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In math class, it’s easy to recognize when you’ve made a mistake. By re-entering your answer into the original equation, it quickly becomes clear whether you’ve determined the right solution. But when it comes to writing essays, the correct answer isn’t always so obvious. Use this tip sheet to teach your child to steer clear of 10 common writing mistakes. 1. Fuzzy Focus. Most writers often neglect the most important sentence in an essay—the thesis statement, which forms the writer’s key argument. Normally one to two sentences long, the thesis should sum up the essay’s major message. 2. Lack of structure. Think of an essay just like a building and the writer as the architect. An essay needs a beginning, middle and an end to keep it from falling apart. Writers often will jump into an essay without mapping out their argument. Help your child outline the essay from beginning to end, highlighting each section with major arguments and briefly stating the evidence that will justify each statement. 3. Perplexing punctuation. Young writers often avoid using the proper punctuation or overuse it because they don’t know the proper rules, but punctuation is like a traffic light for readers—it instructs them when to stop and when to go. To avoid getting bogged down in rules about apostrophes and ellipses, your child should write his first draft, putting all his thoughts down on paper, and then edit the draft using reference books such as The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White to find the perfect place for punctuation. Through repetitive referencing, your child will begin to remember the grammar and punctuation rules on his own. 4. Plagiarism. Young students sometimes don’t even realize that they’re copying someone else’s work. Teach your child the proper way to credit reference materials used in his essay so that both authors get their proper due. 5. Lack of transitional phrases. Young writers often get into trouble when going from one idea to the next. Without transitions, a reader is likely to get lost or disinterested. Each paragraph, like the overall body of the essay, needs a beginning, middle and an end. Start off with simple transitional phrases. Sometimes one or two words will adequately signify the essay’s development. Words such as “therefore” and “finally” signal to the reader that the essay’s message is progressing. As a test, reread each paragraph, and if they make sense standing on their own, they probably incorporate good transitions. If not, add a sentence introducing a new idea. 6. Redundancy. If the writer has done his homework, there won’t be any room for repetition, but without preparing the proper research materials, a writer tends to stretch the same ideas over and over. Save your child’s readers from boredom by making sure that each paragraph contains a new idea that modifies the thesis. 7. Spelling errors. Word processing applications have simplified spell-checking, but even the fanciest of gadgets and gizmos can overlook a misspelled word. Help your child review his final draft, carefully rereading the essay to ensure it doesn’t contain any silly spelling mistakes that will cost serious points. 8. Too much information. Every sentence in the body of the essay should back up the writer’s thesis. Extraneous information only distracts readers from the main points. Stay on message and don’t provide too much information. 9. Complex construction. Young writers, especially those on their way to high school, often try to impress their instructors by overwriting—using big words, overwhelming the reader with too much detail or riffing on abstract concepts. Writers should periodically ask themselves throughout the process of writing a draft whether or not the information they’re including is necessary for their audience. If not, then get rid of it. 10. No conclusion. Writing an essay can be a tiresome activity. By the end, many young scribes just give up, leaving readers hanging. Give readers a hand, and end each essay with a few sentences that recap its major points. |
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