Showing posts with label Organization. Show all posts
Thursday Thoughts: Live Webinars in May
APA
,
Avoiding Plagiarism
,
Capstone Writing
,
Dissertation
,
Documentation
,
Grammar and Mechanics
,
Organization
,
Paragraphs
,
Scholarly Writing
No comments
Spring is
a great time to build your academic writing knowledge and skills and we have several
live webinars in May to help you do just that! As usual, we have relevant webinars for every
student.
Plagiarism Prevention: The Three Components to Avoiding Plagiarism
In this webinar we will discuss advanced sentence structure errors and how to avoid them, focusing on revising tips and practice. Attend this webinar to learn how to become a better proofreader of your own grammar!
Wednesday, May 15th, 2019 6:00 p.m.-2700 p.m. (Eastern)
It's difficult to fulfill all of the requirements of an assignment if you're not sure what the assignment prompt is asking you to do, right? This webinar takes students through the three sections of Walden assignment prompts, presenting 7 strategies you can use for dissecting and demystifying the writing assignment requirements. We will also discuss what to do when you find an assignment prompt confusing and tips for what requirements are often required but left unsaid (like a thesis statement).
Writing at the Graduate Level
Monday, May 20th. 2019 8:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. (Eastern)
We are not born knowing how to write academically, and you did not enter graduate school knowing how to write like a graduate student. After all, writing is a learning process. This session will discuss the characteristics of scholarly writing, giving you strategies to elevate your writing to graduate school expectations.
Discussing Method, Procedure, and Study Design
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. (Eastern)
Your reader not only wants to understand the results of your study, but also how you achieved those results: in other words, the rationale for your design and the methodology for collecting data. Join this webinar for a discussion of common writing issues students face when discussing these elements as well as strategies for overcoming them.
Thursday, May 30th, 2019 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. (Eastern)
Paragraphs are the building blocks of an academic essay, and the strength of your writing and argument depend on developing effective paragraphs. Learn how to develop effective academic paragraphs by using topic, analysis, evidence, and concluding sentences (including an explanation of the MEAL plan). You will leave this webinar with a better understanding of the components of an effective paragraph, as well as tips for creating cohesion between and within paragraphs.
The Walden University Writing Center creates content to help students with a range of topics related to scholarly writing, APA style, and the writing process. We host webinars, and offer paper reviews, live chat, and a podcast.
Plagiarism Prevention: The Three Components to Avoiding Plagiarism
Thursday,
May 2nd, 2019 8:00p.m.-9:00
p.m. (Eastern)
Plagiarism
can be an intimidating concept for many student writers. Everyone wants to
avoid plagiarism, but it can be unclear what exactly plagiarism is and how to
avoid it. Join the Writing Center for our three ways to avoid plagiarism in
your writing. In this session you'll learn how to identify plagiarism, but then
practical ways to avoid plagiarism in your own writing.
Tuesday, May
7th, 2019 12:00
p.m.-1:00 p.m. (Eastern)In this webinar we will discuss advanced sentence structure errors and how to avoid them, focusing on revising tips and practice. Attend this webinar to learn how to become a better proofreader of your own grammar!
Wednesday, May 15th, 2019 6:00 p.m.-2700 p.m. (Eastern)
It's difficult to fulfill all of the requirements of an assignment if you're not sure what the assignment prompt is asking you to do, right? This webinar takes students through the three sections of Walden assignment prompts, presenting 7 strategies you can use for dissecting and demystifying the writing assignment requirements. We will also discuss what to do when you find an assignment prompt confusing and tips for what requirements are often required but left unsaid (like a thesis statement).
Writing at the Graduate Level
Monday, May 20th. 2019 8:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. (Eastern)
We are not born knowing how to write academically, and you did not enter graduate school knowing how to write like a graduate student. After all, writing is a learning process. This session will discuss the characteristics of scholarly writing, giving you strategies to elevate your writing to graduate school expectations.
Discussing Method, Procedure, and Study Design
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. (Eastern)
Your reader not only wants to understand the results of your study, but also how you achieved those results: in other words, the rationale for your design and the methodology for collecting data. Join this webinar for a discussion of common writing issues students face when discussing these elements as well as strategies for overcoming them.
Thursday, May 30th, 2019 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. (Eastern)
Paragraphs are the building blocks of an academic essay, and the strength of your writing and argument depend on developing effective paragraphs. Learn how to develop effective academic paragraphs by using topic, analysis, evidence, and concluding sentences (including an explanation of the MEAL plan). You will leave this webinar with a better understanding of the components of an effective paragraph, as well as tips for creating cohesion between and within paragraphs.
