Wikihow - Essay Writing
Now that you are successful, seasoned essay composers, read the following article and comment on the topics below.
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-an-Essay
1) Is this advice correct and accurate--why/why not?
2) What is the most important part of this advice?
3) What additional advice would you offer someone just beginning a research essay project?
WC: 200-250
Due TUESDAY, MARCH 4th.
Yes I feel that this advice is very helpful to somebody looking to write an essay. It covers all essays and has very helpful information. I thought all points were accurate and can easily be used in an essay. I thought the most important part of this essay was the part about the research, since we are doing a research essay. The points about that are very helpful and apply to us in this class the most. All of the points I have heard before though because Mrs. Convery did a good job of explaining everything to us. I feel that one thing that is not in here that is good advice is to not get too consumed by a paper. If the paper is all you think about, it won’t be long until you get overwhelmed and you have to back away from it. I have learned to take my time and put all my efforts into a paper but take breaks every once in a while so you don’t get distracted while writing. People always worry about essays, but I feel like if you have a good topic, you can write and write about it.
ReplyDeleteWord Count: 203
I think most of this advice is both correct and accurate. Although, this advice is most likely someone’s opinion, I agree with everything in it. Improving each an every one of these aspects in your papers will make them much better and a whole lot easier to read. I think the most important pieces of advice are to make your introduction very interesting and intriguing and to analyze how the essay flows. It is important to get the reader’s attention from the very start of you could lose some interest. Also, flow is very important. If an essay or story does not flow, it is hard to follow and is hard to get anything out of it. I have found this out while writing essays for scholarships and for college applications. These types of essays definitely need to be gone through and fixed because of the impact they might have on your life and education. I would add the advice not to procrastinate. That is a big deal on these essays, especially the longer, more important ones. Rushing and essay will make it much harder to have well thought out points. Then, your essay becomes less meaningful and not nearly as good as it could have been. Also, you can go through it if you have more time to fix errors and reword things. The more time you spend actually working on an essay, the better it should be. (Word Count: 242)
ReplyDeleteI think that these tips are very helpful many different types of papers. Some tips talk about sources for like research papers and others talk about having characters, plots, settings. I think the most important advice would be to put it away for a couple of days before you edit it. This is because editing is almost more important then the writing of the paper. This is because if you write a serious paper, but make a mistake the people are no longer going to credit your opinion or take you seriously. To avoid this after you finish typing the last sentence put that paper away. Put it somewhere where you cannot see it. Wait a couple of days, and then take it out and read it. This will take the paper out of your head and let you look at it with a new outlook. I would tell someone who is writing a research paper not to get in a hurry. Check your sources, highlight them, and annotate them. They are going to be the basis of your paper, so they are most important. Also when making note cards do not get too wordy. This is because the people that wrote the articles have already written them you are writing your own paper with their help and their words are important, however, this is suppose to include your voice and knowledge. Word count: 232
ReplyDeleteThese tips in this article are very helpful to anyone in need to start a paper or are learning to write a paper. I feel that this advice given is very correct, anyone can use one of these tips to better help themselves write a better paper. The most important part of all these tips is the way you use them. If you use them in the wrong way or don’t understand how your paper will head south very fast. Tips are giving to help you and make you a better person, but your also the one how has to be willing to take these tips and use them to make a good paper. My additional advice in writing is not to rush when you are starting to write a paper. Let the paper just flow out of you, when you rush you make mistakes and mistakes can cost you more then what you wish for. Also don’t write your paper all at once take a break let your brain slow down to think about other stuff then go back into it. Anybody can sit down and write a paper but it takes patients and time to sit down and write a good paper that anyone would be willing to read. Word count 211
ReplyDeleteThis article has a lot of very good points on how to write a good essay. The article states a lot of things that people always forget to do while writing a paper. I feel if people would look over these tips before and after writing essays, the essays that they write will turn out better in the long run. You do not have to follow all the tips but the more tips you follow the better the paper will become. The more time you take on the essay the better you will make it become. I think the best tip is to analyze the essay and make sure it flows correctly. I now I have a problem making essays flow smoothly. I need to take more time on my papers and make them flow smoother so the essay is easier to read. My additional advice is to make sure when you are writing a paper that you find a topic that you will enjoy. If it is a long paper you will want to be researching something that interests you. The more you are interested in the topic you are writing about the easier the paper will be to write. (WC-201)
ReplyDeleteThis advice is very helpful and accurate. If someone had never written an essay or research paper before, this advice would lead them in a good direction. The advice helps outline, write, and revise a paper, with detailed tips on how and when to do specific things. The article also shows how to find sources specific to an essay, and to make sure that they are credible. The topic of Wikipedia is brought up, which is a huge deal between teachers and students. The main part of an essay, the thesis statement, is also discussed. The example is a great thesis, and works as a good model for others to use. Each type of essay is discussed at the end of this article, and shows the difference in writing styles that are needed for different types of essays. As far as research papers go, credible sources must be used, and anything from a national company or a credited person is the best source to use. This will take any controversy between whether or not the source is right away. If there is a mistake in the writing, the paper is instantly reputed poorly and the paper will hold no weight.
