Writing Strategies

Writing: Presenting You
C Gita Bosch, PhD, MBA
Academic & Educational Consulting
theacademicconsultant.com
Say all you have to say in the fewest
possible words, or your reader will be
sure to skip them; and in the plainest
possible words or he will certainly
misunderstand them. John Ruskin

Outline
 Personal statement
 Writing strategies
 Writer’s block
 Personal statement
 Some examples
 Wrap-up
B

 Personal Statement
 Job cover letter
 Abstract/Paper
 Grant proposal
 Thesis proposal/Dissertation
Writer Reader
Thought Impression
words
B

Personal Statement
 Introduction of you
 Commitment and motivation
 Writing skills
Inform and persuade
Who am I?
What do I
want to do?
B

 Your qualifications/experiences
 Your goals
Introduction of you
I have to talk
about my
research…do I
think like a
scientist?
B

 Do not use slang/clichés/jargon
 Use active, not passive voice
 Be positive
 Do not use gigantic words when
diminutive alternatives can suffice
 Better to understate than exaggerate
Writing skills
My personal
statement has to
be a
professional
document?
B

Inform and persuade
 Beginning
 Interesting and captivating
 Middle
 Substance = Research Statement
 Ending
 Reader wants to meet you
OMG! I need
weeks to work
on my Personal
Statement!
B

Where do I start?
 What is your story?
 Outline
 Linear, hierarchical (left-brain)
 Mind mapping (right-brain)
B

from MindMapping.comB

Mind Mapping
 Main idea = commonality of semi-main
ideas
 Logically relate the boxes
 Number each network in relevance to
the main idea
I have an
OUTLINE!
B

 Procrastination
 Open computer to write and….
 Check FB, email, etc.
Writer’s block
Now what?
How am I going to
get through this? I
have to talk about
my whole life…will
they think I am
qualified? What if
they hate my PS?
B

 Anxiety
 Not enough planning
 Grandiose expectations
 Over-thinking
 Underestimating your ability
 Boredom
 Not enough planning
 Narrow thinking
Writer’s block
B

 Zoom out, think about the big picture
 Free write
 Prepare an outline
 Zoom in on the task at hand, writing
 Take small chunks and write
 Do not guess at the readers’ reactions
Writer’s block solutions
B

 Listen to instrumental music
 Clear the clutter in your writing space
 Find a new space to write
 Write at a different time of day (when is
your most productive time?)
 Take a walk, exercise, take a nap
Writer’s block solutions
B

Strategies to be a better writer
 Writing is like preparing to run a marathon
 Write everyday
 Set an output goal for each writing
session and stop when you reach it
 Write about what you are interested in,
your voice
 Writing generates ideas, keep writing
B

Writing vs. Editing
 Send your internal editor away!
 Write on paper, you go back less than if
you write on the computer
 Write the whole draft, wait two days,
then edit
B

Personal Statement
 Beginning
 Interesting & captivating = the hook
 Who are you?
 Why do you want to go to graduate school?
 Middle
 Substance = Research Statements
 Experiences
 Ending
 Reader wants to meet you
 Why this program
Inform and Persuade
B

What does the school want
to know? BE HONEST
 Your goals—degree, field, specialty
 Why are you pursuing this degree?
 What events brought you to this point?
 What makes you qualified to do this?
 Why are you applying to this School?
 How will they help you reach your goals?
B

 Read the instructions
 Answer the questions
 Why are you unique
 Accent the positive
 Briefly address negative events which
impacted your academics, no excuses
 Show how the negatives positively
impacted your growth
 Do not whine
What you should do BE HONEST
B

SKGSBS
Writing about your research
 Introduce the overall purpose of the
research
 Describe specifically what you worked
on and what you did
 Describe how your work fitted into the
overall objective of the main project, the
field and human health
B

Research paragraph
One of the goals of the laboratory is to generate
…. We studied ….. My project involved ….. The
resulting structures were …. Because they …..,
these structures could be used to …..
B

Personal Statement
 Write. Edit. Edit more.
 Get feedback
 Have faculty read & comment for content
 Have someone read & comment for writing
 Rewrite. Edit. Rewrite.
Will they want
to me meet
after reading
this?
B

Read it
out loud
The Final Touch
 No errors!
 Grammar. Spelling. Language.
 Proofread!
 Punctuation: commas, colons, & semicolons
 Apostrophes and hyphens
 Subject-Verb agreement
 Word usage
Listen to
it
B

Some Common Errors
 Its v. It’s
 Affect v. Effect
 Would have v.
Would of
 Supposed to v.
Suppose to
 Then v. Than
 Wonder v.
Wander
 Their v. There v.
They’re
 Farther v. Further
B

Personal Statement
 Deliberate & thoughtful
 Clear & simple language
 Concise (trim the fat)
 Interesting & creative
 Style & tone
 Vary the sentence forms
 Seamless transitions between paragraphs
 More is not necessarily better
B
ERROR-
FREE
ZONE

A new scientific truth does not triumph
by convincing its opponents and
making them see the light, but rather
because its opponents eventually die,
and a new generation grows up that is
familiar with it. Max Planck
B

Writing Strategies

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (20)

En vedette

En vedette (7)

Similaire à Writing Strategies

Similaire à Writing Strategies (19)

Plus de C Gita Bosch

Plus de C Gita Bosch (7)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

Writing Strategies