If you are unable to attend any of these sessions in person, we post recordings of every live webinar event on the Walden University Writing Center website.
The recordings of these sessions are posted 24 hours after they take place, and
you can watch them free and on-demand.
The Walden University Writing Center creates content to help students with a range of topics related to scholarly writing, APA style, and the writing process. We host webinars, and offer paper reviews, live chat, and a podcast.
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Skipping a MEAL: When to Not Use MEAL Plan Paragraphs
If you’re familiar with the Walden University Writing Center and our recommendations, you’ve probably heard about the MEAL plan for paragraph development. The MEAL plan is a wonderful tool to help keep your paragraphs focused and ensure that you’re supporting your evidence with analysis. However, there are times when the MEAL structure doesn’t work as effectively, and I want to go over a few of those in my blog post today.
1. Introductions
Introductions to your work generally won’t follow the MEAL plan. This is because in an introduction you begin more generally and get specific, culminating in your thesis statement. Unlike a MEAL plan paragraph, which is connected back to your thesis through the topic sentence and lead out, your introduction is doing a bit of a different job in preparing your reader for the context of your paper and ending with a focus on your argument.
2. Conclusions
Like an introduction, a conclusion paragraph is doing slightly different work than a standard MEAL plan paragraph in your paper. A conclusion sums up the important details and points from your paper, and generally doesn’t include evidence and analysis—it’s all pretty much analysis and summary at that point! The MEAL plan structure doesn’t work well with conclusions for this reason.
3. A letter or other document type
If your assignment is to write a document that is not a typical course paper (like a letter to a government official, interview transcript, statistical report, etc.) then the MEAL plan is typically not very effective, simply because the forms of these documents are unique—just like academic papers are unique in using the MEAL plan! You definitely can keep the MEAL plan in mind as you write, but the purposes of these documents or sections of a paper are different, they likely won’t have a thesis, and some may not even require outside evidence. The MEAL plan structure generally won’t apply in these circumstances.
4. A problem statement or premise/prospectus
Like the examples listed above, parts of your premise/prospectus may not use the MEAL plan because they have a specific structure and content already in place. Be sure to follow premise or prospectus guidance documents and look at examples of these documents to ensure you are meeting expectations—and when in doubt ask your chair! The MEAL plan will likely be helpful in some parts of your premise/prospectus, but others are very specific regarding length and focus, so default to the guidance documents or faculty expertise in these cases.
When should you use the MEAL plan? In body paragraphs in your academic assignments for Walden coursework! A typical discussion post or course paper should use the MEAL plan in the body paragraphs (after your introduction and conclusion). However, keep these exceptions in mind and use your judgement and faculty as resources to help you effectively use the MEAL plan as well as shift to other formatting and approaches where relevant and necessary.
Claire Helakoski is a writing instructor at the Walden Writing Center. Claire also co-hosts WriteCast, the Writing Center's podcast. Through these multi-modal avenues, Claire delivers innovative and inspiring writing instruction to Walden students around the world.
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1. Introductions
Introductions to your work generally won’t follow the MEAL plan. This is because in an introduction you begin more generally and get specific, culminating in your thesis statement. Unlike a MEAL plan paragraph, which is connected back to your thesis through the topic sentence and lead out, your introduction is doing a bit of a different job in preparing your reader for the context of your paper and ending with a focus on your argument.
2. Conclusions
Like an introduction, a conclusion paragraph is doing slightly different work than a standard MEAL plan paragraph in your paper. A conclusion sums up the important details and points from your paper, and generally doesn’t include evidence and analysis—it’s all pretty much analysis and summary at that point! The MEAL plan structure doesn’t work well with conclusions for this reason.
3. A letter or other document type
If your assignment is to write a document that is not a typical course paper (like a letter to a government official, interview transcript, statistical report, etc.) then the MEAL plan is typically not very effective, simply because the forms of these documents are unique—just like academic papers are unique in using the MEAL plan! You definitely can keep the MEAL plan in mind as you write, but the purposes of these documents or sections of a paper are different, they likely won’t have a thesis, and some may not even require outside evidence. The MEAL plan structure generally won’t apply in these circumstances.
4. A problem statement or premise/prospectus
Like the examples listed above, parts of your premise/prospectus may not use the MEAL plan because they have a specific structure and content already in place. Be sure to follow premise or prospectus guidance documents and look at examples of these documents to ensure you are meeting expectations—and when in doubt ask your chair! The MEAL plan will likely be helpful in some parts of your premise/prospectus, but others are very specific regarding length and focus, so default to the guidance documents or faculty expertise in these cases.
