The Context of Student Writing

1
The Context of Student Writing

• A CxC Workshop
• Jeff Cain

2
Qualifier

• This presentation is about the students mind and
  affect, not about the finished paper, sentences,
  thesis statements, logic, etc.these are covered
  in other workshops.
• See Workshop Notes on the CxC homepage (Arts
  Sciences gt CxC).

3
1. Give yourself time to write.

• Start early!
• Try working for a chunk of time (not a number of
  pages) each day.
• Find a time that works for you.
• The human mind works best over intervals.
• Having momentum on the writing bolsters
  confidence.

4
2.Find a scene of writing.

• Have everything you need in order to write
  already laid out in one place.
• Find out what everything you need means for
  you.
• Coffee, books, Post-its, music, pets, etc.

5
3. If you dont make a mess first, youre not
doing it right.

• Most people cant start with a Roman Numeral
  outline.
• Have a mess of chaotic notes, thoughts,
  quotations, margin comments, lists, questions,
  cluster charts, post-its stuck in books, etc.
• Sort it out as you go.

6
4. Dont think until you write write until you
think.

• The act of writing generates ideas (possibly the
  most important thing to know).
• Use freewriting.
• Copy quotations and then respond to them.
• Plunge into the thesis (re-write it ten times).
• Write questions addressed to the author of the
  text.

7
5. If youre not interested in your topic, your
reader wont be either.

• If youre given the option of inventing a topic,
  use it.
• If youre given a topic on which to write, find
  an interesting intellectual angle.
• Take some risks in your writing.
• In college, a bored readera low grade.

8
6. People like us dont get "writers block."

• Franz Kafka and Sylvia Plath had writers block.
• Were not Franz Kafka or Sylvia Plath.
• We get Im too lazy to write block.

9
7.Quit while youre ahead.

• Stop writing while youre going strong, typically
  at the end of a paragraph.
• Write the topic sentence or transition to the
  next paragraph and leave yourself a note or two
  on where its headed.
• At your next session, take up where you left off
  (makes starting easier).

10
8. Good academic writing is the result of
revision, not inspiration.

• Revise, revise, revise. Theres really no such
  thing as a finished paper, even after its
  published.
• If you can put an early draft aside for a day or
  two without losing momentum, fine.

11
9. Own your writing.

• The master trope of academic writing is
  authority.
• Authority derives from reading, writing, and
  thinking.
• You cant have authority if youre just trying to
  play it safe and get a B.
• Your writing is yours, written on your authority.
  Own it, no matter what grade it gets.