This is my favorite
chapters so far because of the tips it presents for writers to be specific and
clear with the ideas they want to present. While I like to think I am a
good writer, or at least I know how to present my ideas well enough with
minimal grammatical and a good voice I know there is room for improvement; When
writing research papers, while the goal generally is to "meet the quota"
I'd much rather be more concise with my writing. I think the "budget
of fifty words" is a good trainer to weed out the main ideas of the topic
to be written about to lessen rambling and inclusion of empty words and
unnecessary information. The use of action words/key words and connectors
are points to keep in mind while writing as an introductory lesson for beginner
writers or a refresher for more experiences writers. Questioning the
event is also a good way to list out the main ideas and be used for evaluation
to help determine the usability of the facts. Overall it's a solid
breakdown of word and grammar usage to create more effective sentences.
This chapter reminded me about Prof. Krinsky's recollections on her own writing style Freshman year of college and how it used to be somewhat "flowery" (for the lack of a better word). I identify with her description and remember how it used to take me a whole paragraph to get one idea across. I also thought that the more fancy words I used, the better my writing skills were. It took a couple of years in college to realize that this is not the case! This "budget" exercise certainly helps writers get past that phase more quickly.
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