Summer Reading

Billy Patrum
ELA 101
8/25/11

This summer I read “Literature and the Writing Process the 9th Edition” by Elizabeth McMahon. Through this book I have learned quite a bit about the skill of writing and how I can personally add flare and that little extra to my essays to bring my papers to life. This book was full of information that could help almost any writer boost their writing capabilities. From this book I have taken so many tips but three seem to stand above the rest.

In her writing she expresses the necessity to put of any and all editing to the end of the paper. This may seem awkward and contrary to the teachings of our educators but I believe it would really help someone in my shoes. She believes that by ignoring small mistakes and continuing on with your work and allowing the sentences to just flow without any unnecessary interruptions. By allowing yourself to continue through your paper I believe that end result will be a clean cut well flowing piece of literature that seems natural and doesn’t have the rough edge of a paper that have been started and stopped several times.

Elizabeth later explains that a writer should write what you know so when you write, you’re writing with authority. “People listen to you because you are one who knows” she later goes on to say. This tip may seem obvious but many writers including myself seem to just write about what we have in the past not necessarily what we are familiar with or accustomed to. By allowing our paper to be about what we know the facts are already known and our opinions have been already formed. No need to think about and form an opinion mid-paper to realize at the end you have adopted the other side of the argument’s opinion entirely.

The last and most hard to do tip is to cut, cut, cut. But cut what? Cut out unneeded and distracting words from your paper. The focus should not be set on the word choice you have used but if you have gotten your point across to the reader or simply...