Please read the chapbook on better writing at the link below and write a summary/critique of it, about one page double spaced if typed in Word. Then post here.
http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cwaddell/Basic_Prose_Style.html
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17 comments:
This website is a very useful tool in order to “brush up” on your English skills and your writing skills. It covers everything from active voice, to anomalies, to punctuation. It is a very helpful site if you are trying to write a paper or doing something for a graded paper, or even to make sure any official documents are formatted correctly. Even if you have no idea about anything in tense (present, past) this site will inform and guide you into writing the correct way and will help you to write properly. It is even a great site to go to if you are going to be taking an English test or a Writing test in order to make sure you know what you are doing and what you are talking about. You can learn the proper usage of commas like when to use them and when not to use them, as well as how to get a detailed sentence with plenty of describing words and enthusiasm on certain parts of the sentence. This web site even gives you examples of sentences of when it is correct to use a certain tense, or punctuation as well as a common misuse of the same sentence. Example: of this quoted from the web site would be dealing with the use of Nominalizations:
“no: There was a stuffiness about the room.
yes: The room was stuffy.”
This tells you the same sentence but one-way which sounds better than another. Using the correct version of this sentence in a paper will have a better flow to it rather than trying to add more words that can make the sentence hard to read. This web site also helps you to write in the positive rather than writing in the negative. Example of this
no: Don't write in the negative.
yes: Write in the affirmative.
This site is more than helpful in instructing you the correct way to write properly.
The website, “Basic Prose Style and Mechanics,” by Craig Waddell, was very helpful and full of important grammatical information. It covers topics from hyphens to the correct use of emphatic words, from writing ideas to semicolons, and all those in between.
This website would be a great reference for any writer. It takes the time to explain the grammatical procedures and then follow up with a few examples. The examples, for me especially, help to visualize what I need to do in order to correctly edit my writing.
My favorite part of this article would have to be the “Prune Deadwood” piece. The concept of “Prune Deadwood” is that most writers often use filler to meet page or word dead lines. But, as we all can agree too, filler doesn’t make for interesting reading. So the author, Craig Waddell, suggests to “prune your deadwood” and take out all the crap. Writing is supposed to be interesting and fun, not full of meaningless filler.
I would first like to say that this was the longest thing I’ve had to read for a class in years. However, this website is very useful. I consider myself to be a gifted English student. I have always a way with words, and depending on the subject, could write multiple page essays from the top of my head. Of course, nobody is perfect, but one could be pretty close with this detailed guide of successful writing!
I am very good with vocabulary, but I would love to learn more words. I am decent in the field of punctuation marks with the exceptions of comma and semicolon usage. They always seem to confuse me, but between this detailed guide and the study packet of comma rules we discussed two hours ago, I can memorize these pointers. According to the quiz we were given our first day of class, pronouns are my worst adversary! When I am forced to choose from answers that all look and even sound equally correct when read aloud, I tend to guess (and horribly). Now, I can be able to pick the correct answer (or at least guess slightly less horribly).
The examples given in this guide are simple, making the lessons easy to comprehend. However, I do have a serious gripe with the formatting of this chapbook! Reading so many words on this page is an eyesore! But if this fault is due to the lack of options for creativity, then the author is not to blame. Otherwise, could we get some color?! But I do like how they use “deadwood”. I think the appearance of words such as those in the most “proper” of environments (like a textbook) is amusing.
Well, i believe that this chapbook can be very useful to polish certain skills in writing that most of us don't usually think about. Mr. Waddell is very good at nitpicking the littlest things in writing that have the potential to create a significantly better piece of work. I believe that, were this text used correctly, it could make everyone who read it a better writer. It is a great tool to use because it was easy to reference and relatively easy to read. Though Mr.Waddell's topic is very bland, he created a useful body of work and a way to project his knowledge of writing onto the reader. Overall i would reccomend any student or anyone that just likes writing to give it a read and try to apply it in any and all writing situations.
