Comp. & Circumstance: Recent Episodes
The Freshman Writing Podcast
If you're an English major, you're in the wrong place. Go away. There is nothing for you here. As for the rest of you—with your heads on right, rather than moaning over the past participle—let’s get down to business. I’m Ms. Wilson-Young, a lowly English teacher in the middle of Georgia. I’ve been teaching at technical and two-year colleges for the majority of my 20-year career, and I know you just want to pass a college English class or two, with as few scars as possible, and get on with your life. I’m here to help. And maybe even inspire you to do better than just pass.
What is revision? If I could answer that question easily, this episode wouldn't be eleven minutes long. Just like the other steps of TWP, revision takes days and a significant amount of time. So be sure you've planned ahead and not left revision for the hours prior to the deadline. If you've procrastinated, you've put yourself in a bad position, but there are still a few things you can do in the eleventh hour to improve your essay.
The title is everything. Okay, maybe not everything. But it has an important job to do, so you need to give your essay title some thought. This episode was especially difficult for me to make because I can NEVER come up with a title for anything. Including these podcasts.
The introduction is the first paragraph your reader will encounter after the title. It's essential for that first paragraph to be pristine. I look at the introduction like it's a tomato: It's something I really don't want to eat but sometimes I have to, so it better be a flawless tomato. Perfect. This episode gives you some advice about constructing an effective, and hopefully pristine, tomato. I mean, introduction.
All academic essays require the use of "outside sources." We (your English teachers) don't mean "sources that come from nature" so don't venture into the wilderness to write your essay (unless that's part of the assignment). An "outside source" is something that comes from outside of your own brain. There are two kinds of outside sources. I'll explain those here, and how to use the one called "research."
That's right--there's a half step. Really, you should do this half step between each of the full steps, but since you only have a finite number of days to write the essay (at least 10), doing this half-step every time might be unrealistic. So, I'm dropping it here. Right in the middle of the process.
Hooray! It's time to actually write paragraph drafts. Gather your thesis and all of the Active Thinking you've done, and hit that play button.
Please don't be alarmed by the title of this episode! You formulate several thesis statements every day, so this is nothing new. Every essay has a thesis statement. And there are many different ways to compose one, depending on the topic and the purpose of the essay. I'll give you some reassurance about the dreaded "thesis statement" and a formula for drafting one for an academic essay. (Assuming you've completed all of the Active Thinking steps of The Writing Process, coming up with a thesis statement won't be too difficult.)
Since The Big Six has two parts and takes two or more days to generate the ideas, I figured you needed a little recap. This is as "rah-rah, sis-boom-bah" as I get, people.
I'm a mom. My children's favorite words are "why" and "how." Thus, these two words drive me nuts. But when it comes to essay writing, they are incredibly important. So, when you get to Part 2 of The Big Six, just pretend you're one of my kids and ask your subject over and over "why" and "how." When you exhaust yourself, this episode will push you a little further.
The last step of Active Thinking is working through The Big Six. As its name suggests, there are six big ways to analyze the subject of your essay. In the first part of this two-part section of The Writing Process, I'll give you some advice for generating paragraphs that answer four of the six questions: Who, What, When, and Where.
There is no possible way to write about every thought you've had about your topic. Essays require focus and analysis, not surface-level thought. Gather your freewriting, journaling, and listing pages, and listen to this episode.
Listing is the second part of Active Thinking. And it's my favorite because nothing makes me happier than a list. I can map out tasks, and then feel incredibly accomplished when each one of those items is completed. The Listing step in The Writing Process motivates me. I hope it works for you!
I don't like to use the word Brainstorm when it comes to all of the work you put into thinking about your essay. Instead, I say "active thinking." Active Thinking has three parts. Freewriting and/or Journaling are the first part. (If you're a student in my class, you probably have to keep a journal. This episode will help you remember the purpose of that journal.)
You've been given the topic for your first essay. Now what? Should you cut and run? Certainly not! Especially since you haven't even done enough work to be intimidated by the topic. In this episode, I'll share how to break down your topic so you can begin the Active Thinking process. You'll need a few things: your topic, something to write with, and your course textbook or handbook.
Have you ever gotten the feeling that your English professor hates you? Do you think that your poor performance on an essay is rooted in that hatred? If so, this Ranticle is for you.
When I think about the future of the world, I can't help but think about my students. I want you to be passionate. I want you to do something with your life that you love. I try to foster that passion by allowing you to nerd out with your topics. You should do the same.
There is a litany of things that bother me and other instructors once we've given our students their writing topics, but at the top of the list is procrastination. This ranticle covers exactly how much time you need to write an essay. And why you need that much time.
If a thesis statement suddenly took human form, what would it look like? According to my students, it would look like a person you've seen before.
In Freshman Writing courses, there is not a single grade that "doesn't matter," especially if you think you're an A-Level student.
What happens when I throw out a perfectly good script and opt for an impromptu analogy? Chaos. And a story about my husband. And a little bit of advice about why you should read directions (i.e. read the syllabus).
You've procrastinated, and now you can't make your deadline. Here are some excuses you shouldn't use as you try to get that elusive deadline extension. As usual, I pull examples from my own experience to demonstrate how technology helps instructors ferret out the truth.
Would you like to improve your writing? I've got the episode you've been waiting on. This is a fun lesson that gives you some practical advice due to teaching you what to avoid in academic writing, etc.
Ugh. I nearly vomited after writing each of those sentences. Listen to this episode to discover why.
Who gives a f*#k about the Oxford Comma? Me. I like the sexy little serial punctuation marks. In this shorter-than-usual episode, I deliver my first ranticle and explain why you should be a member of Team Oxford Comma.