Ten Essential Lessons about Writing

1. Writing is more than communication. It’s a process of discovery and learning. Writing is really not a step-by-step process of gathering info and organizing it into a specific form. It’s not really about rules or procedures. Instead, it’s a complex process of discovery and comprehension of ideas. Writing is an indispensable mode of learning.

What This Means for You as a Writer Approach every writing task with an open mind. Be open to surprising twists and turns in your thinking and writing. Do not expect to know at the beginning where your paper will end up; let it evolve and develop as you write. Embrace terrible 1 st and 2 nd drafts. Build those into your writing process.

2. Writing is a social activity. Although writing often feels like a solitary activity, it is actually a fundamentally social one. Writing is a social transaction between a writer and reader(s). It’s a rhetorical act and process. Even rules, conventions, forms and standards are socially agreed upon norms.

What This Means for You as a Writer Writing ability is as much a function of how writers respond to particular situations as it is a result of innate ability or individual effort. Pay attention to audience, purpose and context as you make decisions about what to write. Get feedback on your ideas and your written expression of them. Remember: other people need to read—and understand—your writing.

3. A writer must have something to say and then back it up. A clear, valid point and sufficient support for it constitute effective college writing. Even kinds of writing that aren’t explicitly persuasive always have—and need to have—an “angle” or point.

What This Means for You as a Writer Maintain a sense of your main idea or point as your write. That point will likely evolve and change, but don’t lose sight of it. Your idea is usually very clear to you, but it is rarely so obvious to your reader. Be painstaking in your efforts to be absolutely clear. There are many different kinds of support for an idea. Apply the kind of support that the situation (context, assignment, discipline) calls for.

4. There is always a voice in writing, even when there isn’t an “I.” Academic writing seems very “disembodied,” objective, or formal. But there is still always a person “behind” it. “Voice” is the term used to describe that sense of a real person “behind” the formal prose.

The Student Theme The adjectives all ganged up on the nouns, insistent, loud, demanding, inexact, their Latinate constructions flashing. The pronouns lost their referents: They were dangling, lacked the stamina to follow the prepositions’ lead in, on, into, to, toward, for, or from. they were beset by passive voices and dead metaphors, conjunctions shouting But! Or And! The active verbs were all routinely modified by adverbs, that endlessly and colorlessly ran into trouble with the participles sitting on the margins knitting their brows like gerunds (dangling was their problem, too). The author was nowhere to be seen; was off somewhere. --Ronald Wallace

What This Means for You as a Writer Using “I” is actually okay in college writing. The important point is that is unnecessary. Cultivate a distinctive voice in your writing and use it to good effect. Pay attention to the sound and tempo of your writing. Read your work aloud! Having a “strong” voice is integrally related to having something to say.

5. There is no such thing as “good” writing, except in context. The form or genre you are writing in influences what counts as “good.” The circumstances or context in which a piece of writing in created and received shapes what counts as “good.” The purpose of the piece of writing dictates “good”—did it do what it set out to do? Whether we like it or not, in and out of school, what is “good” is ultimately very subjective.

What This Means for You as a Writer Carefully consider… Form/Genre Medium Audience Purpose Context

6. Form follows function. Purpose comes first: What is the text trying to do? Who is it trying to reach? Answers to those questions drive decisions about form, format, genre, organization, structure, and style. Remember: writing is not about applying rules but understanding the purpose of any given text.

What This Means for You as a Writer Good writers learn the rules, but more important, they learn to apply them to suit their purposes. Although the form in which you write in college will often be dictated for you, remain aware of how different forms of writing fit different needs. Even within forms, there is room for creativity and individual style.

7. The medium is part of the message. Multiple media are available for composing texts. How you say something is as important as what you say. How you say something should be driven by what you want to say.

What This Means for You as a Writer Consider medium carefully. Make informed choices about using images or various technologies. Adjust your writing process to the medium in which you are writing. Learn about the different expectations for different media.

8. Revision is an essential part of writing. When asked why he revised the ending to A Farewell to Arms 39 times, Ernest Hemingway replied, “I was getting the words right.” The most significant different between novice and expert writers is their approaches to revision. Revision is not about fixing or tinkering; it’s about gaining clarity and complexity of your ideas.

What This Means for You as a Writer Embrace revision. Revision is your friend! Make time for meaningful, substantial revision. Don’t expect to get it right the first time. Don’t try to do everything at once. Be willing to delete your favorite words, sentences, and paragraphs. Revision is messy and frustrating, but more often than not, it yields clearer prose and stronger points.

9. Good grammar is necessary, but it doesn’t necessarily mean good writing. Good writing is much more than “good grammar.” “Grammar” is a catch-all term to talk about (bad) writing, but usually the problem is not technically a grammatical one. Writers don’t learn about grammar through “skill and drill.” They learn about the complexities of grammar by writing! And making mistakes. And revising. And trying new things.

What This Means for You as a Writer Flawless prose does matter! Just don’t make it your first priority over “higher- order concerns” (idea development, thesis, support, organization, etc.) Focus on one or two things that you consistently have trouble with (I’ll help you identify these) and concentrate on getting those right every time. Always edit and proofread for correctness. Don’t always trust your grammar check. Use a style manual to check a rule!

10. Practice makes perfect (almost). Learning to write is not like learning to ride a bicycle. It’s more like learning to play the piano.