Bracken Library Printers

Our group is going to make a video on how to use the printers in Bracken Library. We are going to show step by step instructions on how to print your document. We haven't planned who will be in it yet. We were thinking one boy and one girl. The girl will obviously be from our group but since we have no boys in our group we will have to find a boy. I think Amanda's friend is filming it for us.

Make It Interesting

To make a piece of writing more interesting you can do something as simple as changing the text to adding visuals to it. Adding a heading can make it easier to follow the reading and makes your paper look more professional. Using spaces helps seperate different subjects. There are many types of visuals that can be used to help make the writing more interesting. Some visuals are photographs, line graphs, bar graphs, pie charts, tables, diagrams, flowcharts, drawings, etc. When I read something I know it helps me to understand if there is some type of visual in with the writing.

Different tests require different kinds of effort

The Norton Field Guide to Writing with reading states "Different texts require different kinds of effort." When I read this I thought of several different things. First, the statement is very true. Reading a childrens book is not challenging to most college students. Reading a 160 page document on cell reproduction would be hard for students not interested in science. A short story with small words will be easier to read and understand than a medical document. Those are just a few examples of the effort put forward in reading different things. Another thing the quote reminded me of was that even if your reading a simple piece you still need to look at all the details and be sure not to read to fast or you might miss a piece of important information.

Cause and Effect

The cause is usually pretty easy to find. Usaually it's something simple but at times it can tricky to determine the cause. The effect is what happens to the cause. When writing it helps to make sure there are several cause and effect type scenerios in the reading. Another method to help your writing is to classify the paragraphs or sentences into groups. By dividing the paragraphs like that you can make the writing more readable and easier to follow.

Reading Strategies

To help understand a reading beter it helps to proofread abd just kind of skim through the reading first. Look at any pictures and in the book it says to ignore words you don't know. Usually when I proofread I look up the words so when I'm reading the real reading I understand it better. Another way to understand a reading better is to analyze the argument. Break the reading apart and see if it has a main point. Does the reading give reasons to support whatever it is talking about? Make sure that the writer doesn't assume you know about the discussion, it should be intoduced in the reading so there are no assumptions.

Proofreading actually does help

Before handing in your final draft of any kind of writing always make sure to proofread. In High School I always procrastinated my writing assignments and so I would type them up half asleep the night before it was due. Whenever I would get my paper back it didn't have very good grades. It had bad grades because it was poorly written and had so much mistakes. Some words were spelled wrong or I would use the wrong form of the word. My senior year I slacked a lot and my grades all went down. I realized if I wanted to get into a good college I needed to start doing my homework and trying harder. So whenever I had writing assignments I made sure I started them the night before they were due. I made my English grade improve a lot because I proofread my papers and rewrote anything that didn't make sense or sounded wrong.

Assessing My Writing

As writers we need to assess our work. People judge us all the time by what we do, say, and write. We should follow their lead and step back and look at our writing. See what needs fixed or doesn't make sense and change it. When I write something it is not for fun. I am not one of those people that just sits down to write. So whenever I write it is an assignment and needs to be as perfect as I can make it. By assessing my work I know it is that much closer to being ready for my professor. Another thing I found helpful is asking a friend or two to look at my paper and help me to revise it. If I get a couple other people's opinion on my paper I know that my paper will be good enough for my professor to read.