Category: Writing Strategies

by Jennifer Rojas, Peer Consultant, University Writing Center “We are not nouns, we are verbs. I am not a thing – an actor, a writer – I am a person who does things – I write, I act – and I never know what I am going to do next. I think you can be …

by Brett Green, Guest Blogger, IUPUI Undergraduate Have you ever read a paper and had difficulty finding the true meaning behind it? We are all guilty of writing a paper of that sort at some point in our writing career. Sometimes the problem is just that the author is writing how they speak, but in …

by Alexandra Makris, Peer Consultant, University Writing Center In my two-year career at the University Writing Center, I have worked with two students’ artist statements. This makes me a little sad, because I have spent three and a half years in art school so far, and I occasionally like to pride myself that I know …

by Michael Beck, Peer Consultant, University Writing Center Most American students are taught the importance of reading and writing, but that value often translates to being able to read and write. In the Middle Ages, setting the bar at being merely literate would have been striving for excellence. However, mere literacy often eclipses striving for …

by Alexandra Makris, Peer Consultant, University Writing Center One of my favorite conventions in writing that I have learned in college is the concept of the working thesis. What is a thesis, you ask? I will explain, happily (is there any other emotion to have when explaining a thesis statement? Considering it is about 30% …

by Jennifer Price Mahoney, Faculty Consultant, University Writing Center Ah, summer. No classes. Long days. Downtime for some pleasure reading? If you’re lucky enough to have a few days off during the warm weather, you may find yourself looking for a good book. And if you’re a budding writer, you may want to read a …

by Brett Green, Guest Blogger, IUPUI Undergraduate As college students, we writers have so much going on — other classes, jobs, social obligations, etc., — that we often forget the most important steps in writing: prewriting, drafting, and revising. I would bet that if I took a poll, a majority of students who write any …

by Megan Gudeman, Peer Consultant, University Writing Center School’s finally back in session, which means homework is also hot on its heels. I know I already had a couple multi-page reports that were due the other day, and classes have only just begun. As we all begin to get our syllabuses and look over calendars …

by Leslie Weaver, Faculty Consultant, University Writing Center Most of the cases of plagiarism we see in the writing center are unintentional—students are not trying to cheat; they just do not understand the mysterious, and seemingly inexplicable, rules of documentation. What exactly should be cited? How is an online source handled? To add to the …

by Elizabeth Watness, Student Consultant, University Writing Center Do you ever wonder where words come from? (Besides the dictionary, of course.) Many words commonly found in conversations today have old and interesting origins. Some of them have modern meanings that are quite different from their original definitions. Words change meaning over the centuries due to …