Haley’s Writing Strategies
Welcome to Part III of our special ‘Academic Coaches Series’ where we highlight our talented Octant Academics team. Today, we introduce Associate Academic Consultant, Haley Lukas. Below, she provides you with some tips and strategies for academic success.
LOOKING FOR WRITING OR ENGLISH HELP?
Haley is an Associate Academic Consultant, working with students in writing, English, and test prep. She also contributes articles to the Stormport Newsletter.
Haley brings academic coaching experience from both the US and abroad. As an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, she tutored fellow student athletes in a wide range of writing and humanities courses. Upon graduating with a B.S. in Business Administration from the Walter A. Haas School of Business, she continued to coach students in SAT and TOEFL test prep and ESL courses. She also taught young children English in Europe.
ANNOTATING: EARLY WORK FOR BIG REWARDS
Successful essay writing in school requires close reading and detailed analysis of assigned texts. By working hard during the reading process, you can make the essay writing process a lot less stressful for yourself. One important way to do so is by annotating the text.
Annotating is a close-reading note-taking strategy that involves adding notes, highlights, and other markings to the text directly. By working directly on the page, as opposed to taking notes elsewhere, you can engage more deeply with the text and develop an understanding that allows you to more easily craft your essay ideas.
Annotating has the added benefit of making it easier to recall ideas, especially if you haven’t interacted with a text for a while. With in-text notes, you will be able to spend less time re-reading and more time writing a great essay.
Here are some of the main benefits of annotating a passage:
Active reading of the text leads to better information recall
In-text notes can serve as a helpful ‘study guide’ to look back upon
Your notes may help form the main ideas of an essay topic
Getting Started with Annotating
Before you begin annotating, you’ll want to make sure you have the proper toolkit. Pencils are best for taking and making changes to notes; highlighters allow you to color-code key points in your reading; and Post-Its are helpful for flagging important sections or for books that cannot be written in. Also, each student’s style of annotating will look differently, but there are some key strategies that everyone should be using:
Scanning the Passage: Read through headings and subheadings, and look over the chapter to get some background information and set expectations for the work ahead of you. Having context before you start reading can help you remain engaged.
Taking Margin Notes: Using the space in the margins, add comments, ideas, analysis, questions, and other key notes pertaining to the adjacent text. Doing so will allow you to easily reference this information at a later time.
Highlighting: Use highlighters to mark important information, such as details to remember, plot information, and big ideas. If you have an essay prompt already available, you can also highlight sections of text you may want to quote later in your essay. Be careful not to "over-highlight" though; doing so can muddle the page and distract from big ideas.
Underlining: Use underlining as another way to code certain types of notes, specifically new words or unfamiliar ideas.
Using Symbols: Symbols can be used as a sort of shorthand for future reference. Feel free to create your own symbols and symbol key. For example, you might use a question mark next to some part of the text you don’t understand, or an asterisk next to something you feel is important.
All though it may feel like more work than you’re used to, the time and effort you spend upfront during the reading and annotating process will prove valuable when it comes time to prepare a successful essay.
TELLING THE STORY: OUTLINING
Whether engaging in academic or creative writing, think of yourself as the storyteller. In the case of academic writing, you are trying to help your reader understand some key point by crafting an essay that guides them through various arguments with support and evidence. In the most effective essays, these arguments are not simply stated; instead, they flow together in logical fashion, like the unraveling plot of a creative story.
Outlining is a great way to establish this sort of ‘story-like’ flow, because it ensures that you cover every key point and detail of your arguments, thereby helping your reader understand your thesis.
Outlining does create additional work in the essay-writing process, but it is well worth the effort for at least the following reasons:
Outlines keep all supporting information orderly and in one easily referenced place
Outlines help prevent ‘writer’s block’; approaching a blank paper is far less daunting if your ideas are already laid out
Outlines serve as initial essay drafts
Getting Started with Outlining
Organize an outline according to your essay format, creating major sections for an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. In each section, break down how each paragraph will look.
Think of an essay in terms of an hourglass. Your introductory paragraph starts broad, narrows into your main argument or thesis, which further narrows with the ideas, evidence, and analysis presented in the body paragraphs. Then, as you reach the conclusion, the ideas begin to broaden again as you provide your reader with the broader significance of your thesis.
Overall, outlining is an easy way to ensure all the specifics of your thesis are covered, resulting in strong and detailed work.
Here is a general format to use for outlining:
After you have written your outline, you'll want to make sure you have done so thoroughly. Take yourself through the following checklist before moving onto second draft essay writing.
Make sure all of these aspects are covered in the outline:
Are all the big ideas are included?
Did I order the body paragraphs correctly?
Do the body paragraphs support the thesis statement?
Does every argument have ample evidence, quotes, and analysis?
Once you’ve answered yes to each of these questions, your outline is ready to be converted into essay format.
Remember, essays are best completed in steps and with great attention to detail. Outlining is an effective way to do this and helps make sure your story will be told.
TIP: Outlining can also be used as a note-taking strategy, and it works well for any class.
HALEY’S TOP WRITING TIPS
Here are some key tips and reminders for essay writing:
Writing is a process: Think of writing as an assembly line; it needs to be completed in steps to make sure all the arguments are organized and fully detailed.
Don't be afraid to throw drafts away: Getting ideas onto paper can be a hard step, and you may pivot completely. Write some ideas down to get the juices flowing, and then toss the draft if needed!
Use your prompt early: If given a prompt well before the essay is due, use it to guide your annotating. Look for key ideas and arguments that will keep your reading focused.
Find someone to read your essay: You can reread your paper over and over, but you might still overlook small errors or forget to include some key ideas that another reader will notice. Be sure to provide context and explain all your ideas to your proofreader.
Vary your evidence: Use a combination of direct quotes (not too long) and paraphrased ideas in order to keep body paragraphs interesting and display complexities in your writing.