Writing Wednesday Workshop presented by Library & Writing Center

Date: Wednesday, Oct 2nd

Time: 12-1pm

Location: Library, Rm #259

    Instructors: Erin Durham & Emma Jett

Have you ever wondered how to maximize your research time? Have you wished that you could magically wake up to a perfect Works Cited page? This workshop is designed to save you research time and make it easier for you to find sources for your papers and projects. Feel free to bring in a research assignment that you are working on- this workshop features practical research strategies that you can use right away!

Workshop presented by Library & the Writing Center

Date: Wednesday, Sept 11th

Time: 4-5pm

Location: Library room 259

  Instructors: Beck Hertl & Chris Baker

Are you used to most of your research needs being just a Google away? In this interactive workshop, we will discuss some common college-level research challenges and explore different ways to navigate them. Join us if you’re completely new to college-level research, or familiar but looking for ways to improve your process.

Location: First floor of the A.O.K. Library, past the reference desk.

Hours for Fall 2019

Face-to-Face Tutoring:

Mon-Thurs: 10:00am-7:00pm
Fri: 10:00am–3:00pm

Online Tutoring:
(see schedule for availability)

Second annual writers' retreat at Pendle Hill in Wallingford, PA. Please see the attached flyer for more details and to hold your spot!!

Drop-in or make an appointment online
http://umbc.mywconline.com

Website: lrc.umbc.edu

Have you ever sat in front of a computer screen just staring at a blank page? Have you ever been stuck on how to make a fantastic and unique title? Or even just want to learn a few tips on how to make them better?  This blog post is going to help you learn how to be more creative and edgy when making them. I know they may seem intimidating, but they don’t have to be with a few simple tips.

Forget about the Title

Yes, I said it. Forget about it until the end of the piece of writing. I know it may not seem like the most helpful piece of advice, but trust me, it works. It may be a little easier to create one if you have already drafted the paper. Doing this usually gives you a clear theme and flow of the paper. You would want the title to match it, so be sure to stay in the “boundaries” you have created within your paper. Sometimes when you are thinking too long and hard about something, i.e. a title, you stunt your brain’s creativity. This is detrimental to your paper, as this is what motivates the reader to, well, read your paper. So, when you draft it and go to write the title afterwards, you can have a eureka moment and come up with the perfect one! In addition, if you wait until afterwards, you might not even need the eureka moment— you’ll have all of the material within your paper to drawn from as inspiration.

Use your writing to help you

As mentioned above, you should draft the paper before the title. Let the writing guide you through the process of making a creative one. One way you could do this is to pull out certain characteristics of the paper. Try to pull out ones that will hint on what the piece of writing is about. You want it to stand out and catch the reader’s eye, so that they will want to find out more about it. Let’s face it. Papers with dull titles are glanced over for more exciting-sounding reads. Your paper could be amazing, but if you don’t incorporate a unique trait into the title, the reader will never know. “Why not?” you might ask. Well because it won’t grab them or pull them in. Try reading through your paper and jotting down some important concepts and themes. Remember to pick ones that you could use to describe your paper. You could even take a phrase from your paper and use it, if it will encompass the big idea of your paper. This is one of the simpler yet effective ways to make a title on short notice.

Consider the Subject of the paper

The subject of the paper is important when considering what your title should be. The subject could be your friend or your worst nightmare. For example, if you are very knowledgeable about a subject then it may be easier to think of a creative name to go along with it. Or if the subject is about something casual, then you could make the name in the same fashion. On the other hand, if after writing your paper, you still don’t like the subject or it’s boring to you, it may reflect that. Or if the paper is more formal, then it should follow suit while still maintaining its uniqueness. So to combat this, find something interesting about the subject, so that not only is the paper easier to write but the perfect title will fall right into your lap, well, hopefully more so on your paper. For formal papers, such as a Biology report, you should still keep the integrity of the traditional report style but try to add a small touch of yourself in the label.

Make the title catchy and memorable

This tip should be a given. A catchy title will grab the reader’s attention. It would also stay on the reader’s mind longer. This is key because the purpose of a title is to make the overall paper memorable. Just to be clear, a catchy title doesn’t necessarily mean a one-worded one, although they have their usefulness. It can be a few words that rhyme or that are easy to pronounce. The words can be alliterative also. The object is to make it so catchy and memorable, that a reader may think of it while completing mundane tasks. Don’t go overboard though. It should still hold relevance to the paper you are trying to write. Also avoid making it sound too silly. One or two rhyming or alliterative words are catchy, but if it sounds too simple, it can seem a bit elementary.

