TIPS
Read through the tips below and plan to use strategies to best help you succeed.
Writing Pitfalls: Weak Theses
One of the most fundamental questions a writer can ask themselves is: Where's my thesis? One way to ensure that your thesis a strong, contestable claim is to think of your thesis components as levels in a building. You must lay the foundation of your thesis with the...
Write, Revise, then Revise Some More
Chances are if you went to public school in the U.S. in the past decade, you've seen a "Writing Cycle" chart like the one to the right. It may be simplistic enough for a middle schooler to understand, but therein lies the genius behind the writing cycle....
PowerPoint Presentation Tips
Don't fall in to the trap of a distracting PowerPoint when you're giving an important speech or classroom presentation. Too much text, unprofessional fonts, awkward transitions, or inappropriate pictures all detract from your points. Read on for tips on how to create...
How to write a cover letter
The season of job applications is quickly approaching. Whether you're a 1st classman ready to leave VMI in the spring and find your first job, or a 4th classman looking for a summer internship, being able to write an effective cover letter is a skill to practice and...
Perseverance in Writing
"Every writer I know has trouble writing." - Joseph Heller (author of Catch-22) We've now entered the time in the semester when papers are beginning to stack up. Staring at a blank screen, listening to the clock tick, each second can feel like the countdown clock to...
Prepare for a Writing Center Appointment
During your tenure at VMI you will be asked to write a LOT of papers for a wide variety of subjects: English, math, history, science lab reports, business, resume or cover letter writing, etc. The good news is you don't have to face these assignments alone. The...
Organizing Your Personal Narrative Essay
Welcome to the start of a new school year! The start of a new academic semester often brings periods of "getting-to-know-you" activities and assignments. Chances are this September you will be asked to write a personal narrative essay for an English class. ...
Tips for Writer’s Block and Finals Stress
Here at VMI, the end of the semester is rapidly approaching. It can feel entirely overwhelming to look at all of the things left to do before you leave for Summer, but following a few simple tips and tricks will help you from feeling like you're drowning in work....
Article Analysis Essay
Recently, I've seen a lot of papers where the student is asked to read an article and write an analytical paper. This is a new concept for some people, and the tendency to summarize instead of analyze is strong. Here are some key tips for analyzing an article in...
Writing Pitfalls: Passive Voice
In a sentence that uses passive voice, the sentence’s subject does not perform the action. Instead, the action of the sentence happens to the subject. For example, the sentence "The ball was thrown by the girl" is written in passive voice. If you see a sentence and...
Writing Pitfalls: Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
Modifiers are words or phrases that describe another word. Dangling modifiers do not clearly modify a word in a sentence. What ends up happening, then, is something like the picture to the right. Take into account the following questions when you attempt to identify...
Sentence Variety
Recently, I saw a paper in which an entire two paragraphs basically read as follows: The purpose of this article was to inform. The audience of this article was the general public. The subject of this article was the Ebola outbreak. And on and on. There are several...
Writing Pitfalls: Shifting Style
A common mistake in style that I've seen recently is a shift in sentence style. Sometimes that means a shift in verb tense; sometimes it's a shift in voice, mood, tone or word choice. Often there's a shift in which point of view pronouns are being used. So that you...
Writing a Lab Report
During your tenure in college, you may be asked to write a lab report at some point. Lab reports are often used, with some variance, in all of the sciences including chemistry, biology, psychology, physics and engineering. Your professor will likely give you a...
Integrating Quotes
While writing an essay, research paper, or report, you may run across a turn-of-phrase that is too perfect not to use word-for-word in your own paper. If you have the perfect line of writing from a source that just begs to be added in to your paper, there are a few...
How to Avoid Plagiarism
Chances are, you know not to copy and paste articles from the internet and try to pass them off as your own writing. However, plagiarism can happen accidentally through neglect rather than intent when you're writing. Even if you've done it accidentally, the end...
“Flow” – that catchall problem
Students often come in to the writing center asking for help with the "flow" of their paper. When questioned further about what exactly they mean by flow, they often can't articulate what it is they feel they need help with. Sometimes they mean grammar, but they...
Personal Narratives – Explode the Moment
I've been reading some personal narratives recently, and I've noticed one thing in particular: there is no better way to capture my attention than to explode the moment you're trying to describe. Cadets often come to the writing center with the bare bones of their...