ReplyDeleteI think that this advice is right because it is the same evidence that we have been told since the first time we were learning to write. Most of it is self-explanatory however it is hard to learn. So reviewing these tips will help you as a writer. I think that the most important part of this advice is to re-read your writing in a few days. While you’re writing you hardly tend to notice the train of thought that you follow and, for me at least, tend to believe that what I’m writing is good. I’ll look back over it however and find that I went off topic and/or I have grammar or spelling mistakes that I hadn’t noticed while I was in the process of writing the paper or essay. So, it’s that reason that I find re-reading your writing to be a valuable and important piece of advice. If someone were starting their research paper my advice to them would be to have a clear understanding and an outline before searching for their sources. Many times I have gone into a paper with an idea, but no concrete plan for what I will need. Sometimes I will grab sources that are teaming with information, but I won’t use them in my paper. Have a plan and know what your writing about before you start; that is my advice. WC—231
ReplyDeleteI would say that this advice is correct/accurate for man reasons. All of the information that was presented is useful when it comes to writing a paper. With all of those tools in mind it is very hard to screw up an essay unless the topic in which one is writing about is just awful. There are many important pieces of advice that one can take from this reading. At the same time you have to know how to use these tools and how to use them correctly. If I had to choose the piece or pieces that were most important I would have to go with grammar. People are always judged on how they communicate whether our society will admit to it at all. Those who are able to voice their opinion or tell a story in a literate fashion they are instantly more acceptable/believable. I myself struggle at times with grammar so it would be important for me to take the advice from this article and run with it. Some additional advice that I would offer to someone who is beginning a research paper project is that you can never have enough sources. The sources are your place of logic and facts. They write the paper for you. The more sources that you have the better your understanding of a topic will be. The better that you understand the topic the better your essay will be.
ReplyDeleteWord count: 238
I would say that this advice is correct/accurate for man reasons. All of the information that was presented is useful when it comes to writing a paper. With all of those tools in mind it is very hard to screw up an essay unless the topic in which one is writing about is just awful. There are many important pieces of advice that one can take from this reading. At the same time you have to know how to use these tools and how to use them correctly. If I had to choose the piece or pieces that were most important I would have to go with grammar. People are always judged on how they communicate whether our society will admit to it at all. Those who are able to voice their opinion or tell a story in a literate fashion they are instantly more acceptable/believable. I myself struggle at times with grammar so it would be important for me to take the advice from this article and run with it. Some additional advice that I would offer to someone who is beginning a research paper project is that you can never have enough sources. The sources are your place of logic and facts. They write the paper for you. The more sources that you have the better your understanding of a topic will be. The better that you understand the topic the better your essay will be.
ReplyDeleteWord count: 238
I think that this advice is accurate and very helpful if someone used it. Most of the tips that were given applied to any form of writing. If someone were to use all of these tips on their paper they should have a good, valid paper. I think the most important part of the advice is that you should plan out your essay. My main problem when writing essays is how to start it my essay and each paragraph, and how to end the essay. But if you plan it out, you figure out the basics of what you want to do with each paragraph which will help you stay focused on your topic and be more efficient. If I were to give someone a tip on writing a research paper it would be to really know your sources. This will help you be more prepared to start your report. Reading your sources all the way through and annotating really helps in making note cards which are very helpful for writing your paper. It also helps with your in-text citations because if you know what source it is from, it will prevent you from having to look back to find out which source to cite. WC:208
ReplyDeleteI believe that the tips in this article are very useful and applicable in many forms of essays. I like how this article gives you helpful hints about not only creative essays, but also the academic report essays. I like this because most people have trouble with the more academic writings. The best advice I found in this article would have to be about having to step back from your writing after you have finished drafting it and before your edit it. The editing of the paper is just as important as the actual composition of the paper itself. When you step back from your writing your brain can better process the actual word on the paper and your brain will not just connect the ideas of your paper. Your research is extremely important to your research project, it is what your paper is built on. When starting your research paper it is important to get reliable research. Once you have reliable research you need to make sure you make note of the useful information in the articles, like highlighting and making annotations. It is also very important for the topic of your essay, academic or creative, to be important to you in some way. (Word Count: 207)
ReplyDeleteI admire that the article suggests Wikipedia as good starting point. I agree because Wikipedia is perfect for quickly learning the general idea of your topic. It is also interesting that this article mentions to “be prepared for ideas to come when you least expect it.” Just the other day, sitting on the toilet, my essay unexpectedly was envisioned in my mind. Picking a thesis is no fun, but I suppose it is a good idea to have one. A matter that confused me was in the essay revision section. “Avoid using exclamation points,” why should I avoid exclamation points when they make my essay more dramatic and meaningful? This article lacks explanation!!! The article also says to use adjectives “lightly.” No, adjectives paint the picture of the essay in the audiences head. Marvelous adjectives create the movie in the brain. I see irony throughout this article as well. They say to avoid words like "you," "we," "my," "your" or "our" but they are used frequently throughout this article. Probably the most important tip is to “choose a subject for your essay.” Plain and simple, a subject is the main idea of the paper. Additional advice I would give to a young essay writer would be to cite well, avoid plagiarism. (211)
ReplyDeleteI feel as if this article is going to help someone writing a paper out tremendously. This article gives you all of the basic info you will need to start the paper you are writing. No matter what type of paper you have to write, Wiki can help you get your paper started of on the right track. I think the most important part of this article is the part about research because we are working on writing our research paper right now. It also gives you good points on gathering good sources and articles, then transforming them into your well writing paper. I would give advice along the lines of have someone else revise your paper. We all talk in our own slang language. Others will pick up on your mistakes before you will. You might think that they are right when in fact they are wrong completely. I also have never thought of recording something and listening to it. This seems like a great way to revise a paper. I plan to try this process out in college, to help me get better grades on my papers.
ReplyDeleteWC 190