Improve Your Writing: Your Role as a Writer
This overview of Grammar and Composition begins by asking you to examine your role as a writer: your attitudes toward writing, your background, your methods, and your goals. From there we'll take the view that writing is a process--a series of inter-related steps that can be practiced and developed just like any other skill.
The Write Attitude--and Your Writing Goals
Do you want to improve your skills as a writer--or have you just been told (probably by a teacher) that you MUST improve your writing skills? Here we will consider how our attitudes toward writing can help or hinder our development as writers.
Do you want to improve your skills as a writer--or have you just been told (probably by a teacher) that you MUST improve your writing skills? Here we will consider how our attitudes toward writing can help or hinder our development as writers.
Getting Started with Freewriting
Freewriting is a useful strategy to help you overcome writer's block and get started on any writing project.
Freewriting is a useful strategy to help you overcome writer's block and get started on any writing project.
Your Writing--Private and Public
As we work to shape a positive attitude toward writing, we may find that private writing (in other words, writing that we do just for ourselves) can also help us to become more confident with our public writing (the writing we do for others).
As we work to shape a positive attitude toward writing, we may find that private writing (in other words, writing that we do just for ourselves) can also help us to become more confident with our public writing (the writing we do for others).
Your Role As a Writer
Compose a letter to yourself in which you examine your writing background and identify your strengths and weaknesses as a writer.
Compose a letter to yourself in which you examine your writing background and identify your strengths and weaknesses as a writer.
The Writing Process
No single method of writing is followed by all writers in all circumstances. We can, however, identify four basic steps that most successful writers follow in one way or another.
No single method of writing is followed by all writers in all circumstances. We can, however, identify four basic steps that most successful writers follow in one way or another.
The Characteristics of Good Writing
Good writing is much more than just correct writing: it is writing that responds directly to the interests and needs of our readers.
Good writing is much more than just correct writing: it is writing that responds directly to the interests and needs of our readers.
Getting Started with Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a group project that's especially useful for generating, focusing, and organizing ideas for an essay or a report.
Brainstorming is a group project that's especially useful for generating, focusing, and organizing ideas for an essay or a report.
Self-Evaluation of Essays
Writing a brief self-evaluation each time you have completed a writing project will make you more aware of your strengths as a writer and help you to see more clearly what skills you need to work on.
Writing a brief self-evaluation each time you have completed a writing project will make you more aware of your strengths as a writer and help you to see more clearly what skills you need to work on.