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Post by nicole on May 30, 2011 14:16:13 GMT -5
Hi! I'm in high school, and i have a question about my writing. I have this issue where i know exactly what it is that i want to say, but i have trouble translating that thought process on to paper. any suggestions?
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Zeffy
Young Armadillo
Posts: 59
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Post by Zeffy on May 30, 2011 14:26:34 GMT -5
It helped me, so it might help if you just get down the very basics of what you want to say. Don't worry about fixing spelling or grammar just yet. Just get down the bare bones of your thoughts. After that, go back and embellish, expand upon, and edit spelling/grammar.
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Post by Esme on May 30, 2011 14:28:00 GMT -5
This happens to me often and I'm a senior in college. What always helps me is to do a "word vomit" (named by a high school teacher). Just sit down with either a blank word document or a pad of paper and start writing down ideas. Don't worry about punctuation, grammar, or complete sentences (hard for an Armadillo, I know), and don't erase anything. Just keep writing and building on ideas until you've gotten everything out. If you have the time, let it sit for a few hours or a day and then go back and read it over, crossing off anything you don't think you can use and highlighting anything you can. After a vomit, you'll have put everything down on paper and organizing it into a cohesive essay will be much easier. Good luck!
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Post by brosephargh on May 30, 2011 19:42:25 GMT -5
I agree with Esme, the guest.
I personally do similar things. I usually make a vague skeletal outline of a paper or essay by organizing the very basic ideas and leaving room to expand on that paper. Everything is set on a rigid outline, but there is a lot of room for extra scribbling and crossing out, etc. Once it's all vaguely set in line, I keep the outline up on one side, and the blank page on the other, and just word vomit, following the lines of the outline. This gives me a solid base for an essay, and all I have to do is go back and rethink continuity, grammar, style, etc. It takes a few go-overs, but it works for me!
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Post by leonwingstein on Jun 3, 2011 10:41:42 GMT -5
"Word Vomit" seems to be the way to go, because that really helps me, as well. I have a notebook filled with quotes from books I'm reading and my thoughts on them, and when I begin writing my essays on them, I just start writing my thoughts like I was saying them aloud. Sort of like if I was talking about the book to my friend who had also just read it, and this friend had a sort of informal relationship with me.
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jun 4, 2011 19:39:12 GMT -5
I do a combination of everything here, but I only ever do one draft (unless required to present a rough draft to the professor). Before writing, I do a brief outline complete with quotes (including page numbers) so that I don't have to go searching through my book(s) while writing. Then I sit down and just start writing. Word vomit, I guess you could say, but I edit as I go along and then edit after I've written the whole thing, expanding and cutting as necessary. One thing I've learned to do is to go and write [EXPAND HERE] if I feel that I need more, but I want to move on. I'll normally make it in red font so that while scrolling through later, I pick up on it more easily. I've been known to even write [INSERT THESIS HERE] because I have an idea of what I'm arguing, but no idea how to state it.
Basically, just write. You can always go back and edit later.
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