http://blogs.valpo.edu/writingcenter For college writers from the Writing Center at Valparaiso University Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:50:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Welcome to Valparaiso University's Writing Center. This summer we'll be embarking on a common project with students in China who are studying to be students at Valpo this coming school year. We're so excited and happy to meet you and look forward to getting to know you and ... http://blogs.valpo.edu/writingcenter/2008/07/03/welcome/ You've probably heard time and again how important it is to have a thesis statement in your essay. But what exactly is a thesis statement, and where in your essay should you put your thesis once you've come up with it? Its helpful to think of your thesis as a one-sentence ... http://blogs.valpo.edu/writingcenter/2008/07/02/writing-a-thesis-statement/ When you sit down to write your papers, you probably have a couple goals in mind: 1) getting the paper done by the deadline (which might be very soon), 2) answering the prompt in such a way as to obtain an "A" or at least a passing grade, and 3) providing evidence ... http://blogs.valpo.edu/writingcenter/2008/07/02/developing-your-own-voice/ How many times have you heard this writing advice: Show us, don't tell us. Readers prefer action over narrative so they can picture events as they may have happened. But how do you carry out this advice? You have already used adjectives and adverbs and told what happened . . ... http://blogs.valpo.edu/writingcenter/2008/07/02/show-more-tell-less/ One of my favorite questions I’ve ever had as a Writing Consultant was how to cite a piece written by Martin Luther, within a collection of sermons, now combined with other pieces of his writing within a multivolumous work. There were multiple publication dates, editors and translators; the challenging task ... http://blogs.valpo.edu/writingcenter/2008/07/02/how-to-cite-from-a-multivolume-work/ We've all come to that point in the essay-writing process when we finish our paper and proofread for errors. So the essay is finished, right? Unfortunately, by focusing on correcting typos, we may overlook other issues having to do with sentence structure. Even though your paper might appear to be ... http://blogs.valpo.edu/writingcenter/2008/07/02/read-aloud-for-better-proofreading/ There are two things I do every summer: 1) I ride my bike 2) I read So for the rainy days, what is your reading list? A friend of mine who is doing a Fulbright recently emailed me his reading list which included a large variety of texts. There was everything ... http://blogs.valpo.edu/writingcenter/2008/06/27/summer-reading-and-writing/ Are you in summer school? The Writing Center will be open this summer, weekdays, with a few exceptions here and there. You can either reach us through writing.center@valpo.edu, or stop by the Christopher Center for on-the-spot help or to to sign-up for an appointment. Check out our blog pages ... http://blogs.valpo.edu/writingcenter/2008/05/19/summer-hours/ In this clip recorded with the Snowball mic, a writer whose first language is Arabic and three writing consultants ponder use of figurative language. This version of the clip was enhanced with Audacity to equalize the volumes. This is the unenhanced clip; speakers were at various distances from the Snowball mic. http://blogs.valpo.edu/writingcenter/2008/03/25/use-of-figurative-language-in-arabic-and-english-a-clip/ Most obviously because we have a blue light on the peer consultant desk. When it's on, we're on, and you can be on! But what other blue lights are there? . . .A blue light special at K-Mart means you'll get a bargain, maybe something you didn't know ... http://blogs.valpo.edu/writingcenter/2008/03/10/why-the-blue-light/