The Writing Zone

Writing is required in most jobs. However, if you are a particularly good writer and enjoy the writing process, you may want to consider a career in the writing field. Many positions link writing to another field. Explore the links below.

General Information:

• Princeton Review A Day in the Life of a Writer
  https://www.princetonreview.com/careers/165/writer
  (Search by “writer”)

Medical Writing:

• American Medical Writers’ Association
  Toolkit for New Medical Writers
  https://www.amwa.org/page/Toolkit_Details
• About Medical Communications
  https://www.amwa.org/page/Med_Communication
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
  Working as a Medical Writer, by Sarah A. Web
  https://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2007_06_22/caredit.a0700088

Science Writing:

• Council for the Advancement of Science Writing
  A Guide to Careers in Science Writing
  http://casw.org/casw/guide-careers-science-writing
• National Geographic
  A Note to Beginning Science Writers, by Carl Zimmer
  http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/06/24/a-note-to-beginning-science-writers/
• American Chemical SocietyInternet Resources for Scientific Writing, by Svetla Baykoucheva
  http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/ci/31/special/02sb_inet.html

Technical Writing:

• Society for Technical Communication
  Defining Technical Communication
  http://www.stc.org/about-stc/the-profession-all-about-technical-communication/defining-tc
• The Chronicle of Higher Education
  How to Land a Career in Technical Writing, by Gwendolyn Bradley
  http://chronicle.com/article/How-to-Land-a-Career-in/46315
• TechnicalWritingZone.com
  Technical Writing Introduction
  http://www.technicalwritingzone.com/
• TechnicalWritingAid.com
  An Introduction to Technical Writing
  http://www.technicalwritingaid.com/

When Citation is Necessary:
Generally speaking, if you are using an idea generated or developed by someone else, you must give them credit to avoid plagiarism. This applies whether you summarize, paraphrase, or quote a source. Plagiarism is a form of cheating and can result in extreme consequences for a student ranging from a zero on the plagiarized assignment to loss of scholarships, recommendations, and NCAA eligibility. In extreme cases, a student could be expelled from the university. See the Academic Honesty Policy for details. Take a plagiarism quiz to test your understanding.

How to Cite – the Basics:
Make it clear where in your paper another author’s ideas begin and end. This is true for summaries, paraphrasing and word-for-word quotes.

• Phrases such as “according to…” and “[Author’s last name] argues that…” are effective when indicating the start of another author’s idea. (See the box at the top of page 211 of The St. Martin’s Handbook – 9th edition for a list of signal verbs.)
• An in-text citation or superscript/footnote is needed to show where in your paper the other author’s ideas end. (Format of in-text citations and footnotes depends on which style you’re using.)
• Finally, a list of all sources must be included within the paper. (Format of list depends on which style you’re using.)

St. Martin’s Handbook as a Resource
Many students own a copy of The St. Martin’s Handbook – 9th edition because it is required for WRIT 1101, 1102, and 1104. This book has a great deal of information about four of the major styles:

• Chapter 18: MLA Style
• Chapter 19: APA Style
• Chapter 20: Chicago Style
• Chapter 21: CSE Style

Online resources on the Benedictine University Library website:

• Citation Guides and Style Manuals: This online library guide provides general information about citation and specific information about six styles commonly used by Benedictine University students: APA, AMA, CSE, Chicago Manual of Style, MLA, and NLM.
• Government & Legal Documents: This web page provides information about how to properly cite government and legal documents.
• Plagiarism: This web page provides information about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

Other resources:
APA Practice Worksheet

Maryville University – College Guide to Preventing Plagiarism

University of Wisconsin-Madison – Quoting and Paraphrasing

Click Here to Access the Essay Exams PDF

Grammar and punctuation are writing skills that every good writer is constantly seeking to improve.

Many students own a copy of The St. Martin’s Handbook – 9th edition because it is required for WRIT 1101, 1102, and 1104. This book has a great deal of information about grammar and mechanics and is worth owning.

