Week 4: Prompt 1: Writing Effectively Using Effective Writing

Prompt: Think back to the Effective Writing Guidelines we discussed.  Which two do you struggle with most and why?

The title is an oxymoron, or an example of redundancy, but it bears discussing.  As a writer, you must write effectively.  You must use the appropriate words, sentences, paragraphs, and structure to write in an effective manner.  Another way to say it is, to write successfully, you have to use high-quality writing.

Skip Downing, author of On Course, a book that helps high school students venture into college, writes a section on “Effective Writing.”  In it, he lists a number of guidelines that will help you be an excellent writer.  Some of them include, “Start immediately,” “Brainstorm,” “Cite your sources,” “Edit carefully,” and “Learn from Errors.”  All of these are excellent guidelines that would produce superior work.  But, some of these guidelines are problematic, specifically for a college student, who may not have time to do all of them because of their busy schedule.

Downing suggests that students should let their ideas and writing incubate, or let their brain rest after they brainstorming, and then again after they finish writing.  Both are good ideas, but when you are a student writing papers for three classes in one week, it may not be feasible to let your brain rest.

I’m a firm believer in incubating (resting your brain) during writing.  I tell my students that this gives their brains time to breath and to stop writing on their topic.  This is vitally important after writing.  You need to revise and edit, and not write during this time.  I think a writer should incubate for at least a day.  But, I generally suggest that my students incubate for an hour.

Again, incubating can be problematic for a college student.  But, it is vital to being an effective writer.

Another idea Downing mentions is to “read backwards when editing.”  This one is challenging for me.  I tried it once, but it bothered me so because you are not supposed to read backwards.  This is a good thing to do because while you are editing, you only need to focus on the errors you have in your sentences.  If you are reading your work in the proper order as you are editing, you may notice a revising issue, and forget to edit.  But if you are reading it backwards, the order will not be recognizable, errors in writing is the only thing you will be able to focus on.

Using Downing effective writing guidelines will help you be a better writer.  Some of them, you may already do, some of them, you may need to learn to do, some of them, you may never use, but, it is well worth learning these guidelines to write effectively.

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Works Cited

Down, Skip.  “On Course.” On Course, “Effective Writing,” PowerPoint, Freshmen Composition II: ENGL1302, (Professor Deartra D. Boone,) Richland College, Feb. 2017, PPT.