The Harmonious Handbook

The writing process is chock full of a number of unseen steps. Frequently, I have asked myself why it always was that I always ended up finishing my term papers at the very last minute, yet consistently received excellent marks. As I continue to reflect on my personal study habits as an undergraduate, there are certain things I would have liked to change, and there are still other things that I would continue to do. What about my eleventh-hour performances? Was this a habit that I should have kept or altered?

The more I think about it the more I realize that the high marks I received were the result of hours of time spent in the prewriting process. I was not a procrastinator in the classic sense of the word. Yes, I usually spent the entire allotted time writing my papers, and yes I probably should have budgeted my time better, but I would not argue that the time spent was in vain.

It is my hope that you will not have to spend quite as much time as I did when writing my essays, and provided that you do not distract yourself by researching minutiae as I always find myself doing, you should be safe.

Step 1: To be a good writer, you must become a good reader.

The first thing one must do is to get through the reading material. If the material is particularly challenging, you may find yourself struggling to concentrate or to stay awake. For me, I will almost certainly fall asleep if I read while reclining. It takes maybe a few paragraphs of reading before I shut eyes and lose all track of time in the Land of Nod. So, my first advice to you is this: read while sitting up.

Some texts are meant to be read for pleasure; some texts seem to extract any feelings of happiness you might have had. If you are reading a poem, make sure that you read the text out loud at least once. If you happen to be reading an essay, reading certain passages out loud may not be a bad idea. You will read the text more slowly, and consequently, may pick up on certain ideas that you missed the first time around. Do not let yourself believe that you are stupid for having to carry out this step.

Save yourself some steps. Eventually, if the text will be something that you know that you will be writing about, begin to write a summary of it. This is a practice that I find myself following more and more frequently. (This is also an excellent study strategy. Write what you are reading as you are reading the text. Not only will this keep you from nodding off, this practice will also help you retain the information you are reading about. You are forced to interact with the material by following this process, which is why it is so useful.)

Step 2: Write a summary

Some, such as the Writing Center at the University of Idaho, will suggest that you take time out to circle key terms, highlight the main point, look up words that you do not understand, and so forth. I find this to be a waste of time. For me, the best way to go about summarizing is to combine the act of reading with

writing. I have the book propped up on my right hand side (because I am right handed), and my laptop placed before me. I will occasionally stop to shoo my cat off of my laptop, and I will proceed to write as I read. (The Internet Comic The Oatmeal captures this dilemma perfectly.)

How do I write?

In high school, I was forced to use index cards. I hated doing this, because I would frequently lose these cards or get them mixed up. Plus, index cards were bulky. Being a child of the computer age, I felt quite at ease typing my notes in Microsoft Word. Additionally, I used to enjoy writing elaborate outlines on my laptop, but the process of indenting became tiresome, and now I simply write in paragraph form, writing the subject heading in bold text. If you enjoy outlining, I will not stop you. The Library at Los Angeles Valley College has created an excellent tutorial on this subject.

What do I write?

I search for the main points (or theses) of every paragraph. Generally, the main point can be spotted either at the beginning or ending of the paragraph. Then, I seek out the supporting points. I paraphrase the text, but if I find that the author has written a statement in a way that encapsulates the idea neatly, I copy the quote word for word. This is known as a direct quote. Whenever I use a direct quote, I always record the page numbers the text was found, and frequently I also attempt a paraphrase. I will also frequently write down questions that the quote has inspired me to ask. Why are these important steps to take? Because you are forced to interact with the text itself. If you read passively, occasionally whispering to yourself at appropriate junctures, “That’s what she said,” you will never get anything out of the experience and you will have wasted your time. Ask questions. Even stupid questions. Ask questions that will later get answered somewhere later down the line. But ask them anyway.

Step 3: Condense

The summary you write while reading is the one you keep for yourself. It will be long and full of personal observations. I generally fill my summaries and outlines with stupid puns and tangents that make sense to no one but myself. Sometimes, I will see a connection to a current events story and I will not be able to stop myself from making topical observations. These summaries can go for pages and pages, and if I had not wasted my time thinking up stupid jokes, I might have finished my term papers much earlier.

You will have to write summaries to be inserted into your essay, though, because you will need to inform the uninitiated reader what it is that you have read. The reader is impatient, of course, and would rather be online searching for photographs of cats, so your summaries must be condense.

How long is the ideal summary?

About 3 to 7 sentences, I would say. Perhaps 10 sentences at the most.

Step 4: The Ideal Summary Formula

The University of Idaho’s Writing Center has an excellent resource on summary writing, and I suggest that you visit their site. On that site, they have created the ideal summary formula. It goes:

In “[name of article]” [author] states . . . . [State the main point of the article first.] For example: In “Computer Chess”* Hans Berliner states that the CYBER 170 series computer can perform well in a chess tournament.

Let us take it apart and see what the author has done:

1. Cite the title of the article.
2. Cite the author’s name.
3. State the main point of the article. Again, you should be able to do this in about 3-7 sentences. Sometimes, your task is made easier because the text will have come with an abstract. Lucky you. You may then paraphrase the abstract.
4. Repeat this process for every new text that you introduce.

The University of Idaho’s Writing Center has gone on to explain what material the ideal summary contains. They have also provided you some examples. I recommend that you stop and visit their site. (If you could not already tell, I really like this site.)

Step 5: Using Quoted Material

Colleges and Universities treat plagiarism as very serious business indeed. Frequently, I find that most forms of plagiarism is not intentional, but rather the consequence of ignorance. Ignorance of what? Of MLA procedures, to be precise.

There are two types of quotations, as the Purdue OWL illustrates:

1. Direct quotations: this is the word-for-word repetition of another person’s ideas.
2. Indirect quotations: this is a fancy way of saying, “paraphrase.”

Regardless of whether the quote is direct or indirect, you must properly cite the author(s).

Direct quotations can be long or short. When they are long, say 4 or more lines of prose, you must create a block quote. Simply start the quotation on a new line, indent the line one inch (or about one tab space) from the left margin, and begin copying the text. You do not need to use quotation marks, as the indentation already sufficiently sets the text off from the main content of the essay.

Short quotes (i.e. quotes less than 4 lines long) can be inserted into the paragraph itself and do require quotation marks.

As usual, the Purdue OWL s an indispensible source for sorting out all of this information. Stop now and visit their site.

How long should your quote be?

The quote should be long enough to sufficiently repeat the information you wish to convey. Do not add more information than is required. The amount of information you should write about the quote should be relative to the length of the quote. In other words, if you quote a big chunk of text, you should probably spend a lot of time parsing through that text.

There are a few other rules for how to use quotation marks, and I suggest that you visit the Purdue OWL once again to review how it is done. Below are the sites that I recommend you visit:

• Extended Rules for Using Quotation Marks
• Additional Punctuation Rules when Using Quotation Marks
• Quotation Marks with Fiction, Poetry, and Titles

Step 6: The Quotation Sandwich

Is there a formula for how to incorporate a quotation within a text? Yes, it is called the “Quotation Sandwich Formula.” Unfortunately, I cannot take credit for having invented this name, but I can take credit for the Handy Handout I wrote to explain the formula itself. Please stop and take a look. I am rather proud of my work. (Also, please note, the textbook that I referred to while creating this worksheet was Alfred Rosa and Paul Eschholz’s Models for Writers. The worksheet makes sense without knowing this information, but it is always good to give credit where credit is due.)