on writing
Historian and blogger Timothy Burke, in response to grading, wrote a nice summary--Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay--of some of the basic problems and models for writing.
Being a TA, I find myself in a kind of awkward position: as grader and student. I'm still searching for models and ways to improve my writing, to hone my style, to tighten my prose, and to craft my argument. Yet have I traversed this path far enough to be able to guide those who are so close behind? At times undergrads seem so far behind, but at others they seem so close. As they sit clueless in my office trying to choose term paper topics or wondering why their senseless paper got a lower than stellar marks, I wonder to myself, 'am I serious? am I just playing some crazy role here? like I really know what I'm talking about!' Often I do feel that I can actually offer some constructive advice, but the art of writing is one that is learned over a lone period of time and with much practice. And it is definitely that...an art. An enterprise that is as subjective and individual as the person endeavoring to practice it with material that must be creatively chosen, interpreted, and expressed.
It is also an enterprise in which I must get my butt in gear and practice.