readers what my essay want to show and which aspect that I want to research. So, not for you, maybe for a lot of people, writing a good instruction is a difficult thing.
DeleteSounds like you've got a great planning/labeling system going on.
Deletesun.2257
ReplyDeleteThe hardest part for me is introduction and conclusion. I always have no idea where to start and where to make an end. It's also difficult for me to weave all of my thoughts to make them well organized. The fun part for me is body paragraph. I'm that kind of writer who struggled to start but can't stop once I start.
zhang.8873
DeleteActually, as same as the introduction, the conclusion should also be brief, but it should conclude all the sub topic of the essay and of course, be eye catching. For the reason that the head and the tail of an article should be most appealed part. So, in my perspective, writing a good conclusion should definitely be a hard thing for a lot of students.
Transitions can definitely be hard. I like to use transitional sentences at the beginning of each paragraph with the first half of the sentence referring to the previous paragraph and the second half introducing the new paragraph.
DeleteJingan zhang
ReplyDeletezhang.8776
The hardest part for me is to get a starting for the paper. I always spend more than 20 minutes to think about it, because a good introduction can attract readers' eyes and minds. As for the first paragraoh in my essay, I always use a hook or a famous sentence to make my eassy looks more special. My writing teacher have told me that I can finish introduction paragraph at the last step, but I prefer to write it at first, because a great and correct first paragraph can help me to write other body paragraphs and will not stray from the point. What's more, I also need to pay more attention on my grammer and sentence structure in order to avoid losing points because of these basic mistakes. All in all, I still enjoy the process of writing body paragraph because I can show me own viewpoint to others.
Sounds like other students also use the intro to plan the rest of the paper, so go for it if that works for you!
DeleteHanxia Zhang
ReplyDeletezhang.8873
The hardest part for me to write a paper is the resource searching. Actually, I can search for some references that relate to the essay, however, I cannot make it to produce a strong relationship to the topic of the paper. As a result, the whole essay make look like a little bit inconclusive, so that the readers could not be totally convinced after reading the paper. So I am really afraid to this point that how to build strong relationship between the article and the resources.
Gathering research and making it work within your paper can definitely take a lot of work and skill. We'll talk more about how to do that effectively later on.
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DeleteFor me, writing the hook is often difficult. I am sometimes not sure whether my hook catch the attention of readers or not. Also I find it very hard to analyze the sources. When I write my body paragraph, it's relatively easy to cite or paraphrase the sources, but when I try to explain, make comments, or analyze the sources, I often get stuck.
ReplyDeleteTianyi Han
han.1241
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe hardest part for me is getting started. Once I get started and know what it is I want to write about I can get the paper done fairly easily. I do not enjoy citations, but I don't find them that difficult. My favorite part about writing is explaining what I find significant in my reading. For example, if I read a book and find something significant or interesting that conflicts my thought process I love to write about it and express how I feel.
ReplyDeleteI am a quote dropper. I have written papers in the past that required quotes and I would just slip the entire quote into a paragraph. I would describe the quote and talk about it in the paragraph but I would keep it as it was originally written. I will refrain from doing this in the arp.
ReplyDeleteHey Nick, can you copy and paste this over on the correct blog post? I want to make sure I don't miss your comment when I'm grading.
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