Tag: Writing Centre, Page 4

  Posted on: October 21, 2015

by Martin McFarlane When writing, it is important to keep in mind the people who will read your work. Depending on the situation, each reader will need and want different information, and giving them information that is not relevant can detract from the persuasiveness and effectiveness of your writing. By tailoring your writing to your…

  Posted on: September 21, 2015

Often, one of the hardest things about academic writing is deciding what to write about. Unless you are given a predetermined question by your instructor, the topics that interest you may be too broad for a basic essay. How do you make the topic narrow enough to so that you can write about it in…

  Posted on: September 3, 2015

by Jessica Messerer-Trosin Sentence Variety To keep your reader engaged and your writing interesting, it is important that you use a variety of sentence types. There are four main types that will be outlined below: simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, and complex compound sentences. Before we describe each one, there are two definitions to know:…

  Posted on: July 15, 2015

5 Stages of Error Correction in ESL Writing Find the error. Then circle or underline it. Identify the type of error, e.g., a verb tense error or article error etc. Determine why it is incorrect. If necessary, find an explanation for the error. Search online or use a reference text. Correct the error. Use the…

  Posted on: June 24, 2015

For native English speakers the use of articles is second nature. Unfortunately, for those learning the language, it can be a difficult concept to grasp. Students whose first language does not use articles – such as Korea or Russia – may find this concept especially difficult. In English, the writer has four options to choose…

  Posted on: May 29, 2015

Many writers get confused about where to put the punctuation at the end of a quote. Does the period/comma come before the closing quotation mark or after it? For example, if I want to quote part of the sentence, “One plus three does not equal five, but it does equal four,” I can punctuate the…

  Posted on: May 26, 2015

Culture affects us in many different ways, some more apparent than others, and none quite as complex as in our own academic writing. Universities establish standards and expectations that the students are supposed to be followed by all students. For the native-born Canadians of Thompson Rivers University this may seem simply a matter of practice…

  Posted on: May 22, 2015

Clichés are phrases that either have a general meaning or have been used so frequently for so long that they have lost their original meaning.  It is best to avoid clichés, particularly in academic writing, for a number of reasons: Emphasis in academic writing should be on original thought and clichés are the antithesis of…