When should you use the MEAL plan? In body paragraphs in your academic assignments for Walden coursework! A typical discussion post or course paper should use the MEAL plan in the body paragraphs (after your introduction and conclusion). However, keep these exceptions in mind and use your judgement and faculty as resources to help you effectively use the MEAL plan as well as shift to other formatting and approaches where relevant and necessary.
Claire Helakoski is a writing instructor at the Walden Writing Center. Claire also co-hosts WriteCast, the Writing Center's podcast. Through these multi-modal avenues, Claire delivers innovative and inspiring writing instruction to Walden students around the world.
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Thursday Thoughts: Old Hat
Happy Thursday from the Walden University Writing Center. This week, our Thursday Thoughts post will focus on your writing habits and how your writing process is impacted by your creativity.
We have all heard that creativity is a muscle. You can stretch it and flex it to improve your creativity, just like bulking up at the gym. Since you use your creativity to brainstorm for, outline, and begin writing your papers, consider flexing your creativity before, during, and after the writing process. This will be your creativity workout. A writing assignment presents a problem that you can answer with creative problem solving. You do this every week with your discussion posts, and you can do it, too, with your longer assignments.
When I am given a writing assignment, I tend to think about my writing process as a mathematical equation. My main topic is A. My subtopics are B., C., D., and my conclusion is E. If I correctly add up A through D, my paper will be successful, and E., my concluding paragraph, will wrap everything up neatly.
To flex my creativity as I approach a new assignment, I might ask myself new questions inspired by thinking critically about my topic. These questions might include:
The Walden University Writing Center provides information and assistance to students with services like live chat, webinars, course visits, paper reviews, podcasts, modules, and the Writing Center's webpages. The Writing Center supports students through all stages of their writing process and develops the writer as well as the writing.
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We have all heard that creativity is a muscle. You can stretch it and flex it to improve your creativity, just like bulking up at the gym. Since you use your creativity to brainstorm for, outline, and begin writing your papers, consider flexing your creativity before, during, and after the writing process. This will be your creativity workout. A writing assignment presents a problem that you can answer with creative problem solving. You do this every week with your discussion posts, and you can do it, too, with your longer assignments.
 |
| Flex your creativity for your next writing assignment. |
To flex my creativity as I approach a new assignment, I might ask myself new questions inspired by thinking critically about my topic. These questions might include:
- What information can I present to my readers that they will not have known before reading my paper? How can I captivate my readers while still maintaining academic tone?
- What ideas do I want to end my paper with? Is a standard "A. B. C. outline" the best way for me to get there? Is there a way I might outline my text differently to lead to this conclusion?
- What ideas do I want to discuss in depth in my paper? How will these areas of depth impact other areas of my text, and how can I balance this depth?
As I ask myself some questions to spark my creative muscles, I will likely find new outlets and ideas that do not follow my usual writing process, and this is good. It is good because it will allow me to enliven my writing and approach topics from different perspectives. And what's even better is that the more I stretch my creative muscles, the more accustomed I'll become to adjusting my writing process versus sticking to the same old hat.
What other ideas do you have to stretch your creative muscles and improve your writing process?
The Walden University Writing Center provides information and assistance to students with services like live chat, webinars, course visits, paper reviews, podcasts, modules, and the Writing Center's webpages. The Writing Center supports students through all stages of their writing process and develops the writer as well as the writing.
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A Dissertation Editor's Tips for Headings in the Capstone Document
In this post, I want to address the issue of headings in
doctoral capstone studies. Drawing from my experience in editing students’ capstone
documents for form and style, I’d like to offer some notes about the nature and
purpose of headings and subheadings in studies. Then, I’d like to share some
information and resources for correctly formatting these headings in APA.
Headings are a key way that writers help readers make sense
of and navigate documents, especially long ones such as capstone studies. By
looking at the text of a heading and its formatting, readers can more easily understand
your study’s focus and follow your narrative.
In APA, five heading levels are possible. In a Walden
doctoral capstone study, an additional heading level, Level 0, is used for
main-level headings such as chapter and section titles. Most Walden capstone
writers will use Level 0-3 (and possibly Level 4) headings in their documents. The
different heading levels’ formatting varies in terms of whether they are
centered or indented, bold or in plain text, in upper/lowercase or sentence
case, or followed by a period. The Form and Style Checklist includes a helpful overview
of the different APA levels used in Walden capstone documents.