All in all, don’t be afraid to let your inner writer shine through your paper. So whenever you feel that you’re writing a boring one, don’t be scared to come back to this list as you sharpen your dull title!

Contributed by: Mary'ah Onwukwe, Writing Center Intern

The editing process is vital to creating a good story, regardless of which genre you write in. It is a time to refine your story, and to make it the best it can be. Editing is not an easy process. Oftentimes, you can find yourself not knowing where to start, or unwilling to let someone else see your work. While I can’t stress enough the importance of having someone else edit your story, you may want to edit it yourself first. So, if this applies to you, here is a list of tips that you can use when editing your own story. Many of these can also apply if you are editing someone else’s story, too.

Take Your Time and Read Like a Reader

There’s no need to rush through the editing process. In fact, there are more reasons to edit slowly and thoroughly, so that you don’t skip over the same issues during the next edit. If there are glaring issues with your story, take the time to fix them, so that in the future you can work on the more important things. Your future self will thank you.

You should also let yourself enjoy the story. Read the story from a reader’s perspective, so that you can experience it the way your readers will. This will give you a different lens through which to view your story and allow you to detach from its creation a bit to view it critically.

Cut Out the Unnecessary

Everything in your story should have a reason for being there. I know I fell into this trap a lot when I first started writing. I would create a massive cast of characters, and then I wouldn’t know what to do with all of them. The less important ones would take attention away from the main characters, and it was difficult to fit them all into the story smoothly.

Every character should have a purpose in your story. That purpose can be big or small, but there has to be something. If there are characters without a purpose, cut them out of the story. The less superfluous characters in a story, the better the audience can focus on and grow attached to the important ones. Keep in mind, stories can have extremely large casts, like Game of Thrones. But I challenge you to find a single character in Game of Thrones that does not play at least a small part in advancing the plot.

This rule counts for events, too. If an event doesn’t advance the plot or subplot in some way, or doesn’t at least give the reader more insight into a certain character, then it should be cut out. Most readers don’t want to read fluff, as much fun as it sometimes is to write.

Watch for Plot Holes

This is one of the most important things to focus on, because it can potentially change a lot about your novel. On a first draft, they can be put aside for the sake of getting the writing done. But on the first edit, and no later, they should be addressed. Because plot holes can be large enough to warrant changes to other parts of your novel, they should not be left alone. The sooner they’re fixed, the sooner you can focus on the other parts of the editing process.

Pay Attention to Pacing

I know at least personally, during the writing process, pacing is far from the first thing I’m focused on. Pacing can really only be addressed after the first draft is written. It is something that we should pay attention to, though, because it can make or break a story. If your entire story is slow and calm, then the reader will not stay interested, no matter how lovable your characters are. Likewise, if your story is nothing but tense, action-packed event after event, these moments lose their weight and the reader can also become bored. You need to find a balance. The action should come in waves, gradually becoming bigger as the story reaches its climax.

Examine Each Character’s Arc

This one seems like common sense, but I think many writers tend to overlook the arcs of smaller characters in favor of the main ones. Stories are far more interesting, and more immersive, if every character has some sort of internal or external struggle happening. It doesn’t have to be the main focus of the story, or even a focus at all. But think about real life – every single person you know has their own life, their own goals, and their own struggles. The characters in your story should be no different. You don’t need to explicitly write out every character’s arc, but keep it in mind when writing them, because it will help bring them and your world to life.

Hook (and Keep) the Reader

If the beginning of your story doesn’t have some sort of hook to get the reader interested, rewrite it. I’m sure I’m not the only reader who reads the first few pages of a book before even considering to buy it. You could have the most amazing book in the world, but if your readers don’t want to get past the first few pages, no one will ever know.

Hooking the reader is not only something that is done in the beginning of a book. It should be done throughout the book, to keep the reader’s attention. I cannot count the number of books that I have forgotten about, several chapters in, because I grew bored after a stellar opening. There should always be something happening in the novel. Something that matters. Otherwise, the story can lose direction. An easy way to fix this is to make sure the character has a goal and an obstacle in every scene. As long as the character has something that they are working towards, there is enough to keep the reader invested.

Find a Balance

One of the most influential pieces of advice about writing I have come across has been from Stephen King’s On Writing. He said, “Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.” You don’t need to vividly describe every single detail of every character, of every setting, or of every event. Describe what is necessary to convey your vision, and let the reader fill in the rest. Part of what makes reading so enjoyable is the ability to interact with the text. A reader can’t do that if you don’t let them. Give them something and let their imagination run with it. Allow the reader to get what they want out of your story, so that it can make more of an impact on them.

