[ti:Experts Share Tips for Writing School Papers] [ar:Jeri Watson] [al:Education Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report. [00:06.11]Many secondary and university students [00:09.56]have returned to classes, or soon will. [00:12.67]And some of you have told us [00:14.91]that you worry about academic writing ¨C writing for school. [00:19.40]We know that writing papers can be hard ¨C [00:22.49]even a little frightening. [00:24.30]And we know it can be especially hard [00:27.56]if you are not writing in your first language. [00:30.80]So we have asked some writing experts [00:34.74]in the United States for advice. [00:37.25]Our experts are professors and professional writers. [00:42.34]From time to time as part of the Education Report, [00:47.17]we will share some of their suggestions [00:49.76]with you in their own words. [00:52.08]Today we hear from Mary Ann Allison, [00:56.01]she is with the department of journalism, media studies [01:00.36]and public relations at Hofstra University in New York. [01:04.80]She is also a poet and a writer. [01:08.39]She says starting a paper [01:10.66]is often the most difficult part of writing for school. [01:14.79]¡°Mary Ann Allison, suppose the teacher [01:18.47]or professor gives you a choice of a topic, [01:21.99]a subject, within a given field.¡± [01:24.47]¡°Well, I have a couple of thoughts. [01:26.22]The first, if you have any choice at all of a topic, [01:30.17]is to do something that you¡¯re really interested in, [01:32.76]because the more you¡¯re interested in it naturally, [01:35.94]the better you¡¯ll write and the easier it¡¯ll be.¡± [01:39.29]¡°After you have found a subject you think [01:42.47]you would like to write about, what comes next?¡± [01:45.60]¡°Once you¡¯ve decided on something, [01:49.05]another consideration would be how much information you can find. [01:53.11]So, often if I¡¯m starting something, [01:55.75]I¡¯m considering a topic, I do, [01:58.06]oh, 10, 15 minutes¡¯ worth of looking at information to see [02:01.84]if there¡¯s enough for me to be able to easily research [02:04.74]and write what I want to write. [02:06.04]And if there¡¯s not, then I might choose something else to write on. [02:09.19]So those two things, I would say, [02:11.44]sort of balance your interest and information availability. [02:15.88]And then the next thing that I would do [02:18.03]is what I call a back-of-the-envelope outline.¡± [02:22.43]¡°Back of the envelope, and what is that?¡± [02:25.62]¡°So that¡¯s when I sit down, maybe not at my desk, [02:29.47]not at my computer, maybe even at a caf¨¦, [02:32.66]or with a cup of coffee, but where I sit. [02:36.02]And I just kind of think about it, [02:38.33]and I think about the topic like, [02:40.58]what would I say to a friend? [02:42.07]And I just write down short notes about whatever ¨C [02:45.01]whatever comes to mind. [02:46.15]What would I say to a friend about this? [02:48.31]Or, what do I want to know about this? [02:49.50]And when I have - oh, I don¡¯t know - [02:51.71]anywhere between five and 10 points, I stop.¡± [02:54.35]¡°Then, do you start to write?¡± [02:56.96]¡°And then I wait a whole day, so I sleep on it, [02:59.65]because your brain will work on it while you¡¯re sleeping. [03:02.79]And then I take those notes and I make an outline. [03:08.14]And then I take the outline and again check how much information is there. [03:12.38]Is there easy information on all these points? [03:14.78]And if the signals are all ¡®yes¡¯, [03:16.79]then I might start writing.¡± [03:18.63]¡°So a lot of your preparation is preparation?¡± [03:23.03]¡°It¡¯s preparation, and it¡¯s doing preparation, [03:26.08]but it¡¯s also letting your unconscious do a lot of work for you. [03:30.12]Because if you sit down and try to write it right now, [03:33.26]you don¡¯t give your unconscious any time [03:35.40]to organize things (or to) bring together other ideas. [03:37.67]So do some research, [03:39.81]which gives your subconscious something to think about. [03:42.61]Right? Then let it rest for a night. [03:46.26]You¡¯ll often find that it¡¯s much easier. [03:48.87]Also, the more rested you are, the better it will be.¡± [03:52.27]And that¡¯s the VOA Learning English Education Report. [03:56.55]I¡¯m Jeri Watson.