Here are several electronic sources to help you:

• Diagramming Sentences – University of Central Florida (online software)
• Guide to Punctuation (.pdf)
• TED Talk: Comma Story – How to use commas (website)
• Writing with Parallel Structure (.pdf)
• The Online Presence of The St. Martin’s Handbook – 8th edition
  Over 9,000 free online writing exercises that provides practice in important writing skills.  Additional writing resources, including sample essays, strategies for creating different kinds of arguments, working with online sources, and more.

There are many reasons to write a personal statement: scholarships, graduate school, medical school, Health Professions Recommendation Committee, and more. Even if you’re an excellent writer, you may need some coaching in how to write an effective personal statement. Here’s a list of resources available to you:

In-Person Support:
The Peer Writing Tutors and Learning Specialist, are available to help students with every step of writing a personal statement. We can help you get started and support you through the final draft. Check the latest schedule for details).

Related Books:

• How to Write the Perfect Personal Statement, Fourth Edition by Peterson’s (ISBN-13: 978-0-7689-2816-7)  Ask the BenU librarians if they can get it for you!
• Graduate Admissions Essays, Fourth Edition: Write Your Way into the Graduate School of Your Choice by Donald Asher – 4th Edition (ISBN-13: 978-1-60774-321-7)  Ask the BenU librarians if they can get it for you!

Online Resources (General):

• GradSchools.com
  How to Write Your Personal Statement for Graduate School
• NAAHP = National Association of Advisors to the Health Professions (NAAHP) – “Health Professions Admissions Guide Strategies for Success” Eleventh Edition, 2017
• Tips for Personal Statements and Essays PDF

Online Resources (Dental):

• Studential
  Dentistry Personal Statements
  https://www.studential.com/personal-statement-examples/dentistry-personal-statements
• Duke University Pre-dental Society Site with Sample Dental School Personal Statements
  http://sites.duke.edu/predental/application/personal-statement/

Online Resources (Medical):

• Association of American Medical Colleges
  Tools and Tutorial page
  Tips for personal statements

Online Resources (Optometry):

• Kaplan Test Prep
  Your Optometry School Application Essay
  https://www.kaptest.com/oat/optometry-school/optometry-school-application-essay
• PersonalStatementExample.net
  Excellent Professional Optometry Personal Statement Example
  http://www.personalstatementexample.net/excellent-optometry-personal-statement-example/
• OptometryStudents.com
  The 5 Dos and Don’t of Writing Your Optometry School Application Essay
  http://www.optometrystudents.com/the-five-dos-and-donts-of-writing-your-optometry-school-application-essay/

BenU Library Research Guide on Personal Statements

Many students struggle with starting to write. They open a Word document on their computer and try to write the first sentence of their introduction expecting that to lead to the next and the next until the last sentence of their conclusion. The writing process is much more complex than that. Here are some strategies that you may want to try the next time you sit down to start writing.

Develop a thesis and an outline:
Many students distrust outlines, yet an outline can be your best friend when trying to start writing. An outline is simply a list of your topic sentences with a sentence at the top that is supported by all the topic sentences. Try to generate a list of topic sentences; you may be surprised how helpful it is!

Start in the middle of the paper:
Often students aren’t sure what they want to write exactly, and that makes writing an outline or thesis statement essentially impossible. However, if you’re clear on one topic that you want to write, try to start by writing the paragraph about that one idea. Then at least you have a paragraph you can fit into the paper later on.

Temporarily lower your standards:
Students often get stuck trying to write perfect sentences, paragraphs, and thesis statements in their first draft. Even professional writers aren’t able to do this. EVERYONE WRITES DRAFTS. Expect that bad writing will come before good writing. To try to skip over bad writing only wastes time and holds you back. Just write the bad stuff and get it over with!

