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Mixed Constructions
Often while in the process of writing a sentence, my brain has the tendency to keep moving forward and attempt to write the entire paragraph. This habit, results in a mixture of sentences where two thought out ideas or sentence structures morph into one sentence. This particular section in Rules for Writers was extremely useful in helping me realize how often this actually happened. One phrase I found to be the most interesting was in the explanation of a revision of an unclear sentence. They explain that the revision "heads into the sentence another way", which I interpreted to mean that during my thought process I need to make a split decision to go one direction or the other. I often reach this intersection and barrel right through the middle, thinking I don't have to choose. This train of thought leads to confused sentences that demonstrate neither point that I had planned to make.
Misplaced & Dangling Modifiers
I discovered that my writing is often very awkward because of misplaced and dangling modifiers. When I revise an project, I tend to look at whether or not the arguments made sense, my spelling is accurate, and if I addressed all parts of the topic. I never read an essay looking for the errors caused by grammatical errors. This section makes revision a much simpler process. Searching for dangling modifiers allows you to quickly identify the problem and correctly reorganize the sentence.
Wordy sentences
Reading these sections has been pretty helpful, although I am now very paranoid about my writing. Wordy sentences have plagued me for as long as I can remember. In my attempt to explain multiple concepts in one sentence I add words I think are meaningful but only apply to the thoughts in my own head. Adding that one extra repetition or clause does not dramatically change the effectiveness of a sentence. Instead, I need to focus on simplifying individual sentences so that I have a large quantity of structured sentences expressing multiple ideas and not a few run-on sentences jumbling the same amount of ideas.
Exact words
Writing a perfect essay with all of the correct words that exactly explain your meaning is impossible. I often refuse to acknowledge this fact and expect this perfection the first go. It is important to realize the revising is where trading fluffy phrases for compact words actually happens. No one is grammatically perfect or knows every word in the English language. This is why revising, avoiding cliched rhetoric, and actively searching for the correct words is so crucial to creating a solid project.
REFLECTION:
After revising Isaak's, Namratha's, Sam's, and Swati's QRG drafts I found that the Quick Reference Guide is a very diverse form of writing. The style of writing for the audience is the same, but the language can vary from formal to extremely informal, or scientific to a social media based controversy, and can be written at a variety of lengths. I discovered many different ways I can approach writing about sources and discussing the research I found. Swati had the most comprehensive and well cited QRG. Her establishment of authority was very smoothly incorporated into her paper. For example, after a quote at the end of her paragraph she wrote,
"Because of his position as a stem cell researcher, his opinion has been widely accepted as a legitimate reason to be wary of this research" (paragraph 6).
This both establishes authority in a clean efficient manner, while still addressing how this is relevant and important information about the topic. Revising the four QRG's was extremely helpful to my own revising, and although my draft may not be perfect this week, I have a good idea of where I need to be headed for the final.
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