Grammarly reports:
"When essay time rolls around and deadlines loom, even the best students can struggle with the actual writing part. That’s nothing to be ashamed of; it’s not uncommon for a person to be learned in their chosen academic field but not much of a writer. The fact is that you don’t have to be an amazing writer if you can just get a handle on good essay-writing practices...The key to any long project, like an essay or thesis, is planning. For many, this feels like procrastination—putting off the actual work. Think of your planning phase as a foundation or a roadmap that will support and guide everything else you do. The first part of this plan should relate to your timeframe, based on your deadline and how much time each week you can commit to work. Remember to leave time for research, editing, and travel, because for each block of actual writing you do, there will be a corresponding set of peripheral tasks. Work out how long it takes you to write a section of, for example, 500 words. Then, as a rule of thumb, double that time to allow for research...[T]he point is that you must leave time for all aspects of work, not just time spent sitting at the keyboard. Consider your personal strengths and weaknesses when estimating research or editing time...You cannot write a good essay without sleeping, eating, and relieving stress. The key is to know what you’re facing. Factor the resources you need, such as books, into your plan. Consider the cost and budget for it, so you don’t find yourself panicking later. Manage your stress levels and time by delineating work time and breaks. You cannot write a good essay if you have Facebook open in the background or a TV on in the room, nor can you write all day and night without taking a breather. With a little discipline, you can have a break every so often to de-stress and still be productive...Most essays will begin with a prompt in the form of a question or problem, which you are expected to answer. Some find it frustrating that they’re expected to expound for several pages based on just one line of text. Good essay writers know that the opposite is true; the question is there for a reason and it gives valuable insight into what the examiners are looking for. Even the language used is important. There is a difference between 'compare' and 'analyze.' To put it another way, the question is your springboard; let it do the work for you! Start by considering all the ways that you could answer it. Each of these is a potential avenue for your essay and should be written into your plan. Some answers may not be viable for the core of the essay, but they can be mentioned as part of your argument. Look at how other people, such as experts in the field, have answered your question. Even if you disagree, drawing comparisons between your answer and theirs can only improve your work and show that you’ve understood the task...Critical thinking is simply the act of methodical, clear thinking in an objective fashion. The basic idea is to be rationally critical of everything, including yourself. This kind of analytical thought is intended to eliminate personal bias and uncover new avenues of inquiry. When you begin building your essay, examine your arguments objectively, as if they were written by someone else and your task is to disprove them. This should spark plenty of ideas for further arguments within your essay, demonstrating to readers that you’ve thought your work through and haven’t just picked one route and followed it blindly. Even better, you may discover flaws in your theories that would have gone unresolved...You do not have to be a great writer to improve your vocabulary. Think of words as tools in your work belt; the more you have, the better prepared you will be. Essays written with an overly limited vocabulary can be confusing or even misleading. More to the point, working with a word limit requires a certain economy of words, so wherever possible you should use one word instead of five to express an idea. There’s no point in mastering your field if you can’t express your brilliant ideas. That’s what an essay is all about—your big opportunity to communicate your understanding of a topic and what you have to say about it. The first step is to invest in a thesaurus or find a reliable online alternative. Then, to ensure that you learn the words, use them in real life. Consider services that deliver new words to your inbox every day. Finally, make note of new words you encounter while researching your subject." Jill Leviticus reports:
"Feedback from focus groups plays an important role in determining how your company meets the needs and expectations of customers. Researching issues and writing questions for your focus group session is only the first part of the process. Completion of a comprehensive report based on the results of the session will help your managers develop new strategies and sales techniques to better meet the needs of your customers. Before you begin writing your report, sort and organize the information you obtain to avoid accidentally omitting key facts or details. Begin the report with a cover page. Type the title of the report on the first line. Add the date and name of the employees who conducted the focus group on subsequent lines. Follow the cover page with the executive summary...[which] explains what you hoped to accomplish with the focus group. Your executive summary might explain that the focus group was assembled to determine whether customers like your company’s new coffee flavors. Include a background page. The background page will discuss when the new coffee flavors were introduced, how they were selected, what markets or stores received the new flavors and how the new products were priced. It might also mention any problems with the roll-out of the new flavors that led you to convene the focus group, such as lackluster sales of the new products. Describe the methodology you used to obtain the information. Explain how many focus groups you held, how many people participated, how they were recruited, and the date and location of meetings. Mention the ways that you obtained the input, such as audio or video recording or note taking. List the questions that the facilitators asked the participants. Include a results page. List and summarize the information obtained from the focus groups. Highlight any particularly relevant or insightful comments from group members...Explain what you learned from the focus group. List recommendations that describe how you can use this information to improve your marketing techniques and increase sales...Resist the urge to include every detail you discover in the report...If you feel it would be helpful for management to read quotes and suggestions from participants, include this information as an addendum. The University of Arizona cautions against relying on audio recording as a sole method of recording participants’ responses. If the recorder fails, you won’t be able to access specific comments or points when you write your report. Use two methods to record the session to ensure that you’re covered if one method fails." |
Writing and editing can be pretty rigorous processes if you want to do them well, but that's what this page is here for. Check out the latest tips here. Archives
May 2024
CategoriesJ.D. Parsons
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