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A newsletter for the students, faculty and staff of the Collin College. Published monthly. For information or submissions, call 972.599.3142. Cougar News welcomes student and faculty submissions. Next deadline: May 10 All submissions are due by 5 p.m. on the due date. Photos cannot be returned. Text should be emailed to mrobinson@ccccd.edu or sent on disk. Please submit copy that is proofed, edited and saved in Word format. Cougar News staff: Lisa Vasquez, director; Mark Robinson, editor; Marcy Cadena-Smith, contributor; Dana Schmitz, contributor; Sydney Portilla-Diggs, campus correspondent; Stephanie Hall, student correspondent; Heather Darrow, special contributor; Sandy Suvannachakkham, special contributor; Kathryn Martin, special contributor; Nick Young, photographer and layout.
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Five tips on becoming a better writer
Everyone writes. Whether it is an essay for a history course, a news story, an office memo, or an e-mail to a friend.
However, not everyone can be Tom Wolfe or Flannery O’Connor. Still, there are some small things that you can change to become a better writer.
1. Read and Read Some More
Newspapers, magazines, novels, blogs, short stories, poetry, novellas, biographies, essays, backs of cereal boxes, advertisements -- whatever your fancy there’s a wealth of inspiration. Notice word usage, sentence structure, style and how the writer tries to capture his or her audience through the medium.
2. Use Your Head
Take a sec and determine a couple of things before you put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard. Who’s your audience? Determine style beforehand whether casual, formal or professional. What is your point and how do you plan on getting to it? Writing is 90 percent mental, 10 percent spell check.
3. Proof, Proof and Proof
Communication has become more and more informal. Pony Express, telegraph and snail mail have kowtowed to e-mail, an instantaneous mode of communication. But there is never an excuse for a typo, misspelled word, fragment sentence or any message that just doesn’t make sense because you didn’t take five minutes to read it over.
4. Simply Keep It Simple
Most written communication -- which includes e-mails, memos, notes, etc. -- should be simple. Make your points clear using concise language. Use short sentences and maintain active voice. This helps avoid ambiguity and usually nips confusion in the bud.
5. The Thesaurus isn’t Extinct
Dictionaries are cool because you can double check spelling and whether or not you are using the right word. Thesauruses give you options so you’re not using the same word 15 times in an e-mail. Don’t feel the need to use “50-cent words,” but mix it up a little.
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
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