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Learning Success Guide: Strategies for Thinking, Learning, and Writing

Everyone learns differently. Use this site to explore new ways to learn. Try everything you can. Keep what works; change what doesn't.

Writing is a fundamental skill that takes a lifetime to master. This site presents strategies, tips, and ideas found and created by our staff--ways of approaching writing and activities that we find valuable. Try out the ideas; grow into them.

A few overall tips about writing and the Learning Success Center (LSC):

  1. You can visit the LSC at any step of your writing, and multiple visits are often better. We can help you get started when you don't know where to begin; find an audience; arrange ideas; and strengthen your global and local writing needs.
  2. You don't need to bring anything in to have a writing consultation, though having the assignment or readings on hand helps a lot at first, and drafts will be needed eventually. But if you're not sure where to begin, just stop in with your questions and ideas! We'll help you generate ideas, brainstorming, lists, outlines, and drafts to get you moving.
  3. It's easier to cut more than create more. Therefore, always make your rough drafts as long as they can be, even if you're just writing stuff that won't work.
  4. First drafts are messy things. You are writing for yourself, to shape and clarify your ideas before revising for an audience with whom you are sharing those ideas. Therefore, put all your ideas out on the draft where you can see them, challenge them, and change them.

Writing Process, Global Issues, and Local Issues

When we talk about writing, there are three categories of knowledge and skill that we help you build: Writing Process, Global Issues, and Local Issues. All are important.

Keep reading across the tabs to learn more about how this section of the Learning Success Guide is organized.

Writing Process is how you develop your ideas--first for yourself, then for others. Any of these steps can be done at any time.

  • Invention (also called brainstorming) involves activities to get you generating ideas.
  • Drafting is when you formulate the initial ideas for yourself, so you understand them.
  • Revision is when you start crafting the work so that someone else can understand what you are trying to convey.
  • Editing is when you clean the work to make it assessable, publishable, and eventually available for the public.

Visit our Writing Process tab to learn more. 

Global Issues are those issues that shape the overall design of a paper--how the arguments are made, organized and supported so that other readers can understand them.

  • Audience guides the shape of the paper. You are the audience in the draft phase, but someone or some group who is not you is the audience of any revisions.
  • Purpose is the reason for your writing, made clear through your idea organization and evidence.
  • Thesis generally involves a subject you are discussing, purpose for discussing it, and an opinion that people can agree or disagree with. If you have these three items, you are more likely to have a successful thesis.
  • Organization is how you put your paragraphs in order so that people can follow your thinking clearly and easily.
  • Development is how you choose your evidence and build connections within each paragraph.
  • Introduction is how you lead a person into your topic, how you hook them or get them excited and intrigued by what you want to discuss, and how you present your argument.
  • Conclusion is how you lead them out of the topic by making the point clear at the end and by answering or revisiting the hooks from the introduction in light of what you have shared through the body of the paper.

 

Local Issues affect the quality of individual sentences or passages. While an individual error may be overlooked, trends of errors and repeated misuse of these issues can prevent the idea from getting across.

  • Grammar is how you use the language and its agreed-upon structures.
  • Mechanics involves the use of special text features, such as bold or italics, within accepted stylistic means. This area can also encompass overall formatting issues.
  • Spelling is how the spelling of words is managed.
  • Punctuation involves the use of internal and end indications for pauses and stops, and assists with readability through clarity and tempo.

In addition, some terms cross the boundaries, like style, tone, and diction. They are both impacted by the audience and tied to grammar and spelling.

  • Style involves the selection of words, spelling, and overall approach to the different ways in which ideas may be expressed.
  • Tone involves the selection of voice through word choice and idea organization to emphasize a mood or feeling you want your audience to perceive.
  • Diction is your word selection.

 

Citations are the ways we connect ourselves to the ongoing intellectual conversation in a discipline.

Source integration refers to the way a passage is woven into the body of a paragraph (summary, synthesis, paraphrase, or quote) and is therefore part of the global issue development.

In-Text Citation is how the text is identified (usually through author and title and, depending on citation style and integration method, year and/or page number.) Intext citations may be woven into the sentence leading up to the source integration, but more often, this information is found in a parenthetical at the end of the integration.

Documentation is how the source is listed in the Works Cited, Bibliography, References, etc. (the title here depends on the citation style you're using).

Visit our Global Issues Tab on Paragraph Development for more specifics about source integration!