The important thing to remember is that headings in APA are
hierarchically structured in terms of their APA level. That is, a Level 1
heading is a subheading of a Level 0 heading whereas a Level 2 heading is a subheading
of a Level 1 heading. The concept of nesting may be another way to think about
this. By looking at the formatting of a heading, especially in relation to
other surrounding headings, a reader should be able to glean important details
about how content is related to other content (and, more broadly, how the
document is structured).
Most headings in your capstone study are specified in your
program template and/or checklist. When drafting the different sections of your
study, you will want to make sure that the phrasing, ordering, and APA level of
your headings match what is in these documents.
In some sections, especially long ones like the literature
review, you may want to add additional subheadings (most probably, Level 3 and
4 ones) to help readers better follow the different strands of your narrative. When
doing so, I recommend making your headings succinct yet sufficiently
descriptive enough that a reader glancing only at the heading would have a good
idea of the content that followed it. Definitely, heed the guidance of your
committee members.
When using your program template, you can apply a pre-formatted
style tag to each of your headings. The Styles section of the Home tab in
Microsoft Word includes correctly-formatted tags for each of the APA heading
levels. By tagging your headings rather than manually formatting them, you can
more easily ensure that they are correctly formatted. Another advantage of
using the style tags is that the Table of Contents can be automatically updated
to include current Level 0-2 headings and corresponding page numbers. For an
overview of how to work with your program template and apply style tags, please click play and watch the Template Demonstration Video embedded below.
Hopefully with this
post, I’ve provided some useful perspective on this aspect of capstone writing.
In the Comments section, we’d love to hear your feedback.
Tara Kachgal is a dissertation editor in the Walden University Writing Center. She has a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and teaches for the School of Government's online MPA@UNC program. She resides in Chapel Hill and, in her spare time, serves as a mentor for her local running store's training program.
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Prompted to Write: A Guide for Using Walden Assignment Prompts to Your Advantage
Expert Advice
,
Learning Styles
,
Organization
,
Paragraphs
,
Prewriting
,
Revising
,
Writer's Workshop
,
Writing Process
26 comments
As a student at Walden, you’re often likely provided with
lengthy and descriptive prompts for your discussion board, application, and
capstone assignments. These prompts are there to guide you to think and write
about specific and complex topics. However, since the prompts are complex, it’s
not uncommon for students to write papers that don’t fully adhere to the
prompt. So, in this blog post, I’m going to offer some tips for how to ensure
that your assignments adhere to the prompt as you prewrite and also as you
revise.
Adhering to the Prompt as you Prewrite
The best way to ensure that your paper adheres to the prompt
is to start off strong with prewriting.
Prewriting includes brainstorming, taking notes, and outlining to prepare as
you write your paper. Here are some strategies you can use as you prewrite to prepare
yourself to write a paper that adheres to the prompt:
1. Identify the main questions or topics that the prompt is
asking you to address. Many Walden assignment prompts come in 3 parts: (1)
Introductory information, (2) Steps to accomplish as you prepare to write, and
(3) Directives for the paper. The first two parts are helpful and let you know
what to do to prepare, but it’s this third part that tells you what to do in
your paper. The questions or requests posed there are the directives of the
prompt that tell you what to do in your paper.
2. Read through the prompt closely and highlight important
information. This likely means that you’ll read the prompt a few times and take
notes. Highlight important information such as page length requirements,
sources you need to use, directives (like analyze, explore, argue, describe,
summarize), and the questions you should address. You can make a checklist for
yourself with this important information.
3. Reframe the directives in the prompt as topic sentences for paragraphs. For example, if the prompt states the following,
“Explain which Writing Center resources you used,” you could reframe this
directive as a topic sentence in this way: “In the pursuit of improving my
writing skills, I used Writing Center resources including webinars, paper
reviews, and website content.”
4. Outline
your paper using language from the writing prompt. Once you have identified all
of the directives in the assignment prompt and composed topic sentences for
paragraphs, you can craft an outline. Organize these topics in a way that makes
sense to you, and then plan for an introduction paragraph with a thesis statement, a conclusion paragraph, and any section headings that might be relevant. From there, start writing the essay. Using
the outline which was crafted from the prompt will help keep you in line with
the prompt.
Adhering to the Prompt as you Revise
Another way to ensure that your paper adheres to the prompt
is through revision.
Revision means re-seeing the paper and it requires looking back at ideas to
make sure that everything fits the purpose of the paper. Here are some revision
strategies which you can employ to ensure your paper adheres to the assignment
prompt.
