Write Well in the New Year!

Regardless of whether you are writing a simple note to a friend (and people still do like to get hand written notes, not just emails or Facebook messages), or you need to turn in a major research paper (see research sites at the end of this entry), write well. That seems like a simple request, but truly we have become such a fast-paced society that we don't stop to weigh the meaning and sound of our words ... the impact they can have in our writing. I'm so impressed when, in a television show, a World magazine editorial, or even in recent Christmas cards, weighty words are selected. Weighty words are ones that make you stop and think and consider their meaning, words that linger.

I came across this poem today and I hope it will encourage you to do "all things" (including writing) well for the NEW YEAR!

Another year is dawning;
Dear Father, let it be
In working or in waiting,
Another year with Thee;
Another year of progress,
Another year of praise,
Another year of proving
Thy presence all the days.

Another year of mercies,
Of faithfulness and grace,
Another year of gladness
In the shining of Thy face;
Another year of leaning
Upon Thy loving breast;
Another year of trusting,
Of quiet, happy rest.


Another year of service,
Of witness for Thy love,
Another year of training
For holier work above.
Another year is dawning:
Dear Father, let it be
On earth, or else in heaven,
Another year for Thee.

RESEARCH PAPER TIP: Use resources such as World Digital Library (wdl.org/en/), the New York Public Library, which contains 700,000 images, (kigitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm), and - for South Carolinians - scdiscus.org (password: findit), which has hundreds of periodicals to pull from.

Don't Forget Your Thesis

I've been editing many essays lately. Often when I'm finished I'm left wondering what was the point of the essay. The most important element - the thesis - was missing. I read a multitude of interesting facts, quotes, and arguments, yet still I'm perplexed as to what was the main reason for the paper. That main reason is called the thesis. If a paper launches right into explaining something, but fails to give the reader a clue as to what will be explained, the reader is left scratching his or her head in confusion. I have to write a sort of thesis every time I write an article for a magazine. In beginning writing, this is called a topic sentence or an introductory sentence. It basically gives readers a clue as to what they will learn - or, in some cases, what argument will be made - throughout the writing. The thesis might be considered the destination, with the elements in the essay (or article) being the road map to get to the destination. Often, in an essay, the thesis needs to be restated in some way at the end - so that you're reminding readers what it is they just learned. Without the thesis, the writing is just ramblings that take the reader here, there, and everywhere without ever reaching a destination. The following websites actually provides a much better and clearer explanation than what I am attempting here: www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/thesis.html

Avoid Snoopy's fate in "Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life." In one comic strip by the late Charles Schulz, Snoopy writes the title of his book as "A Sad Story." When Lucy reads it she says, "This isn't a sad story. This is a dumb story." Snoopy responds, "That's what makes it so sad."