Writing Techniques

English 110

Professor: Iweriebor

Shanice George

11/12/16

Writing is the primary basis upon which one’s work, learning and intellect will be judged. This essay will discuss three of the main writing techniques that has helped me with writing successfully. These techniques include, journal writing, freewriting and revision. This essay will also examine the views of four authors, Thomas Cooley “The Norton Sampler”, Annie Dillard “From Holy the Firm”, William Zinsser “ On Writing Well” and Jane Aaron “40 Model Essay” on these writing techniques.

Journal writing for me is an escape to a place where there is no judgement, rules or boundaries. It allows me to express my feelings, ideas, and points of view whether or not someone agree or disagree with them. Writing journals on readings given by my teacher has helped me to develop ideas and an understanding of what was read and also helps me to write an essay on these readings. If I am lacking ideas I can simply go back to my journal and reread what I wrote. According to Cooley writing in a journal can help you with writing even long after you have written them “often what you write in a journal today will help you with a piece of writing months or even years later”(28). He also advised to make a journal entry as detailed and specific as possible (29). Jane Aaron also encourages journal writing “journal entries give you an opportunity to explore ideas just for yourself, free of concerns about readers who will judge what you say or how you say it” (16). She also mentioned that regular journal entries will strengthen your confidence with the act of writing.

Freewriting is also another writing technique that has helped me write successful pieces in my creative writing class back when I was in high school. I would just write whatever comes to mind without worrying about if it made sense or if my words where spelt correctly, and I would do this until there was nothing left in my mind at that moment to write. Cooley said that free writing is simply putting pen to paper and writing down whatever came to mind (26). He also mentions to circle words or ideas that you might want to later come back to (28). Aaron also recommend free writing “another effective invention technique is freewriting, exploratory writing in which you write without stopping for ten to fifteen minutes, following the ideas wherever they lead, paying no attention to completeness or correctness” (16).

Revising my work allows me to correct obvious problems before others see it. It helps me get a better grade, and help others to better understand my points of view. I like to set my work aside for at least a few hours, then read it again. I find spelling errors, spacing errors, and grammatical structure errors etc. that don't get caught by spell check. I can find ways to reword a paragraph to clarify a point or a revision of the concluding paragraph that allows the reader to come to “my conclusion”. Even though I am not as good as I would like to be with revision, making it a habit will help me to become better. Cooley said “sometimes revising requires major surgery: adding new evidence, cutting out paragraphs or entire sections, rewriting the beginning, and so on” (36). Aaron also gave tips on revising “put your first draft aside for at least a few hours before attempting to revise it. Ask another person to read and comment on your draft. Make an outline of your draft by listing what you have cover in each paragraph. Read the draft aloud into a tape recorder. Speaking the words and hearing them can help to create distance from them” (19). Like Aaron Zinsser also suggest reading your writing aloud “when you read your writing aloud with these connecting links in mind you’ll hear a dismaying number of places where you lost the reader” (88). Revising according to Dillard can quick as long as you know what you are looking for “revising is a breeze if you know what you are doing , if you can look at text coldly, analytically, manipulatively” (11). She also suggest making a list of what you have already written in each paragraph and see what doesn’t fit and cut it out (10).

Unlike Cooley, Dillard and Aaron, I like the fact that Zinsser pointed out a few parts of speech that we should be careful with when using “most adverbs are unnecessary. You will clutter your sentence and annoy your reader if you chose a verb that has a specific meaning and then add an adverb that carries the same meaning” (69). He also stated that most adjectives are also unnecessary, which I too agree and have fallen victim of over using them “most adjectives are also unnecessary. Like adverbs, they are sprinkled into sentences by writers who don’t stop to think that the concept is already in the noun” (70). He did not only give tips on what parts of speech to take care with when writing but also the ones that are important when writing “verbs are the most important