And so the Goodbyes Begin...

When I first walked through the main doors of my school's building, in sixth grade, I had one thought in my mind; I wanted to be a reporter.  I wanted to learn how to be a good writer, interviewer. What captivated me at first was the phrase that my principal always said, “everyone has a story.”

It's hard to believe that, seven years later, I am leaving the school.

It's hard to believe that tonight I will be a high school graduate.

It's surreal and emotional.

This is because no matter what happens in our lives, the experiences we've had will always be with us.

In my grade there are a lot of people whom resent my school and each other. But doesn't that happen everywhere? Isn't that what families do?

I like to think of my school as one giant family, that even though argues, is there for one another when support and aid is needed most.

While I might not have been best friends with everyone in my graduating class, I feel so honored to have spent the last 4-7 years alongside them, learning, laughing and crying.

They are my siblings and deep down inside, I am theirs.

It's with that in mind that I end this post.

I'm tearing up just by re-reading the words I wrote.

I promised myself I wouldn't cry today, that I wouldn't get emotional, but it's hard.

Today marks the day my fellow graduates not only leave our school, but in some cases, each other for the last time.

It's hard to walk away from family.
It's hard to walk away from siblings.
It's hard to walk away from the only school you ever remember attending.

And while this has been a moment all of us have been anticipating for forever....

It's hard to graduate high school.

The Perfectionist's Dilemma: The Trials of Being Everyone’s Editor and Friend

Close your eyes and imagine this:
Your sitting in class and your teacher assigns you a paper.  Do big deal right?  You begin to brainstorm ideas and formulate an outline.

In life, there are fine lines that are considered taboo if you cross them.  For example, having children before being married, committing adultry, etc.  While the principal of friendship is not as extreme, it is sacred.

So when that time of year comes around and the teacher assigns a paper, people start to get nervous. Why?  The concept of peer review.

While having your peers look at your work has it's advantages, it also brings up an ethical question on whether to tell your friend that their paper sucks or to to just tell them that what they're trying to convey is good considering their writing ability.

Both options have dire consequences.  This is because your friend will either get mad at you for making them feel like their paper is horrible or mad that you weren't honest with them and they received a low grade.

I admit, sometimes when I read papers I have a debate in my head about what type of comments I should make and in what way I should word them.  Knowing that my criticism of writing is sometimes harsh, I'd always agree to read a person's paper with the clause that whatever I write they should not take personally.

Below are some of the most common problems I notice in papers:

• Quotes
• The lack of support/too much
• The transitioning/Introduction
• Analyzation
• Thesis
• Weird wording
• Hidden in introduction
• Paragraphs
• The transitioning between ideas (A problem I'm still overcoming myself)
• Run on Sentences
• Improper use of the , . and ;

Thankfully people understand my OCD about proper writing.  Yet, that doesn't always help me when I actually comment on papers, especially those of considerably long length.

For this past assignment, I read over 5 papers.  Considering the paper's length, I didn't want to read every page.  So the internal fight was shadowed by the feeling of doom.

There were just so many pages.

Yet, my perseverance remained in tact and I pushed forward.

In order to speed up the process, if I realized there were recurring problems, I'd create a note of it's existence and attach a link that could explain why there is a problem, as well as how to fix it.  I did this because although people want me to point out their mistakes, the more I do it, the less they'd learn from them.  Even if I make a comment, they'll never really be able to realize why I told them their grammar or sentence structure didn't work.

So, I used my commenting privileges to give most of the students in my class a lesson in grammar and other things.

Below are some of the advice I've given and links.

Quotes:

• Provide context for each quote
• Do not include quotes for the purpose of having a quote
• "packing your paper with quotations will not necessarily strengthen your argument..."

• "...it is important to move smoothly from the source information to your own thoughts. If quotations are simply dropped into a paper ... a reader may become confused as to the appropriateness and relevance of that particular quotation..."

• Possible introductions to quotes:

• According to Jane Doe, "..."

• As Jane Doe goes on to explain, "..."

• Characterized by John Doe, the society is "...

• Make sure all of your quotes are from credible sources

• When using Google type the following:  What You Want to Search Site:.edu

• Do the same for .gov, etc.

• 

• For more information:
• http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/introquo.html
• http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/quotations/
• http://www.schenectady.k12.ny.us/Schenectady_High_School/Library/Quoting.pdf

Analysis:

• For every one line of quotation, from a novel or other source, should have at least TWO lines of personal thought or analysis.
•  A lot of people lose focus of their own ideas and end up just paraphrasing the ideas of their source.  <-- b="" do="" not="" this="">
• If you do not ANALYZE, the purpose of the quote is lost on the reader.
• You need to explain how this connects to everything and your thesis

Introduction & Thesis

• There should not be more than ONE paragraph of context
• It loses the focus of the paper and distracts the reader
• You may have one paragraph of context and then a second to connect it to and establish a thesis.
• The thesis should be clearly identified by the reader
• Should not be hidden in the intro
• It should be neat and to the point
• Avoid using big or fluffy vocabulary depending on the audience
• The thesis can be more then one sentence
• It should go from vague to specific and detailed if you do this
• Be cautioned with writing the intro before vs. writing it after it is done
• This can cause you to lose focus while writing the rest of your paper
• When writing always keep the thesis in the back of your mind.

Paragraphs

• See analysis above.
• Outline them prior to writing to make sure you stay on topic and focused
• Make sure two ideas are connected within a paragraph for a smooth transition
• You can connect two ideas through analysis
• "Upon further investigation..."
• "This is further supported by the idea..."
• You can use transitional words
• Meanwhile...
• However...
• If transitioning often, avoid repetition and use synonyms
• Use a Thesaurus (yes, they exist)
• For a list of transitions:
• http://www.studygs.net/wrtstr6.htm
• For help and detailed view of transitions:
• http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/transitions/
• Avoid vague pronouns like the plauge
• Most common when mentioning two or more people in a sentence
• Ex: Fred and Bob went to his graduation.
• Who's graduation?
• Change to: Fred and Bob went to Bob's graduation.
• Make sure your tenses match up
• Ex: Martha lived in New York City and loves it.
• Lived does NOT match loves
• Change to: Martha lived in New York City and loved it.
• For more help on verbs and sentence agreement:
• http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/newsat/powertactics/writingmc/chapter2section1.rhtml
• http://www.unh.edu/writing/cwc/handouts/grammar/grammar-vaguepronouns.pdf

FOR A LESSON ON THE SEMI-COLON PLEASE CLICK BELOW:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon

Hopefully the above guide is helpful and will prevent future mistakes.