Thlog #6

This week to me was a bit of “tidying up” and taking a step back from learning entirely new concepts, but rather refining those that we have previously learned. I think in one class period, the word “style” was emphasized—which is quite an accurate representation of what the week consisted of. Working through several of the concepts, in particular on parallelism and words other than “says,” it became clear to me that these are facets of papers that can often be overlooked if skimmed over too quickly, as as a writer, you assume that you are doing them correctly. For example, theoretically if you were to tell someone “Hey, before you cite a quote make sure that you use a variety of words instead of always saying ‘X says…’” he or she would probably look at you with a face that screams “well… duh.” But then when you get down to writing the paper itself, that same word “says” is likely what first pops into a writer’s mind. It’s similar with parallelism. It is something that as a writer you recognize should be in place, and assume that you automatically do it. Sure, this is not to say that as a writer I always forget to use these rules, but I also don’t always consciously remember to check for them, as I assume that I do them. I think one of the biggest takeaways from this week stems from the last point I made—proofreading is critical, and to be done well it takes time. It shouldn’t consist of a check for any red or green squiggly lines beneath words or phrases, but rather a thorough read to ensure your paper is both containing variety in diction, as well as following grammatical rules.