5. Create a reverse outline of your paper and compare the outline to the prompt. Take notes and
ask yourself with each paragraph: What is this paragraph doing, and how does it
relate to the prompt and advance my ideas? If you see discrepancy between your
reverse outline and the prompt, then revise your content to more clearly
address the prompt. This might include creating a new outline, revising a topic
sentence, cutting length, or adding content.
6. Use the prompt as a checklist and compare highlighted
important information in the prompt with the content of your draft. If you see
a discrepancy between the important information in the prompt and your content,
revise to adhere to that important information. This might include expanding a
whole section of your paper, cutting content or adding content to meet length
requirements, integrating more sources, or developing some ideas.
7. Re-read the prompt and remind yourself of the audience and
purpose for the assignment. Then, re-read your paper draft and ask yourself:
Does this meet the needs of the audience and adhere to the purpose for the
assignment? If you find places where your content does not meet the needs of
the assignment and adhere to the purpose, then go back to pre-writing and do
some outlining and planning to revise your content to meet the needs of the
audience and purpose.
8. Talk to your faculty. If you’ve gone through these steps and
still aren’t sure if your paper addresses the prompt, ask your faculty!
One thing you’ll notice in all of these tips is that the
prompt is part of every step. It’s easiest to write a paper that adheres to the
prompt if referring to the prompt is an integral part of your writing process.
I hope that these tips provide you with some strategies to approach your next
assignment.
If you’d like to learn more strategies for interpreting and
addressing Walden assignment prompts, you can watch our Strategies for Demystifying Walden Assignment Prompts webinar recording or listen to
our WriteCast Episode 11: "Doesn’t Meet Requirements"—Strategies for Following Your Assignment Instructions podcast.
Jes Philbrook is a Writing Instructor and the Coordinator of Doctoral Writing Assessment in the Walden University Writing Center. Jes has been a writing tutor for over a decade, and in all those years of tutoring, one of her favorite things to do with students is to help them decipher their writing assignments and then plan or revise their paper to address the prompt. This post has been percolating in her brain all those years. In her free time, you can find Jes walking her neighbor’s dogs, tending to her basil garden, or playing games with her family and friends.
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June Webinar Update
APA
,
Capstone Writing
,
Citations
,
Discussion Posts
,
Dissertation
,
Organization
,
Reading & Writing
,
Scholarly Writing
,
Writing Process
No comments
Happy June, Walden students! We hope your summer months are off to a sunny start! This month we have a range of webinars from APA to Capstone writing.
The
Walden Writing Center provides information and assistance to students
with services like live chat, webinars, course visits, paper reviews,
podcasts, modules, and the writing center webpages. Through these
services they provide students assistance with APA, scholarly writing,
and help students gain skills and confidence to enhance their scholarly
work.
Never miss a new post; Opt-out at any time
Every webinar presents
students with a live, interactive setting where you can ask questions of
writing center staff, work on practice exercises and questions, and develop a
better understanding of the topic being presented. This month, our topics include APA basics, paper development, the capstone writing transition, and critical thinking. Check out our schedule below. All times listed in EST.
You can click these links to register for the
webinar ahead of time! If you can’t attend live, don’t worry—you can check out our entire Webinar Recording Library here.
|
If you have any questions
about our webinar schedule or appointment scheduling system, e-mail us at writingsupport@waldenu.edu. We hope
to see you there!
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Thursday Thoughts: Capstone Resources
APA
,
Capstone Writing
,
Concise Writing
,
Digital Research
,
Dissertation
,
Literature Review
,
Organization
,
Revising
,
Scholarly Writing
,
WriteCast
,
Writing Communities
,
Writing Process
No comments
The Writing Center works with Walden
University writers to provide resources for different points in the academic
writing process. Instructors work with students during their coursework and up
through the doctoral prospectus, while editors connect with students from the
proposal stage through the completion of their doctoral project. In addition to
our web resources webinars, and one-to-one services, we provide blog posts,
podcasts, and other resources that may help students with capstone development.
Below is a curated list of resources, by
category, that may be helpful to students as they write the capstone.
On Getting Started
and Sustaining Productivity:
Preproposal Starter Kit
Proposal Starter Kit
Five Things to Know Before Beginning Your Capstone Study
Proposal Starter Kit
Five Things to Know Before Beginning Your Capstone Study
Revising:
Research and
Resources:
Specific
Sections/Documents in the Capstone
The
Walden Writing Center provides information and assistance to students
with services like live chat, webinars, course visits, paper reviews,
podcasts, modules, and Writing Center webpages. Through these
services they provide students assistance with APA, scholarly writing,
and help students gain skills and confidence to enhance their scholarly
work.
Never miss a new post; Opt-out at any time
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