Freewriting:
Freewriting involves setting a timer at 20 minutes and then forcing yourself to write continuously until the time runs out – no exceptions. It doesn’t matter what you write. Just write whatever comes to mind, even if it’s sentences like “This is crazy, how can this freewriting help?” If forced to write, your thesis may appear on your computer screen seemingly by magic. Write about any ideas, no matter how unrelated to the assignment they may seem. By writing them down, your mind becomes free to think about ideas that are related.

Remove distractions:
Many students try to write with music or tv on in the background. Try removing these distractions and allowing your brain to focus on one task: writing.

Many students struggle with establishing flow in their papers. These students jump around from topic to topic within each of their paragraphs. Flow comes from a clear thesis statement that is supported by all the paragraphs, and each paragraph covers only one main idea. For example, an idea shouldn’t appear in paragraphs 3 and be restated in paragraph 5. Cover the idea fully in either 3 or 5. Then make sure you have strong transitions between each paragraph, and your flow will appear!

On Writing Thesis Statements

• General/Specific Exercise
• How to Develop a Thesis
• Writing a Strong Thesis or Crux

Paragraphing

• Writing an Effective Introduction
• Transitions
• Chapter 5 in The St. Martin’s Handbook – 9th edition (Developing Paragraphs) provides detailed information.

Flow requires multiple drafts to establish. Overtime, the main idea of each paragraph becomes clear and then you can decide how well it supports your thesis statement. If it doesn’t effectively support it, consider deleting the paragraph. Also consider reordering your paragraphs in your drafts. See which order most effectively supports your thesis.

• Reviewing an Essay Draft

Many students own a copy of The St. Martin’s Handbook – 9th edition because it is required for WRIT 1101, 1102, and 1104. This book has a great deal of information about organizing ideas and developing an effective structure.  Look up “thesis” in the index in the back of the book.

To be an effective writer, a person must have a strong vocabulary to make his or her ideas clear to the reader. Students often try to fake a strong vocabulary and end up making fools of themselves by misusing a word. You don’t need to fake it. Below are some tips to build your vocabulary.

Read, read, read!
The best way to build a vocabulary is to read as much as possible. It doesn’t have to be a 17th century novel, though that kind of reading will effectively build your vocabulary. It can be any kind of reading. When you come across a word you don’t know, look it up right then and there. To help you remember it, pay attention to how it’s used in the sentence and make up a couple sentences of your own using it. Although this may seem troublesome, you won’t have to do it forever. Eventually, your vocabulary will be built up and you will know the words when you’re reading.

• dictionary.com should be an app on your cell phone and a favorite on your laptop browser.
• Use your new words in your daily life as much as possible. Don’t worry if you’re concerned that your friends will make fun of you; your future employers will be impressed.

Avoid vague language in your writing

• Instead of using “good,” or “bad,” ask yourself what is good or bad about the noun you’re describing. For example, instead of writing “it was a good book,” ask yourself what was good about the book. Perhaps you mean “it was an exciting book” or “it was a funny book.” Those are two different meanings. By avoiding vague language, your reader doesn’t have to guess what you mean.
• Instead of using “things,” ask yourself what type of things you mean. You very likely don’t mean bunny rabbits, but bunny rabbits are things. For example, instead of writing “the group learned many things at the club meeting,” consider “the group learned many new strategies to increase membership at the club meeting.”

Learn roots, prefixes, and suffixes
Words in English often have a root, a prefix, and/or a suffix. If you know the meanings of these parts, you will know more words when you’re reading.  For example words starting with bio- have something to do with life, and words ending with -ology mean the study of something. Therefore, the word biology means the study of life. This is a simple example, but this trick can help you know the meaning of words such as misanthrope, bibliophile, and veracity without having to look them up.
Pages 389-393 of The St. Martin’s Handbook – 8th edition provide a list of common roots, prefixes, and suffixes.

