Sunday, October 28, 2012

Backwards Through the Looking Glass

Facing an academic writing task, students often start their writing process with a back-of-the-envelope outline. Or not. Some people decided long ago that making an outline doesn't work for them. Maybe those who don't like to write outlines find they always turns out to be just a long list of ideas or titles. Or they get overwhelmed with the task of writing an outline instead of moving ahead to the next stage of writing. There's definitely an art to crafting an outline, so if it is not helpful to you, there are other planning techniques you can use (more on this in a future posting) in a writing process that for all of us looks more or less like this:
Plan → Draft → Revise → Edit 
In the spirit of the title of this post, we're going to suggest writing an outline after you have written a complete draft of your paper or chapter. This step, known as backwards outlining is not intended to jump-start a draft, but to power the revision phase of your writing. Here's how to do it:
Make a list of topic sentences of each of your paragraphs (one per paragraph only) to see how they look without all the other stuff vying for your attention. Do these sentences-in-a-list reflect the logical flow of your paper? If not, what is keeping them from doing so? Is there a problem with the way they are written or are they out of orderIf you are not sure what a topic sentence is, this is a great time to ask a writing coach. The paragraphs of your paper/chapter are the building blocks of your paper. If their topic sentences don't convey a strong skeleton holding up your draft, then you need to rethink the way your paper/chapter is built.
If you did write an outline before you started your draft, you can compare your backwards outline to the original one. You can decide if you have justifiably junked the original outline or if you have unwittingly strayed from a good plan. Because people don't usually turn in an outline with their finished paper, it isn't necessary to rewrite the original outline if your draft shows a different organization. The point is for the organization of the paper to reflect in the most effective way what you have to say.
Backwards outlining as a revision technique allows you to see the organization of your draft not as you imagined it, but as you have written it. Your eventual readers will be able to see the organization of your paper as they read it. If you want to come off as knowing your stuff and being organized about it, backwards outlining is a great tool for controlling the 'flow' and 'structure' of your paper or chapter. Making a conscious effort to step away from and look back on your draft will give you more control over the creation of everything you write for academic purposes.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

¡Viva México, Distrito Federal!


Many of us spent July and August strapping on a backpack, rafting, or pulling weeds out of our vegetable gardens. But one On-campus student headed for the biggest, highest, and most historic national capital in the Western hemisphere: Mexico City. Désirée Dorsainvil designed an independent study titled “Spanish Language Immersion” for summer block and spent three and a half weeks living with a local family, attending Spanish language classes, and roaming the important cultural sites of the vast city, camera in hand.

Although Désirée reported that her whirlwind visit to México, D.F. was “largely overwhelming”, the blog she kept as a learning journal shows that she made great strides in her beginner’s knowledge of Spanish and more than held her own in an intensely urban setting. 

The IS “was an amazing introduction” to both the Spanish language and Mexican culture, wrote Désirée in her self-evaluation. She added that the experience “will certainly propel my continuation of Spanish language studies beyond this course.” 

True to her word, Désirée is continuing to practice and develop her Spanish speaking skills this fall with a second independent study in Intermediate Spanish with Spanish mentor and graduate teaching assistant Emily Affolter

Another On-campus student, Michael Broad, is joining Désirée and Emily as they engage with the local Spanish-speaking population through two community groups, Latino-Anglo Alianza and the Prescott Plaza Comunitaria. The opportunity to speak and interact in Spanish about real world matters is alive and well right here in Prescott, as Désirée and Michael have found out thanks to Emily’s connections to local Latino advocates.

Prescott College will offer an intermediate course in Spanish for Spring 2013 and an immersion block course at the Kino Bay Research Station. If you have questions about how to further your Spanish language skills, contact the Learning Commons World Languages Initiative to learn about your options. 

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Seven Tips To Getting the Writing Done* by Ryan Orr, PC Writing Coach

Do not hurry; do not rest.  --Goethe

1. Create a writing space. Where do you like to work, alone in your silent study, or enveloped in the din of your local coffee shop? Every writer is different; there is no one way that works best. But if you intend to get serious writing done, establish a space where you can remain focused and productive, comfortable, and free from distraction.

2. Break up your writing tasks. Utilize small chunks of time. Spread them out over the day or the week. If you do need to get six hours of work done, give yourself breaks, get a coffee, throw the dog a ball, eat. Then re-read what you wrote, and find a way back in.

3. Use "Save As". Each time you sit down to write for the day take the existing file and "save as" a new draft. So: "Research Paper .2, .3, .4" etc. This alleviates anxieties over making major changes—you can always go back to the previous draft.

4. Transitional Drafts: Set a goal for the day's draft. Say, paragraph transitions. Work solely on paragraph transitions until you have completed the draft. Then come back the next day with another draft. Say, compression. Start small and work up to the big stuff, draft by draft. 

5. Establish a regular schedule. Whether every day or every Sunday, a regular writing schedule allows your focus to transcend mechanics so your ideas may gain depth and possibility. Many writers insist on writing at the same time of day each time as well.

6. Be patient with your process.To take writing seriously is to enter in a very long apprenticeship. If you are diligent you will probably accomplish something worthwhile each time you sit down, though many times that thing accomplished is learning what you have yet to accomplish. And that, for an author, is a good day’s work.

7. Read drafts aloud. In the editing stages, in order to get the language just right, read your work aloud to yourself, or to a friend; or, have your friend read your draft to you. Your ear knows the English language intuitively, and hearing your words aloud will help you hear what isn’t working as well as what is.

Happy writing. 
  
*Acknowledgments to Donald Murray’s, “The Craft of Revision,” and Robert Boswell’s After the Workshop; Transitional Drafts for the origins of these ideas.