Preparing the Fish
Painting; this is something that is very simular to writing.
Most wouldn’t see the connection right away but don’t worry, that’s what I’m
here for. Both require thouroughness, patience, preparation, planning, among
other things. Also, the little details in one’s painting, whether it be art or
work, can be the difference between a good job and a great job. 
One of these little details is writing sentences. Stanley
Fish, a writer for the New York Times, has a piece called “What Should CollegesTeach? Pt. 3,” in which he goes into detail about what a sentence is composed
of. He writes “A sentence is an organization of items in the world.” and “A
sentence is a structure of logical relationships.” I find these two things very
important building blocks to writing good sentences. You can’t make soup if you
don’t know the ingredients.
Stanley Fish makes a case that good sentences are important
for good writing, and should be taught in college writing courses. While I
agree that they are important, I have something that I think is equally as
important if not more important. That is preparation. Just like a painter needs
to lay out his brush, pour out his paint, and cover thing you don’t want
painted, a writer must prepare his or herself for a paper.
The ways I conducted the research to this question are:
1) I did a survey with 17 people on the question “What is
important for good college writing?”
2) I did a tutor interview in the Ohio State University
Newark Writer’s Studio.
3) I used some secondary sources, such as The Bedford’s Guide for College Writers, A
Writer’s Resource, the Capella University Online writers studio, along with
the Purdue OWL.
One thing that I’ve learned though personal experience and
though sources is that it’s necessary to manage your time well. This should
come as a no brainer but not procrastinating is a good way to manage your time.
I know many people who constantly wait until the last minute to do things. I
think the big problem with many students typically invision the best-case
scenario when it comes to writing. What I mean by this, is that they’ll wait
until the last minute to write because they think that they’ll be able to come
up with a great topic and just churn through it an sometimes that’s not the
case.
A good way to put yourself into a situation where you can
avoid procrastinating, is by creating a a ritual for yourself. This doesn’t
have to be anything to crazy, maybe just grabbing a soda, doing some stretches,
or go on a jog. Doing something along these lines can get you on the right
track.
Another thing you can do is remove all forms of distraction.
This can include, but not limited to, turning off your phone or any otherelectronic (unless you’re typing then please don’t turn off your computer),
letting your dog out, and even cleaning your room. This will not only help
clear your mind, but also remove your procrastination tool of “but I have
to do this first.”
Also, Break up work
into small sections if given enough time can be benefitial because this can
lead to a more clear, complete paper. If In the case where you only have a
couple days to write a paper or draft, the best thing you can do is not panic,
and break down your work evenly over those two days to maximize your attention.
Keep your stress down, never frown, and always avoid clowns.
Finding a way you can introduce these practices into a
college class could be difficult, given most of these are about effort. But I
have a couple ideas that can help. Set a rule the first day of class that the
first person who is caught doing anything with an electronic when they’re not
supposed to loses 5 percentage points on their next paper. Also, when writing
assignment is assigned, a teacher would require their student to turn in
*insert word amount here* everyday so that they know how engaged a student is
in these practices.
No comments:
Post a Comment