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Waggoner
Liane Waggoner
Jeff Sturges
English 101
17 September 2004
Good Writing Research Paper
Title
Mr. Renee gave his tenth grade English class an overnight writing assignment, making them write a three page paper about anything they desired. Bobby found this as a perfect opportunity to easily raise his grade so he went straight home and started on his paper. The next day after Mr. Renee graded the papers he handed them back and all the students starting talking amongst themselves proudly. Bobby received his paper and was horrified. He had received a ‘D’ on his paper. He wondered why the teacher gave him a bad grade especially since he worked hard on the assignment. After class ended he approached his teacher and asked him about his paper.
Practice makes perfect is a well known saying everyone, especially in athletics, grew up with. Coaches preach to their athletes that the more you practice the better you will be. Writing is the same way, the more you write and practice, the better your writing will be. Teachers have been hammering that thought into students’ heads for ages but even though it is impossible to make your writing “perfect”, it is possible to make it as close as possible.
Being smart doesn’t make you a naturally good writer. The smartest people even have trouble writing because it’s not something you can just pick up one day. To be a good writer you must practice and as long as a person is trying and applying time to their writing then any single person, smart or not, can be a good writer.
Mastering the main five steps to writing is just as important as practicing them. The first step you must master is planning. When given a writing assignment you should first read it over to make sure you understand it. You should then start listing your ideas and brainstorm about what you will write. There is no such thing as too much information, whatever comes to mind just write down and you can throw out the points that aren’t as strong later.
The second step is organizing your paper. You should group your ideas together and start outlining them. Put all your ideas in order and get an idea of how your paper will look. Start drafting or writing ideas that you can use later on.
The third step you should do is writing your paper. Start with an introduction that grabs your reader’s attention. You want to draw them into the paper right in the beginning or they won’t be interested. Then you write the body of your paper. Make sure each paragraph starts out with a topic sentence and follows with supporting sentences. At last, you write your conclusion which should wrap up your entire paper and make the reader feel like everything has come to an ending.
The last two steps are alike and they are evaluating and revising your paper. Make sure you read over your entire paper and make the changes needed. Getting another person to read over your paper is also a good idea because they might catch the things that you didn’t. Write your final draft and only accept perfection.
Writing with depth shows that you put a lot of thought into your paper. This task is made a lot easier if you are able to write about a subject that interests you. It is always hard and dull to research a topic that you don’t care about. It will also make it boring for your reader if you show no interest; if you are not interested why should they be?
When you are writing your paper don’t only touch base with your topic. Just reaching the surface makes for an uninteresting paper. You must get into depth and get into detail with your paper. Instead of just talking about a forest in your paper, describe it. Describe colors, images, people and places. Your reader will be a lot more intrigued by your paper if you use vivid images and descriptions.
What is the point of using big words and phrases in your paper when your audience is a young generation? While writing, keep your audience in your mind. You have to write your paper so anybody can read and relate to it. Stick with points that people will agree with or interest them. Your story should stand out in their mind and it should be one that they will remember.
Using character in your story doesn’t just mean people and dialogues, it means using personality and uniqueness in your writing. The assignment should reflect you and your certain personality traits, if one of your friends read your paper not knowing who the author was, the paper should remind them of you. Being yourself while you write is important because you are writing for yourself and nobody else. If you’re not happy with your writing it won’t turn out decent. Being unique in your writing is also important. You want your reader to hear something new not just the usual.