I know that almost everything I write, I bounce by a colleague of mine to get some feedback. So often, what’s clear in our own mind, isn’t so clear to the reader. We don’t always say exactly what we’re thinking; or our eyes are so bleary that we can’t even see blatant typing errors on the page right in front of us.
Learn to communicate clearly and effectively. Employ strong action verbs and descriptive nouns, adjectives and adverbs. And make sure you vary your words. Be creative, think of other ways to express the same concept. For example, he said, declared, noted, remarked, argued, observed, commented, stated, opined, proclaimed, etc. Keep in mind that your instructors need to read about one hundred papers, so make yours stand out. Grab their attention.
And avoid passive voice like the plague. Passive voice, what’s that? First of all, let me clue you in: Passive voice makes the reader passive and that’s not good if you want to get a good grade. In most languages there are three voices: Active, Passive, and Stative—though English rarely talks about stative voice. But I’ll give some examples:
In active voice, the subject is doing the action, thus it’s gripping, engaging, energetic—especially if you exploit strong descriptive verbs, nouns, adverbs, and adjectives. In passive voice, the person is the recipient of the action, is passive to the event. This becomes blasé and boring after a while, making your reader passive. Stative voice describes a state of being. It can sound like passive, but it’s really not. For example, “Jesus was born in Bethlehem.” “He was sick.” “When we arrived there, they were already dead.” “She was really worked up about that.” “I became nauseous when I heard that.” It is perfectly fine to use stative voice when the description is effective.
Another thing that people usually mess up due to spoken English—when referring to a person say “who” rather than “that.” “That” refers to an object or thing. People are persons, not things. Also try to use gender inclusive language unless you are specifically talking about a male. And when you say “he” or “she” make sure it is clear to whom this refers in the previous sentence. Break up a string of “he’s” by interjecting the person’s name or title. Double check your own paper. Don’t rely on a spellchecker; sometimes it can totally twist around what you were trying to express.
So these are just some tips. Have fun writing; it can be quite enjoyable. Write a draft, and let it sit for a while. Then come back to it. Not only will ideas have had time to simmer in your head, but you’ll notice things with a fresh perspective and objectivity. Good writing takes time, like good food needs long preparation. Let things stew, simmer, percolate. Let me put it this way; you know how you regularly hate cafeteria food and really enjoy a home cooked meal? Well, we instructors much prefer a well-written engaging paper over one that is flat, boring, looking and tasting like fast food with empty calories. Get the point? Beef it up; spice it up...
Poor grammar and spelling errors do affect the presentation of the material and hence comprehension. This will have a bearing upon the grade given. The staff at The Gervais Learning Center in Van Ackeren Hall is more than willing to help you improve your writing skills. Impressive writing skills will be essential in most careers which you will eventually pursue. Learning how to think critically, to express your thoughts clearly and forcefully, as well as to persuade your audience has benefits.
Created by Dr. Daniel F. Stramara, Jr. 21 August 2024
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