This is a great website for help in writing papers and everyday use in English. I think that there is several things that would help me out a lot, one of which being the help with comma usage. This is one of my weaker subjects of English and needs some work. Another important thing that they go over is the use of dashes in a sentence. I am completely oblivious on when I am supposed to add a dash in a sentence and this source clears this up for me somewhat. With the help that they give you on the website it makes it much more simple to write a paper. Another thing that is useful on this website is where it lets you know that you should use empathetic words at the end of a sentence to make it more meaningful. You should also make sure that all of your sentences are written in a positive form rather than in a negative form. Instead of constantly having boring sentences you should always change the structure up a little bit here and there to make some diversity in the paper rather than making it boring and dull. When writing you should also make sure that your choice of words being used is the correct way to use it for what you are trying to get across to the reader. Don’t dress up your sentences too much. Word modifiers are essential in a paper, but using them too much, too often can cause a good paper to become not so good. I think that utilizing all of the tools withheld on this website will ensure that you write a very good and successful paper.
This website is very helpful in the fact that it can dramatically improve your writing. It can help you identify errors in your writing. It also helps you embellish some of your boring writing to make it more interesting.
While writing about a topic that is less interesting than you desire, you may find yourself writing a very boring paper. Often times it will be grammatically incorrect due to lack of interest, and could even put yourself to sleep.
With the use of basic prose style and mechanics, you can write effective essays.
Commas, semicolons, and colons
Do you know when to use them?
This website brings about many good points and can help you improve your writing skills drastically. I'll be the first to say I'm not the best writer, but I am very good at arguing. I feel the helpful tools presented on the website along with my arguing skills I could write up a well drafted argument. I've always thought I could be a good lawyer, but a journalist too, oh my.
We all know the english language is never-ending and new rules are always coming about. No need to worry just check out the site.
So, whether you just need some help improving your writing skills or you just want to stay updated on all the latest changes this website is for you.
I have been to a decent amount of websites in my day, but this one has got to be the best source for actual English information, that I can use. I can use this website to help study or to just to help me on my writing skills. I can look up anything from active voice, to punctuation, even how to avoid overusing word modifiers. This website is a great tool for me to use now if I ever need to write a paper for English class, in fact I can use this for any other class that might spring a paper on me.
I’m not sure if this is a website or a chap book posted on a website but it sure is a great study guide for tests. This site explains everything so clearly and gives examples of how sentences should look. It even gives exact definitions of colons, semicolons, and even hyphens and ellipsis dots. One this I found out how to do which was interesting to me was how to make a detailed sentence with enthusiastic words describing it.
If there is one thing that I have a hard time with when writing research papers it has to be quotes and the confusion on where to put the tiny little period; on the inside of the quotes, or on the outside?
This chapbook would be a great tool to use to “brush-up” on your basic writing skills. It covers everything from parallelism to semicolons. There are many things in this reading that I learned over again. I like the way that he used teachings and findings from other sources, which I have to say are well known. I would definitely recommend this to other people i know who have trouble with writing. It is also something that I am printing out and using on a regular basis for reference to my writing. Some of the things i have never really thought about during my writing, but makes sense. I especially liked the part of writing in the positive rather than the negative. I think if you write in the positive, you are going to get a better reaction out of your audience. Heck, for all you know, your positivity could make someone's day much better and brighter.
Associate professor, at Michigan Technological University, Craig Waddell is well known for his achievements, accolades, and teachings. Basic Prose Style and Mechanics is a series of recommendations by Waddell. He promotes the twelve basic principles and mechanics of writing. All twelve basic principles are based on the value to rewrite what you have already written. By creating additional drafts one may produce their own style.
The theme of the pamphlet concentrates basic styles that Waddell recommends to adhere by when writing. As opposed to Leon Lanzbaum, a graduate school professor, Waddell suggest that one should write more in the first person to show active participation in the essays that are written. When writing you should clarify the ideas that are trying to convey in a logical sense and in an orderly manner.
For scholars and authors Craig Waddell’s brochure Basic Prose Style and Mechanics is a powerful tool to assist works of literature.
Craig Waddell’s chapbook, “Basic Prose Style and Mechanics,” contains very helpful information for those who have trouble writing and understanding the important principles of good writing. He covers many topics such as basic prose style, basic punctuation, and mechanics. The twelve basic principles he discusses in his chapbook is guaranteed to make any person a better writer. I recommend those who have trouble writing to read “Basic Prose Style and Mechanics,” as this helpful information will definitely help improve a person’s style of writing, and it will especially improve punctuation and mechanics, which has been a common problem among many writers.