Stop swearing
If you stop swearing, you’ll find that the number of words you use will greatly increase. It’s easy to say “&*#$ mad.” It takes a strong vocabulary to use words such as furious and enraged. It will be difficult at first, but like anything else, you’ll improve with practice. A fifth grader can swear; an adult goes beyond that.  Once you build up your vocabulary, you’ll be able to swear better than you thought possible.

Every career requires writing, however the form of writing varies from one career to another. In Writing 1102 (Research Writing), students gain some experience in writing within their major. The list below provides information specific to writing for your major (or discipline). It will benefit you to learn as much as you can about writing in your major before you graduate. You’ll have enough new information to learn when you start your first job!

Computer Science

• Computer Information Systems (CIS) Program Submissions Guidelines
• How (and How Not) to Write a Good Systems Paper

Criminal Justice

• Saint Joseph’s University
  The Importance of Professional Writing Skills in Law Enforcement
  https://online.sju.edu/graduate/masters-criminal-justice/resources/articles/the-importance-of-professional-writing-skills-in-law-enforcement

Pre-Med

• Emory University
  Medical Etymology – Anatomy
  http://www.emory.edu/ANATOMY/AnatomyManual/Etymology.html
• Des Moines University
  Medical Terminology (free online course)
  http://www.dmu.edu/medterms/overview/
• SweetHaven Publishing
  Medical Terminology Online 3.0 (free online course)
  http://www.free-ed.net/sweethaven/medtech/medterm/default.asp

Science

• Format Guidelines for Lab Write-ups
• How to Write a Good Research Grant Proposal

Unsure of how to format a business letter? a business memo? a professional e-mail? Yes, a professional e-mail is different from a casual e-mail you send to a friend. A professional e-mail uses more formal language. A business text is also very different from a text you may send to a friend. For example, “text-speak” is not acceptable in the business world. The word “I” must be capitalized and apostrophes should be used. The word “you” is not spelled “u.”

Not convinced? Think you’ll never have to write again after you graduate? Watch these videos and find out the truth:

• Government Skills Australia:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR4ND22FjeA
• Northern Arizona University – The W. A. Franke College of Business’ Business Communication Center:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz6kPENIedM&list=PLUiOYgJLYk43Uvx1vrBAIkjwYFu9uWdRI&index=1

Many current students are not aware of professional writing standards in general. Therefore, this list of resources has been assembled to provide much-needed information.

The St. Martin’s Handbook as a Professional Writing Resource:
Many students own a copy of The St. Martin’s Handbook – 9th edition because it’s required for WRIT 1101, 1102, and 1104. There is a full chapter which is particularly helpful in terms of business writing:

• Chapter 29: Writing in Professional Settings – This chapter provides information about writing memos, email, letters, and resumes.

Related Books Available through the Benedictine University Library:
Visit the Library page and browse their holdings to find dozens of sources including:

• Email Etiquette – E-book
• The Business Writer’s Handbook by Gerald J. Alred and others (call #: 651.75 A459b 2000)

Career and Professional Development Resources:
They have many resources available as handouts and online:

• Cover Letters
• Resume Writing for Undergraduates
• Resume Writing for Graduate Students
• Resume and Cover Letter Writing for Education Majors

Online Resources:
Other universities also have information about business writing that may be helpful:

• Colorado State University – Business Writing: An Introduction
• University of Iowa – Brief Guide to Business Writing

Our Learning Specialists are willing to work with you and develop any kind of workshop presentation you need to help your students write better. Past instructors have asked for a variety of topics, including:

• Writing resources available to students
• Developing ideas fully
• Citation and avoiding plagiarism
• Structure and flow

This useful student information page was provided by Dr. Christine Fletcher. She uses it to gain information about her students at the start of each semester.

Upcoming WAC seminar topics are to be determined – watch your email. Handouts from past WAC seminars are available in the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellent group in D2L.  Look in your “ongoing” tab in the “My Courses” section.