Writing Processes

The images below represent strategies for invention that our team likes to use. You can try them yourself and come in to try them with us. Click on the image to go to a PDF version of the activity.  The PDFs are also provided after the visuals.

Boomeranging
 

Drafting a text--getting the words down on the page--is often seem as difficult because student writers think that everything must be expressed perfectly on the first pass. This is almost never the case (our section on Writing Short Answers or Timed Essays under the "Test Preparation" Tab can help you in those situations). In this section, let's think about the differences between a first draft and subsequent drafts.

First Draft Subsequent Drafts
Audience=YOU. You are trying to formulate what you believe and why you believe it so that YOU understand it. Audience=SOMEONE ELSE. You are trying to help others understand your thought processes and beliefs.
Ideas are paramount, and we determine if an idea is successful by writing it out and testing it in conversation to determine if it is clear, avoids logical fallacies, and is built on sound evidence. Ideas are still paramount, and we still determine if an idea is likely to succeed by writing it out and testing it in conversation to determine if it is clear, avoids logical fallacies, and is built on sound evidence.
Global Issues that matter most are Thesis and Organization of paragraph or idea order, followed by Development of argument and evidence within each paragraph. These three are the ones that will best help you determine what you believe and shape what you want to say. All Global Issues (Audience, Purpose, Thesis, Organization, development, Introduction, Conclusion) matter. Audience drives all, but each Global Issue determines how well your audience may receive and believe in your argument.
Local Issues (grammar, spelling, mechanics, punctuation) only matter if they stop YOU from understanding what you are saying. Local Issues (grammar, spelling, mechanics, punctuation) matter to everyone because poor grammar can inhibit how others understand or value your message.

Given this more developed understanding of the differences between first draft and later drafts, it is safe to assume that a first draft will be messy as you attempt (the original definition of the verb essay) to discover what you think or know. And if this knowledge still isn't enough, remember that you can always come to a consultant to do a think-aloud activity.

Think Aloud Activity

You don't write; just be ready to talk about your ideas.

The Consultant will

  • Take notes
  • Ask open-ended, probing questions
  • Help you organize your ideas after they have all been written down
  • Help you generate more ideas from any gaps in the new organization

You then take the notes and assemble them into your first draft!

A Think Aloud works because instead of both trying to write an argument while thinking of the argument, you only have to do the thinking. Your consultant will function as a scribe for you, recording your thoughts so you can see them later. You can also do this by recording a note in your phone or on your computer that translates your speech into writing, then revising the ideas after you have spoken them all, but working with another person is actually easier since they can give you feedback and ask questions to get you to explain and clarify your ideas more.

The function of revision is to re-see your ideas in a different light. Think about it this way:

  • Your first draft is about you writing to yourself to discover what you believe, why you believe it, and how you prove it. It is normal for a writer's first draft to do this work.  It's why writing is a mode of learning.
  • But your second and all subsequent drafts are not written for you. They are for someone else to understand what you think and why you believe what you do. The is writing not for yourself, but for someone else, to present what you've learned.

So how do you go about seeing your work in a new light?

Reverse Outline

  1. Find the main point of each paragraph.
  2. List them on a separate sheet of paper.
  3. See if their order makes good sense.  If they can be changed around without clearly linking together, rearrange them until the order makes best sense, and revise to show how they connect.

Cut up the Paper

  1. Cut your paper into individual paragraphs, keeping the parts together where your paragraph goes from the bottom of one page to the top of the next.
  2. For each paragraph, identify the three parts of an academic paragraph:
    1. Claim (Topic Sentence or main point of the paragraph)
    2. Evidence (The evidence you chose, such as data, resources, or stories)
    3. Discussion (Your own words and connections that tie the evidence to the claim and to the essay thesis.
  3. If a paragraph is missing any of the three parts, identify what and how you will add the missing pieces in.

The editing process can happen all throughout a project, but it makes best sense to edit--that is, clean up the grammar, spelling, mechanics (underlining, italics, etc) and punctuation--after the main body of the text is complete. Otherwise, you may spend time cleaning up something that you eventually decide to cut from the paper, potentially wasting time and effort. 

To get you started on editing, watch this video (9:00) from SchoolHabits on how to edit an essay.

Now let's consider some resources that can help you build your editing knowledge.

https://library.mwcc.edu/citation

The MWCC Library Citation guide is meant as a starting point for Citation Support. It includes

  • an overview of why we cite in academic work, 
  • links to print and online guides for the most commonly-used citation styles, and
  • recommended tools that will make formatting your bibliographies easier. 

It is not meant to be comprehensive, as most tricky citation style and software questions are better answered directly by librarians or consultants.

If you have questions about citation styles or software, please Ask a Librarian or reach out to a Learning Consultant - we're happy to help!

Online Handbooks and References

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html

  • Purdue Online Writing Lab can help you learn more about all aspects of academic writing. This comprehensive site is managed by Purdue University's Writing Center.

https://catalog.cwmars.org/eg/opac/record/4102730?locg=79

  • Permalink to the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) holdings in CW mars and LaChance Library.

Global Issues (Audience, Purpose, Thesis, Organization, Development, Introduction, Conclusion)

When thinking about audience, remember that for a first draft, the audience is YOU.

  • What do you want to say?
  • What are you trying to get people to think, see, understand, do, etc.?
  • Which ideas are easier to explain? Why?
  • Which ideas are harder to explain? Is there more reading or observing you need to do?

For all subsequent drafts, think about the following audience and purpose considerations:

  • Identify a specific audience. Who are they? What is their need?
  • What education level are they at related to your topic?
  • What life experiences do they have related to your topic?
  • What do they expect from you as the expert?
  • What do they expect from your text?

Make choices about the order of knowledge, word choice, and types of evidence based on how you answer these kinds of questions.

When we talk about organization, we are talking about the paragraph order of your arguments.

  • Does each paragraph clearly follow from the one before and lead the reader to the one that follows?
  • Is the paragraph written in such a way that its location makes the best sense (you can't just shuffle them into any order and it will still be fine)?

So how do you determine if your paragraphs are in order? Start by making sure you know why you wrote the paragraph to begin with. What is its purpose or function? Generally, there are nine functions of academic paragraphs, coinciding with the nine patterns of organization or the rhetorical modes. Here they are:

  1. Narrative: The paragraph is telling a story that serves some purpose.
  2. Description: The paragraph is using the senses to help the reader identify a place
  3. Comparison and Contrast: The paragraph shows how two things are either similar (comparison) or different (contrast).
  4. Classification: The paragraph is grouping things based on their characteristics (think to compare and contrast with more than two items).
  5. Division: The paragraph is taking a single thing and dividing it into parts (think the human body is made up of systems: skeletal, cardiovascular, muscular, etc.)
  6. Cause & Effect: The paragraph is explaining how something (a person, a verb, etc.) causes and/or affects something else.
  7. Problem & Solution: The paragraph implies a value judgment (good, bad, etc) that some cause or effect creates a problem or a solution.
  8. Illustration: The paragraph provides an example of something to convey its importance to the topic at hand. Look for words like "for example."
  9. Process: The paragraph explains all or part of a method or practice for doing something.

Still not sure what these mean? Consider a lab report such as the one you may have written in high school or that you might write in college. Usually, lab reports are written following a model called IMRaD. It's broken down in this table for you to see its parts:

IMRaD Model Part What it does Corresponding Patterns of Organization
Introduction Explains the Problem and provides background so readers understand the origin of the situation and what has been done Problem & Solution, Comparison & Contrast, Classification, Division, Illustration
Methodology
Explains how the problem was studied, including who, what, when, where, why, and how
Process
Results Shows what was discovered in the work, often times using charts and graphs or tables Comparison & Contrast, Classification, Division, Illustration
and Discussion Explains the relevance of the results to solving (or not solving) the problem Problem & Solution, Comparison & Contrast

See? If you know what the paragraph is doing, you can clearly connect it to your argument and/or to the larger way of thinking within a discipline. Here's another example. Humanities historians and Social Science Historians use two competing models when writing about history. Both groups try to answer the same question: "If then, why then?" But here are the approaches:

Humanities Historians tend to repeat this three-step sequence over and over:

  • Description
  • Narrative
  • Analysis

Social Science Historians don't include the narrative, alternating between description and analysis paragraphs. If you open up a history book (other than a textbook), you can trace this pattern of purpose--the repeating DNA or DA cycle--through the entire text.

To help you explore how to think through different organization patterns, we have a set of bingo boards created by one of our staff members. Follow the instructions on the board that best fits your needs and see what you discover about how you grow your writing!

When we discuss development, we are generally discussing what goes into an individual academic paragraph. Typically, each paragraph has three parts:

  1. A claim or topic sentence that makes an assertion that you will prove in that paragraph. The more advanced your skills, more likely you will be able to imply purpose and opinion through your word choice and idea arrangement. The claim will be your own ideas in your own words.
  2. Evidence or proof of your claim or topic sentence. The type of evidence you use will be determined by the genre (eg. research paper vs. letter or journal entry), and audience (meeting their expectations for rigor and quality). In most research, the evidence will be a source author's ideas in either your words or theirs.
  3. Discussion or connections that tie the evidence to the claim and tie the claim to your thesis. You should also make sure that these connections help tie the prior paragraph to the current one. Discussion will be your own understanding of the relationships in your own words--remember you are teaching the reader to understand how you tie your ideas together.

Here are models created by our writing consultants, Kayla Charlonne and Candice Cooley-Johnson, to give you a more visual approach. A PDF of these images follow.

Building Strong Paragraphs

 

Source Integration

Source Integration: Why Do It?

So why and how do we integrate sources (in-text citation and documentation) into our text? The BEAM Model (Background, Exhibits, Argument, Method) found on the LaChance Library Citation page does a great job of explaining the "why" of source integration. There are a lot of reasons why you will use outside sources, but they boil down to Background, Exhibits, Argument, Method. These choices will help you think about what you want to do to convince your reader of your argument.

But there are larger reasons why you integrate sources in a particular way.

  • You want to establish your own credibility by using the best sources that professionals who might read your work will respect.
  • You want to demonstrate to those who are evaluating you that you can write and think in the same frameworks as the experts in your discipline.  Using the approved styles in the approved manner with the best sources is a great way to show this.
  • You want to be treated like a professional in the field. After all, isn't that why you're learning this material?

Source Integration: How Do You Do It?

There are four methods for integrating written source ideas into an academic paragraph (these methods are for text only, and exclude images, graphs, tables, or other visuals): summary, synthesis, paraphrase, and quote. This table illustrates the rationale and components of each method.

  Summary Synthesis Paraphrase Quote
What is it? Captures the main points of a whole work or major concept in your own words. Captures the agreed-upon points across several sources (primarily used in APA) in your own words Captures specific points from a small section of a work in the order they occur in your own words Captures specific points from a small section of a work in the source author's words
When and why do you use it? Use this approach to lay a foundation for the reader to understand the work before getting into a more detailed paraphrase or quotation. Use this approach to establish what the field or discipline agrees upon regarding the topic before delving into differences of belief or approach. Use this approach to discuss the details of a particular concept to make a point or before focusing on specific words. *preferred strategy in most disciplines* Use this approach only when 1. You are going to analyze the exact wording the author uses or 2. the words are so beautiful and perfect that a paraphrase will lose effectiveness.
Whose ideas are you using? Source author. Always signal that you are moving to someone else's ideas Source author. Always signal that you are moving to someone else's ideas Source author. Always signal that you are moving to someone else's ideas Source author. Always signal that you are moving to someone else's ideas
How do you signal it?

MLA: Smith argues that ...

According to Smith, ...

APA: Smith (2021) argues that ...

According to Smith (2021), ...

Research (Jones, 1997; Smith 2021) shows that ...

Studies (Smith, 2021; Wilson, 2007) agree that ...

*keep sources alphabetical regardless of the year*

MLA: Jones argues that ...

According to Jones, ...

APA: Jones (1997) argues that ...

According to Jones (1997), ...

MLA: Jones states that "..."

According to Jones, "..."

APA: Jones (1997) states that "..."

According to Jones (1997), "..."
Whose words are you using? Your own Your own Your own Source author
Do you need quotation marks? No. You're using your own words. No. You're using your own words. No. You're using your own words. Yes. You're using the source author's words.
How much text is used? A single whole text Multiple whole texts A small part of a single text A small part of a single text
Do you need page numbers? No. You cannot identify the range of pages needed from each source clearly or easily. No. The main ideas are likely to come from across several pages throughout the text. If you can identify a single page where the main ideas are captured (probably from the introduction or conclusion, then use a page number) Yes. A small portion of text coming from a single page or across two adjoining pages can and should be clearly identified easily. Yes. A small portion of text coming from a single page or across two adjoining pages can and should be clearly identified easily.

Of course, source integration can be more complicated, but there are some basic patterns that can help you get things close to correct right from the start. These are the patterns of knowledge privileged in the dominant styles: Modern Language Association (MLA) and American Psychological Association (APA):

  • MLA: Who? What? Where? When?
  • APA: Who? (When)? What? Where?

Whether you are writing an in-text citation or a documentation it is generally a good rule to only provide each piece of evidence once. Consult any style manual, Purdue OWL, or another reference source for examples.

https://library.mwcc.edu/citation

The MWCC Library Citation guide is meant as a starting point for Citation Support. It includes

  • an overview of why we cite in academic work, 
  • links to print and online guides for the most commonly-used citation styles, and
  • recommended tools that will make formatting your bibliographies easier. 

It is not meant to be comprehensive, as most tricky citation style and software questions are better answered directly by librarians or consultants.

If you have questions about citation styles or software, please Ask a Librarian or reach out to a Learning Consultant - we're happy to help!

 

In this section, you will learn how to create introductory and concluding paragraphs for your essay. Dr. Jessica Kuskey from our English faculty has made examples of how to begin and end your essay. A PDF version appears after the images below.

Here are Dr. Kuskey's handouts for writing conclusions. Again, a PDF version follows the images.

​

Other Helpful Links

Local Issues (Grammar, Spelling, Mechanics, & Punctuation)

https://library.mwcc.edu/citation

The MWCC Library Citation guide is meant as a starting point for Citation Support. It includes

  • an overview of why we cite in academic work, 
  • links to print and online guides for the most commonly-used citation styles, and
  • recommended tools that will make formatting your bibliographies easier. 

It is not meant to be comprehensive, as most tricky citation style and software questions are better answered directly by librarians or consultants.

If you have questions about citation styles or software, please Ask a Librarian or reach out to a Learning Consultant - we're happy to help!

https://library.mwcc.edu/citation

The MWCC Library Citation guide is meant as a starting point for Citation Support. It includes

  • an overview of why we cite in academic work, 
  • links to print and online guides for the most commonly-used citation styles, and
  • recommended tools that will make formatting your bibliographies easier. 

It is not meant to be comprehensive, as most tricky citation style and software questions are better answered directly by librarians or consultants.

If you have questions about citation styles or software, please Ask a Librarian or reach out to a Learning Consultant - we're happy to help!

https://library.mwcc.edu/citation

The MWCC Library Citation guide is meant as a starting point for Citation Support. It includes

  • an overview of why we cite in academic work, 
  • links to print and online guides for the most commonly-used citation styles, and
  • recommended tools that will make formatting your bibliographies easier. 

It is not meant to be comprehensive, as most tricky citation style and software questions are better answered directly by librarians or consultants.

If you have questions about citation styles or software, please Ask a Librarian or reach out to a Learning Consultant - we're happy to help!

https://library.mwcc.edu/citation

The MWCC Library Citation guide is meant as a starting point for Citation Support. It includes

  • an overview of why we cite in academic work, 
  • links to print and online guides for the most commonly-used citation styles, and
  • recommended tools that will make formatting your bibliographies easier. 

It is not meant to be comprehensive, as most tricky citation style and software questions are better answered directly by librarians or consultants.

If you have questions about citation styles or software, please Ask a Librarian or reach out to a Learning Consultant - we're happy to help!

Special Genres

As you review these materials, please begin with the Guides by Miller and Connor, as they will help you get started best.  Then proceed to read the samples, which are also shared in Prof. Connor's Guide.

Other Sample Artist Statements

As you prepare to write your Common App essay, please take a look at the links and videos below to get a sense of what this task involves. If you are an Art Major, review the Mass Art Transfer Requirement link to learn more about their specific Common App Essay expectations.

 

Links with Common App Advice

Links to Specific program guidance for completing the common App

 

One valuable skill everyone should have is the ability to draft a resume. Resumes are grouped in chronological listings of your accomplishments. For most traditional-aged people, Education will come first, but if you are returning to school after time away, you may want to put your work and professional experience first.

In this 30-minute video, you will follow Dr. K as he drafts a resume cold on a blank MS Word document. Listen as he talks through his thinking and decision-making, and pause to try his techniques in your own resume writing and revision.

If your resume is the history of what you've done, the cover letter is the story, sharing the anecdotes and experiences of your employment and education that highlight the skills and aptitudes your employer wants.

For example, your employer wants to know that you are collaborative. Tell the brief, two-sentence story of how you collaborated on a major course project as evidence of your ability.

Dr. K spends 22 minutes walking through a cover letter, detailing the function of each sentence and paragraph in the process as he writes the form and format, introduction, conclusion, and outlines the body content. Pause the recording to try out techniques as you write or revise your own letter.

Please CONTACT US if you have questions.