While it took me some time to finish reading, I found "Basic Prose Style and Mechanics" very informative. I can see it being a very useful writing tool. Craig Waddell includes all the basic rules and guidelines that are necessary for quality prose. While I found a lot of the explanations confusing, the examples were spot on. I never realized how important sentence structure is until I read some of the samples that were included. It really is quite interesting how a thought can be altered by changing the word order, word choice, or even punctuation. I like that he included grammar rules as well.
I am not a fan of writing for anything other than creative reasons. Quite frankly, I usually dread it. I am admittedly a deadwood offender. Word counts and page minimums always stress me out. I will be referring back to this pamphlet to edit my writings.
I must say that i am very impressed with this guide. It provides all the information one would need to become an effective writer. As a person who has a lot of problems with grammatical usage this will be a good guide to me. The work cited section was very informative and has proven to be a very good reference point.
Until i read this guide i didn't even know the term nomalization nor its definition. I find it interesting that this is something that i have not been aware of, as it is a big part of writing.
I am not a very good writer, and it does not come easy to me. This will be a very good reference to me, although i don't think it will change my opinion on writing ;P I hope that i will be able to express parallel ideas, place emphatic words, and express statements in a positive form better.
This is a great website for me, because I need some help in my writing. Craig
Waddell did a great job putting the principles of writing together on this website. I loved
how he uses the twelve Basic Prose Styles by giving examples of them in a sentence. I
will try to use these styles in my writing. When Craig Waddell said, “Good writing is
hard work”, I agree with him. Samuel Johnson said, “What is written without effort is in
general read without pleasure”, that is so true. Well, I will put more of an effort in my
writing. I did not know that I should write in the active voice. Sometimes I will start in
the active voice, then I will end up in the passive voice. I will also try to work on that
problem. Putting the basic punctuations and mechanics on the website was a great idea
also. I will refer to this website often.
This chapbook is a real help to me. It does just what it is intended to do by helping me to remember the simple mechanics that may have slipped my mind over time. I do not spend much of my free time writing. Therefore, I tend to forget some of the fundamental skills needed to be a successful writer.
Just about all of the common mistakes that I tend to make seem to be mentioned within this pamphlet. I found the pamphlet to be interesting and very well arranged. It is perfect that the first tip is to write in an active voice. That is a very common thing that could be forgotten. The explanation of each of the punctuation marks and how they can be used properly was excellent. I sometimes have problems with the proper usage of commas and semicolons. That issue was fully addressed in the pamphlet.
This pamphlet also gave me useful information that I was not fully aware of or prone to use. Varying sentence patterns, expressing statements in positive forms, and choosing my words carefully were the points that I found most interesting. Following these tips carefully can only help me become a better writer.
I think my evaluation of this pamphlet can be summed up from a well known phrase. “Practice makes perfect.” I believe that if an individual practices the methods and the simple mechanics listed in this pamphlet they will become a better writer. That is the entire purpose of the pamphlet, to inform the reader about better methods of writing.
All in all, that was a pretty painful read; painfully boring. I expected that much though. It wasn’t difficult to read, however. The index was very helpful and the flow from each example to the next was smooth. The chapbook covers all the points to good that one would normally consider, such as comma usage; and some that one wouldn’t normally consider, such as punctuating vertical lists. I think this would be helpful to reference during a formal paper but otherwise, an annoyance to read. I read it but very little seems to have stuck, as may be apparent in my writing.
Some things I liked:
I thought the “Choose Your Words Carefully” section was interesting; it was well put together and easy to follow. I especially liked “Use Metaphors To Illustrate” section. It was a breath of fresh air. The “Numbers” section was also very helpful.
There wasn’t really anything that I disliked but, then again, there wasn’t very much that I absolutely loved either. As I mentioned earlier, I don’t think one would really benefit from just reading this chapbook flat out; I did bookmark the URL though and I plan to use it in my paper writing future.
This web site is very useful for writers. For me this web site is gold because i am not a great writer and reading though this it really helped me get started on me topics to write on. this web site helps me improve my grammar, punctuation, and avoiding the many errors that appear in my writing. This is a great web site to keep in mind when writing papers properly.
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