Are you strategic with your writing? Do you write papers focusing on more than a grade?
This post is about how to strategize your writing for research, graduate school, and fellowships.
By the end of the last semester of college, you will have a collection of essays about different topics and literary periods saved on your computer. There is a high probability that these documents will not be opened again. Whereas it is hard to plan your writing without the complete picture of the degree, students who strategize their writing make progress faster than those who approach the task as a means to improve their language skills.
Language Proficiency
During your first and second years, your focus must be on language proficiency. You should pay attention to the mistakes you make, figure out how to fix them, and take notes on the patterns of those errors. At this point, writing should be about grammar, syntax, and organization. However, as you take advanced courses in Spanish, you should use writing for different purposes in addition to improving your language skills.
You can be more focused on your writing by choosing a topic, theory, or region to explore. For instance, if you are interested in women and gender studies, you can write a paper about the representation of women for a course in the Peninsular track and a course in the Latin American track. These papers will be different due to the historical conditions of Spain or a Latin American country, such as Venezuela or Argentina. Nonetheless, you can be smart about using a theory or reading more papers about feminism.
In this section, I want to make the case for using writing to develop research skills, apply to graduate school, or request fellowships.
Writing for Research
If you are interested in research, you can use writing to get better at analyzing a literary text, doing a linguistic study, or understanding how to write a good academic paper for a journal. Always aim to do more than is expected of an essay assigned in a course.
You can benefit from reading about how to identify a topic, find sources, and make a good argument. In writing for research, you should pay attention to research methods and style. Then, you can apply this knowledge to your writing. A great resource to have in your library is the book The Craft of Research by Wayne C. Booth et al. (“et al.” is an abbreviation for books written by more than three authors). If you are interested in Linguistics, you can also learn about that discipline and get familiar with research methods. Writing about linguistics is different than writing about literary topics.
Writing for Graduate School
If you are planning to attend graduate school, you can use your writing for the application.
Some universities require a writing sample to assess your work in addition to a formal application, GRE scores, and a statement of purpose. Ideally, the writing sample should be your best work and, more importantly, it should demonstrate your scholarship potential. You want to make sure that grammar is correct, research methods make sense, and that you have basic knowledge of the discipline that you are planning to study.
Be mindful about the topics you write about and try to identify how you can take advantage of essays that you have already written. You can change your mind about the focus after being admitted to a doctoral program. If you submit something already written for a previous course, make sure that you revise it.
To get better at writing, it is important to get better at reading. Make an effort to read several literary articles even if they are not assigned for class. They will give you a better idea of what constitutes a strong academic article. In addition to content, pay attention to structure. Get in the habit of identifying a paper’s structure. By doing this you will learn how to guide readers and how to be mindful when writing your work.
Writing for Fellowships
If you are considering fellowships, you can be strategic about how to improve your writing for a general audience. Instead of trying to be creative and impress the reader, you can learn and practice how to write in a way to guide the reader.
To write a good fellowship essay, you mustn’t take for granted your audience’s knowledge. Yes, you are writing for a course and you know that your instructor has read the text that you are analyzing or is familiar with the topic. However, you should still imagine that your reader knows either nothing or as little as possible about what you are writing.
You have to offer context by explaining what, when, who, why, and how in the first paragraph. You can also challenge yourself by writing an abstract, a short paragraph about the main ideas of your essay, at the beginning of your work, even if your instructor does not ask for it. Guiding the reader by providing context and summarizing your research findings in an abstract is key to getting a fellowship essay noticed.
Besides a compelling idea, to be successful at the fellowship game you need overall clarity. Use course writing assignments to polish your skills. Several books can help you. The classic is William Strunk Jr.’s The Elements of Style. I highly recommend John R. Trimble’s Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing.
Regardless of whether you write for research, graduate school, or fellowships, aspiring to write well should be one of your priorities. We often take for granted our writing and the reality is that writing takes practice, thinking, and effort.
In the workplace, you must clearly and succinctly convey your message to avoid miscommunication. Writing is a skill that is valued by employers and, therefore, should be valued by you. It allows you to connect with others, discover new ideas, and leave a legacy. By getting better at writing, you will also get better at thinking.
Make writing a habit and try to write every day if you can.
Do you strategize your writing? How? What writing advice do you have?
Disclaimer: Information shared and advice offered in this post does not substitute academic advising at your institution. As a student, it is your responsibility to carefully read degree requirements, understand the sequence of courses, and communicate effectively with faculty members and administrators.
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