Ask OASISWriting Process: What Writing Advice Do You Wish You Could Give All Students?
Visual: Video opens to the opening title with the video series title, Faculty Voices: Walden Talks Writing, then the title, “What writing advice do you wish you could give all students?”
Visual: The screen changes to show each speaker talking to the camera in their home offices. Each person’s name and college is listed as they speak.
Audio:
Dr. Catherine Kelly, Office of Academic Support: The best piece of writing advice that I ever received was don't be afraid to ask for help or clarification. I remember being a student and feeling so hesitant to reach out to anyone because I was worried that I was going to be a bother. But then a professor once told me that asking questions is a part of learning, and, and as an instructor now, I agree with that. I always welcome questions. So, my, my main advice is don't be afraid to ask questions, don't be afraid to reach out for help, and through this advice I was able to approach my assignments with more clarity and confidence. And I think that with that approach for other students will have the same experience as well.
Dr. Darci Harland, College of Education and Leadership: The best advice I ever received related to learning how to write at the advanced graduate level is this—pay attention, you ready? Don't try and make it interesting. Okay? Don't try and make it interesting! My chair told me that. You know, having come from an English background, I was used to using that certain type of writing, using adjectives, descriptive language, using emotion to help persuade my audience to see my view. We don't want that. We don't want that, and I think the sooner students know that, the better off they are. That's not to say that your writing will be boring. It may feel like that at first, but what you have to understand is that the community that you're trying to enter, this, this academic community, we value strong evidence, backing things up with citations. And that to us--that's music to our ears. So at first it might feel boring, but as you go along in your scholarly journal—journey—you will realize that really, really that is beautiful writing. It just takes a while to get used to it if you're new to it.
Dr. Kim Critchlow, College of Management and Technology: One of the pieces of advice that was given to me is, it doesn't have to be perfect. Your first draft does not have to be perfect. Utilize all of the resources that are available to you because that helps to open up the mind and allows more thought to come in as you're getting out of your own head and you're looking at other, other stuff as well. Take your time, write it—write it all out. Don't edit while you're writing, and then in the end use your resources again and then edit the process and make the document like you’d like it to be. The one piece that I’ve failed to mention here is begin with an outline. Begin with an outline. And use your resources, and then write. So that would be the advice I’d give to students.
Visual: The video ends with the closing title with the video series title, Faculty Voices: Walden Talks Writing and the Writing Center’s e-mail address: writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu.