Writing Coach

 FINDING THE RIGHT WORDS….

     Writing and speaking are important tools of communication. There are times when the biggest and best words are excellent choices; in other situations, simple, sincere words provide the best options.

     Word usage should not be taken lightly. Many people—including pastors—often know a short definition for a word they choose; but words frequently have very precise, limited meanings. How can we be sure that our words are the best we can use?

     (1) Have a recent dictionary or a good website available whenever you are composing a class assignment, a sermon, a letter, or any other type of paper that needs to reflect your best effort.

     (2) When you are reading a textbook assignment, have a good dictionary nearby so that you may look up unfamiliar words or words that do not seem to be uses of the word as you have learned its definition.

     (3) Use a current thesaurus to determine if a word that may not seem quite right is the best choice for your situation. There are numerous words that spell check will not identify as incorrect when they are used incorrectly in a sentence.

     (4) The Reader’s Digest has included a 15-word section called “Word Power” in every month’s publication for as long as I can remember. Each word has three possible definitions from which you are to select the correct one. The answers (usually on the next page will identify the correct definition and provide an example sentence in which the word is used correctly.

     (5) Keep a list of the new words or new definitions that you find. This can be a time-saver that will save repeated trips to the same word(s).

     As you follow these suggestions, watch for sentences and paragraphs in which you repeatedly use forms of the same word. Look for synonyms that may provide a more accurate meaning to your composition.

Have you attended a writing workshop?

     COSSO offers a writing assistance program to all students enrolled in each session of COS: winter, spring, summer, and fall weekend courses, and the summer intensive session.  There is no charge to receive writing help or to attend the writing workshops. THEY ARE FREE!

     The writing workshop has been held during the first COSSO weekend session following the spiritual formation time on Friday afternoon from 4:00-4:30 PM in the Centrum. That workshop will remain in place; however, we will be adding a writing workshop during the second weekend of the winter term on Friday afternoon from 4:00-4:30 PM in the Centrum.

     I hope that you will join us for the half-hour workshop sessions! Your instructors may suggest that you need to strengthen some of your writing skills, especially if it has been a while since you have done formal academic writing! There is no “grade” attached to the workshop sessions—just an opportunity to make writing a bit easier for you as you continue your COSSO education.  

     If you have suggestions of writing topics that you would find helpful, please let me know! You can e-mail me at margaretavansickle@msn.com or at mvansickle@mtso.edu or “snail” mail me at MTSO, 3081 Columbus Pike, Box 263, Delaware, Ohio  43015. Thanks for your cooperation in improving the help that we can provide to strengthen your written communication.

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SUBMITTING PAPERS FOR WRITING ASSISTANCE

      As most of you know, every COSSO student is eligible to receive writing assistance for papers submitted to instructors of their COS classes. In the fall 2010 session, a couple of students were not able to receive help because of e-mail problems; so, here is the plan for preventing that from happening again.

     I know this seems like a lot of extra work for you, but it will (I hope) enable me to receive your papers and help you with them in a more timely manner.

1)      When you send a paper to me, please include the information “student paper for COS writing review” on the “Subject” line of the e-mail. For those of you who are submitting papers for evaluation for the first time, your e-mail message may come into my mail as “Spam” or “Junk.” I do not open these—unless there is a subject line that would be related to COS. Be sure that the paper is in an attachment with the e-mail.

2)      I will send you an e-mail acknowledging that I have received your paper within 24 hours of receiving the paper electronically. In that e-mail, I will give you an approximate time in which I will return the paper to you electronically.

3)      When you receive the paper with corrections/suggestions, please reply to me that you have received the edited paper.

     Please contact me by e-mail (margaretavansickle@msn.com or mvansickle@mtso.edu) if you have questions about this process. Thanks for your help in making this system more efficient!