Steven's Writing Clinic

Maintain a Journal

steven — 2007-11-07 16:28

A journal is an idea book. How you set up your journal is up to you. It can be a notebook you devote entirely to this purpose or a separate section of another notebook. A computer file is also an ideal place for journal entries. Simply retrieve the file, and enter the date at the start of each new entry.

Several times a week, use journal writing to explore new ideas as well as familiar subjects. Use it to respond to discussions and books or articles you read for your classes. Use it to sort out your feelings about another person or an issue that is important to you.

As with any other activity, writing becomes easier the more you do it. Writing in your journal every day is one of the best ways to make writing seem as natural as talking and thinking. Make no mistake about it: This extra practice will translate into improved writing for you.

Here is a list of topics that you could write about in your journal:

music	confidence	The media	Minimum wage
A perfect weekend	dreams	habits	If I were a professor, …
High school / college	deadlines	power	Adult responsibilities
The class clown	Getting respect	Best teachers	Best book I’ve read
security	anticipation	stress	Favorite magazine
Childhood	success	happiness	Best movie of all time
stereotypes	fads	freedom	Public transportation
The ideal climate	Urban life	Worst fears	A special possession
pride	ambition

Here is a sample journal entry on the subject time:

Being late is a huge problem for me. Like what happened today. First I missed the bus, and the next one was ten minutes late. So of course I missed class – I hate to go in after the lecture starts. That seems rude. Went to the library to work on my history project instead and lost track of how late it was. I had to meet Gwen, and she hates to wait. By the time I got to work, I was complaining to Steve that I need time off. Seems like I’m too busy and still not doing what I have to do. Get organized, he said. Easy for him to say – I wanted sympathy! Maybe a schedule is what I need – or a plan. Every night I can write what I need to do the next day, or at least the most important things. Maybe start earlier to get to school – wonder if I can find a ride instead of the bus? Would be nice to have a few minutes to do nothing for a change!

Devote at least ten to twenty minutes to each journal writing session. After each one, reread what you’ve written, and highlight, circle, or underline any ideas that you might want to develop into papers in the future.

Which prewriting technique should you use? The answer, of course, depends on what works for you and makes you feel comfortable. The best way to find out is to explore each technique a few times. Then feel free to adapt or combine any of these techniques to suit your unique style.

How To Improve Your Handwriting

steven — 2007-10-22 15:21

Have you ever notice a really nice piece of handwriting and felt envious? You can write beautifully, too, if you're willing to take the time to practice.

Handwriting is important for taking notes and writing test essays. Both speed and legibility are essential for good grades, so it’s in your best interest to learn to write neatly and in a way that doesn’t fatigue your hand quickly.

But neat handwriting also makes you look and feel good!

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 1-2 weeks

Here's How:

Open a word processing program and write a sentence containing about ten words using a variety of letters.
Copy the sentence and paste it about five times.
Look through the fonts to find styles that you like. Change the font of each copied sentence so you end up with a variety of choices. Look over the styles and pick the style you like best.
Once you come up with a handwriting style you’d like to emulate, type out the entire alphabet in your word processor, using your font of choice. Use a large type size and leave plenty of spaces between letters and lines. Save this page so you can print several copies, as needed.
Practice writing the letters. Keep your feet flat on the floor, don’t slouch, and rest your elbows on the desk or table as you write. Make sure your entire arm moves as you write—not just your hand.
Create several sentences to form a new style guide.
One you get the hang of your writing style, start practicing in a journal every day.
Keep a printed style guide on hand as you do your homework.

Tips:

Watch your posture! Try to keep your wrist straight and “hovering” as you write. Make sure it's not resting on the table. Also don’t lean down too much. You should try to keep your arm’s bend at a 90 degree angle.
Use pen and pencil, because you never know which will be required on exams. Get used to both.
Experiment with size and slant. Find a writing style that feels comfortable and looks good.
Don’t grip too hard. Nerves can cause students to do this in a test situation without realizing it. This can cause pain in the hand and arm in the days that follow.
Practice with different pen and pencil sizes to find the best grip.

What You Need:

Computer and printer
Paper
Pens and pencils

熬夜的技巧

steven — 2007-01-03 09:17

常熬夜或生活作息顛倒的人,久而久之人容易顯得較蒼老、身體也容易變差。
希望大家沒必要熬夜時,還是早早進入夢鄉,有個 a Sound Sleep!!!

