Monday, May 26, 2008

Spring Workshops

The LAC is offering some Spring workshops on writing academic papers.

The workshops start this week.

The Thesis Statement
Thursday, May 29 - 10:30 - 11:45 in 405 Tier Building
A strong thesis statement articulates the unifying theme of an academic paper. It may present an argument or opinion, describe an idea, or provoke an analysis. Different disciplines and types of essays require varied forms of thesis statements. Learn how to organize your key ideas, narrow your focus, and clearly direct your paper through writing a strong thesis statement.

Organizing Your Paper
Tuesday, June 3 - 1:30-2:45 in 405 Tier Building
Organizing is an integral part of a well-written paper and helps the reader to recognize key ideas. Organizing can happen when narrowing down the research question and creating an outline and can happen again at the paragraph and sentence level as you decide in which order to present your information. This workshop will focus on the many different ways to approach organizing papers, which will also help writers feel more controlled as they write their papers.

Revising Your Paper
Thursday, June 5 - 2:30-3:45 in 405 Tier
A strong paper is seldom written in one draft. Changing content, sequence of sentences or sections, as well as editing for the finer details enhances a paper’s readability and improves its strength. Gain control of the revision process: learn to revise for common problems with unsubstantiated statements, poorly integrated quotes, faulty structure, weak content, and basic grammar. This workshop offers guidelines on making decisions about what to look at when revising and editing and tips on how to improve your writing.

No registration is necessary and the workshops are free. If you have any questions please call us at 480-1481.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

More Web tidbits

Del.icio.us
I have been using del.icio.us for a couple of years now and grown used to web bookmarks that are easily accessible from whichever computer I'm using. Check out this blog (while you are there take some time to explore it - there are lots of useful tips on studying, learning and time management) on the advantages of del.icio.us, and then check out del.icio.us itself!

Visual Dictionaries
Visual dictionaries provide illustrations of words and concepts. Do you want to know what mesocarp* is and what is looks like? Use a visual dictionary. Merriam Webster has a glitzy one. Another Visual Dictionary (copyright by Bernard Dery, but no other information about the hosts of this site except that they are partnered with Wikipedia) has a simpler, but relatively deep dictionary. And then there's the quirkier, artier, visually satisfying Visual Dictionary which is a "collection of words in the real world. Photographs of signage, graffiti, advertising, tattoos, you name it." You couldn't find mesocarp in this dictionary, but you'd find a great illustration of "teenage"

Writer's Block and DarkCopy
Most writers, at some point, have a hard time putting words on a page. When we face that moment, distractions can further interfere with the writing process. DarkCopy has created an online 'distraction free' site where writers can enter text (which is saved automatically) without worrying about format, word count and all those other niggling details that can sometimes derail us. You can even make the writing box full-screen to further that writing immersion.

Miriam


* it's the pulp of a fruit