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Writing Center

Writing Tips

READ YOUR ESSAYS ALOUD

Yes, you can feel like an idiot when someone enters your room to find you addressing thin air. Or you may be embarrassed by the expressions on the face of the person you manage to talk into listening to you. But there is no better way to catch silly errors (like forgetting to delete an earlier version of a word or phrase from a sentence) and no better way to find the flat spots in your prose. When you read aloud, you can hear when when a sentence becomes tangled up in itself, and you can hear when consecutive sentences are too similar in length or structure.

Expressing complex ideas effectively requires writers to use a variety of long and short sentences. Subject/verb sentence after subject/verb sentence will make your argument sound boring. Let your readers feel the energy of your ideas.

(Note: this advice is about varying sentences, not terminology. For precision, you may need to use the same word or phrase to refer to the same concept throughout a paper. Don't vary wording just for the sake of variety. Vary for the sake of clarity.)
(Submitted by Professor Nat Strout)

WRITING VS. EVERYDAY SPEECH

What sounds fine in everyday speech is not always acceptable in formal writing.  This holds true for vocabulary ("he committed suicide," not, "he blew his brains out"), phrases (no cliches like "cream of the crop," or, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"), but also syntax (word order). In speech, it is perfectly acceptable to say, "You're the girl I've always dreamed of."  However, in formal writing it would be more elegant to write, "You are the girl of which I have always dreamed."  In this way, the preposition ("of") does not occur at the end of the sentence (note also, no contractions in papers!).  This is difficult to avoid in English because it sounds perfectly natural to end sentences with prepositions (with, to, for, etc.) when we speak. Anyway, try to avoid letting these informal speech patterns creep into your writing. Here's a few examples:

In the eighth circle of Hell, Ulysses and Diomed scorn Dante and choose Virgil, a fellow Greek, to speak to.
  • Try changing your words:  here, substitute "address" and the need for the second "to" is gone. In the eighth circle of Hell, Ulysses and Diomed scorn Dante and choose Virgil, a fellow Greek, to address.

It is divine understanding Dante searches for.
  • Try the "preposition" + which formation, as in the above paragraph. It is divine understanding for which Dante searches.

Disclaimer:  Although ending sentences with prepositions is awkward, if the new sentence you've made is more complicated than your original and obscures your meaning, drop the rule. After all, simple is elegant! (But don't put that in your paper, it's a cliche.)
(Submitted by Amada Just '02)

More writing tips ....

HOURS:
Mon.-Thurs.: 10 a.m.-11 p.m.
Fri.: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Sun.: Noon - 11 p.m.
Open additional hours for computer use.


TO SCHEDULE, CANCEL, OR INQUIRE ABOUT A WRITING CONFERENCE:
Call (315) 859-4363 or stop by the Writing Center
(K-J 152).

  • To email your draft: wcpapers@hamilton.edu
  • Drafts that are 1-6 pages long should be sent ahead of your appointment time for printing and reading.
  • Drafts longer than six pages should be submitted by 7pm the night before your appointment for printing and reading.
  • Drafts longer than 10 pages should be sent several days prior to your conference.