熬夜的技巧
熬夜加班，也要有技巧，才能依然身體硬朗。
否則，鐵打的身體，也受不了如此的日夜操勞呢！
因此，想要熬夜的您，千萬記住：
1. 不要吃泡麵來填飽肚子，以免火氣太大。
最好儘量以水果、土司、麵包、清粥小菜來充飢。
2. 開始熬夜前，來一顆維他命Ｂ群營養丸。
維他命Ｂ能夠解除疲勞，增強人體抗壓力。
3. 提神飲料，最好以綠茶為主，可以提神，
又可以消除體內多餘的自由基，讓您神清氣爽。
但是胃腸不好的人，最好改喝枸杞子泡熱水的茶，可以解壓，還可以明目呢！
4. 熬夜前千萬記得卸妝，或是先把臉洗乾淨，以免厚厚的粉層或油漬，在熬夜的煎熬下，引發滿臉痘痘。
5. 熬夜之後，第二天中午時千萬記得打個小盹。

"Good, but" speech的例子

steven — 2006-11-20 16:59

"Good, but" speech是一种说话技巧，在中文和英文中都适用。

How to Improve Writing Skills

steven — 2006-11-07 17:31

“All through my boyhood and youth,” he says, “I was known and pointed out for the pattern of an idler; and yet I was always busy on my own private end, which was to learn to write. I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in. As I walked, my mind was busy fitting what I saw with appropriate words; when I sat by the roadside, I would either read, or a pencil and a penny-version book would be in my hand, to note down the features of the scene or commemorate some halting stanzas.”
-- Robert Louis Stevenson

I would advise you to read with a pen in your hand, and enter in a little book short hints of what you find that is curious, or that may be useful; for this will be the best method of imprinting such particulars in your memory, where they will be ready, either for practice on some future occasion, if they are matters of utility; or at least to adorn and improve your conversation, if they are rather points of curiosity. And as many of the terms of science are such as you cannot have met with in your common reading, and may therefore be unacquainted with, I think it would be well for you to have a good dictionary at hand, to consult immediately when you meet with a word you do not comprehend the precise meaning of. This may at first seem troublesome and interrupting; but it is a trouble that will daily diminish, as you will daily find less and less occasion for your dictionary as you become more acquainted with the terms, and in the mean time you will read with more satisfaction, because with more understanding.

About this time [at age of fourteen] I met with an old volume of the Spectator. It was the third. I had never before seen any of them. I bought it. I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it. With this view I took some of the papers, and, making short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at the book, tried to complete the papers again, by ex-pressing each hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any suitable words that should come to hand. Then I compared my Spectator with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them. But I found I wanted a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting and using them, which I thought I should have acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses [as he had formerly done until his father discouraged him]; since the continual occasion for words of the same import, but of different length, to suit the measure, or of different sound for the rime, would have laid me under a constant necessity of searching for variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make me master of it. Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them into verses; and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the prose, turned them back again. I also sometimes jumbled my collections of hints into confusion, and after some weeks endeavored to reduce them into the best order, before I began to form the full sentences and complete the paper. This was to teach me method in the arrangement of thoughts. By comparing my work afterwards with the original, I discovered many faults and amended them; but I sometimes had the pleasure of fancying that, in certain particulars of small import, I had been lucky enough to improve the method of the language, and this encouraged me to think that I might possibly in time come to be a tolerable English writer, of which I was extremely ambitious. My time for these exercises, and for reading was at night, after work or before it began in the morning, or on Sundays.
-- Benjamin Franklin

Writing Power

steven — 2006-11-07 17:29

"I think, therefore I am," Rene Descartes commented famously on human consciousness. Since Descartes knew the power of the written word he might have said:"I write, therefore I am immortal." Not all written words will help a person achieve the immortality of Descartes or Shakespeare, but in most cases, writing helps people extend who they are, and how they think, across the boundaries of time and space.

--The uses and abuses of writing in the information technology age

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.
--Francis Bacon, "Of Stuides"

Writing Style of GRE/GMAT/SAT/TOEFL Essays

steven — 2006-11-07 17:18

Be Concise

• Cut out words, phrases, and sentences that do not add any information or serves a purpose.
• Watch out for repetitive phrases such as refer back or serious crisis.
• Don’t use conjunctions to join sentences that would be more effective as separate sentences.

Be Forceful

• Avoid jargon and pompous language; it won’t impress anybody.
• Avoid clichés and overused terms or phrases. (For example, beyond the shadow of a doubt)
• Don’t be vague. Avoid generalizations and abstractions when more specific words would be clearer. (For example, write a waste of time and money instead of pointless temporal and financial expenditure.)
• Don’t use weak sentence openings. Avoid beginning a sentence with “There is” or “There are.”
• Don’t refer to yourself needlessly. Avoid pointless phrases like in my personal opinion.
• Don’t be monotonous: Vary sentence length and style.
• Use transitions to connect sentences and make your essay easy to follow. Paragraphs should clarify the different parts of your essay.

Be Correct

• Stick to the rules of standard written English.