Get Another Pair of Eyes

Creative writing is personal, and many writers are reluctant to show it to others, especially while it’s still in its early stages. However, this is all the more reason to have someone else look at it. Finding someone else who is willing to critique your writing is vital to the writing process, because they will always see mistakes that you won’t. Or they’ll see plot holes that you miss, or express confusion at the point of certain characters or events. Let someone else see your story. They might provide some valuable insight that you’d be unable to get from yourself.

Contributed by: Maddie

In school, most students are taught from an early age that he/him and she/her are the singular pronouns, with they/them reserved for plural subjects. The rule that they/them can only be used for groups of more than one stood true for a long time, but as the Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill tells its students on its website, “English has changed since the Declaration of Independence was written.” Recent discussions of gender inclusion have brought about the singular they, a pronoun used to refer to a single subject when the gender of the subject is unknown or does not identify with he nor she. Although not everyone agrees with the use of the singular they, writing centers have the unique opportunity to popularize the concept of the singular they and encourage writers to include non-binary people in their writing by forgoing gender when it is not necessary.

The use of the singular they gained popularity with discussions of gender identity and inclusiveness. In 2015, the American Dialect Society voted the singular they as its word of the year, specifically when used as a pronoun for someone who identifies as non-binary (Marquis). Similarly, the 2017 Associated Press Style Handbook debuted guidelines for using the singular they, noting that the pronoun should only be used in certain cases in which sentences cannot be restructured and a name cannot be used in place of the pronoun (Easton). Although the Associated Press made such restrictions on this pronoun, its recognition of the term in any sense proves a significant success in the push for gender inclusion in academia.

The American Dialect Society and the Associated Press weren’t the first ones to declare their support of the singular they. Authors as well-known as Jane Austen have used this pronoun in their writing. In one of Austen’s most famous novels, Emma, the main character shares, “Everybody was punctual, everybody in their best looks,” among other uses in the novel (emphasis mine). Writers who have established credibility as professional authors, like Austen, have been free to use the singular they as a stylistic tool because they are respected among the writing community and thought of as experts. However, it is often novice writers like students who are penalized or critiqued for using the singular they as not having knowledge of proper grammar. Writing centers can change this by explaining the benefits of using the singular they during tutoring sessions and changing the assumptions students and faculty on campus may have about the term.

Writing tutors can challenge these assumptions and include non-binary people in their community by teaching tutees about the singular they. The Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Kansas emphasizes the importance of gender inclusivity and the benefits of the singular they by stating, “Respecting non-conforming gender pronoun requests is important for the promotion of success for all learners.” Tutors can change the opinions about this term on their campuses by reinforcing this idea of respect for all when using the singular they. Tutors can also encourage tutees to utilize this term by providing examples of ways to use it. In traditional sentences like “If a student failed an exam, I would feel bad for him,” or “If a student failed an exam, I would feel bad for him or her,” tutors can encourage their tutees to say “If a student failed an exam, I would feel bad for them.” Not only does this sentence read better than ones in which the gender is guessed, it includes students who do not identify with male or female.

Opponents of this term may argue that changing the mind of one student during a tutoring session will not make the use of the term grammatically correct or acceptable in academia, but it is only with individual determination and acceptance that it can truly be popularized. English is not changed in large strides; it changes over time as people catch on to changes and trends in the language. Today, when students read the works of well-known eighteenth-century writers like Edmund Burke or Mary Wollstonecraft, they wonder how that English was ever used in writing or conversation. Similarly, when future students read the famous works of twenty-first century writers, they may mock them for incorrectly assuming the gender of subjects or gendering subjects without a specific affiliation as a method of the past, celebrating a victory for all those with the power to influence writing today.

Contributed by: Katie Poteet

Works Cited

Easton, Lauren. “Making a case for a singular ‘they’.” Associated Press, 24 Mar. 2019, http://www.blog.ap.org/products-and-services/making-a-case-for-a-singular-they. Accessed 27 Feb. 2019.

“Gender-Inclusive Language.” UNC-Chapel Hill Writing Center, http://www.writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/gender-inclusive-language. Accessed 27 Feb. 2019.

“Jane Austen and other famous authors violate what everyone learned in the English class.” Jane Austen at The Republic of Pemberley, http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/austheir.html. Accessed 27 Feb. 2019.

Marquis, Marriott. “2015 Word of the Year is singular “they”.” American Dialect Society, 8 Jan. 2016, http://www.americandialect.org/2015-word-of-the-year-is-singular-they. Accessed 27 Feb. 2019.

“Personal pronouns and gender inclusivity in the classroom.” University of Kansas Center for Teaching Excellence, http://www.cte.ku.edu/personal-pronouns-and-gender-inclusivity-classroom. Accessed 27 Feb. 2019.