The Grumpy 2009“how-To-wriTe”

Calendar

Mr. Grumpy says, “Make 2009 your year of writing good

academic reports. Use my month-by-month advice to help you get from start to finish for almost any type of school paper. Just remember, always make sure that you are writing about the right thing. If I asked

you to write about the advan-tages of electronic libraries over conventional libraries, should you write about the history of book publishing? I guess only if you

wanted to make me more grumpy than I already am!”

JanuaryS M T W T F S 1 2 34 5 6 7 8 9 1011 12 13 14 15 16 1718 19 20 21 22 23 2425 26 27 28 29 30 31

Make sure you know what you’re supposed to write about. Look for key words like define, explain, analyze, compare, or cri-tique. These types of words are there to help you understand your assignment better.

FebruaryS M T W T F S1 2 3 4 5 6 78 9 10 11 12 13 1415 16 17 18 19 20 2122 23 24 25 26 27 28

“Presearch.” Think about what you already know and about what you still need to know. Start doing some basic reading, broadly related to the assignment, so that you have a general understanding about the topic before you really get into the specifics.

MarchS M T W T F S1 2 3 4 5 6 78 9 10 11 12 13 1415 16 17 18 19 20 2122 23 24 25 26 27 2829 30 31

Hit the books and get friendly with your favorite search engines. Narrow down the broad areas of interest from your “pre-search” and figure out what you actually need to do more research on.

AprilS M T W T F S 1 2 3 45 6 7 8 9 10 1112 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 2526 27 28 29 30Take good notes. Document your sources carefully. Figure out a system for organizing your sources and notes, whether it be with sticky-notes, highlighters, note-cards, notebooks, or folded pages in your books. Find the system that works best for you.

MayS M T W T F S 1 23 4 5 6 7 8 910 11 12 13 14 15 1617 18 19 20 21 22 2324 25 26 27 28 29 3031

Free-write and brainstorm for further ideas or for ways to link your ideas together better. Think about the overall flow you wish to achieve.

JuneS M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 67 8 9 10 11 12 1314 15 16 17 18 19 2021 22 23 24 25 26 2728 29 30Outline your paper. Write down your thesis statement and the topic statements for your sup-porting paragraphs. Remember that each paragraph should have a topic statement! Determine what your main points are and what your sup-porting ideas are.

JulyS M T W T F S 1 2 3 45 6 7 8 9 10 1112 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 2526 27 28 29 30 31

Create a sentence outline for your entire paper. Focus on the first and last couple of sentences of each paragraph since these should contain the bulk of your message and should help maintain the flow throughout your paper.

AugustS M T W T F S 12 3 4 5 6 7 89 10 11 12 13 14 1516 17 18 19 20 21 2223 24 25 26 27 28 2930 31

Write your first draft. Do not restrict yourself too much at this stage. It is better to write more and cut back later than not be able to write enough to start with.

SeptemberS M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 56 7 8 9 10 11 1213 14 15 16 17 18 1920 21 22 23 24 25 2627 28 29 30

Make sure you have some time to set your work aside. A week is nice, but even a day or two will help. This makes it easier for you to see your work more objec-tively and with “new eyes.”

OctoberS M T W T F S 1 2 34 5 6 7 8 9 1011 12 13 14 15 16 1718 19 20 21 22 23 2425 26 27 28 29 30 31

Get out your red pen. Revise your paper for consistency and flow of ideas. Make sure your thesis is clear and that everything in the document supports this thesis. Check that your writing is suitable for your given audience.

NovemberS M T W T F S1 2 3 4 5 6 78 9 10 11 12 13 1415 16 17 18 19 20 2122 23 24 25 26 27 2829 30Formatting. Do this last. Or, save yourself the trouble of ever hav-ing to format something again by creating templates in your favorite word-processor, for example, dur-ing the free time you get while giving yourself a break from your writing.

DecemberS M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 56 7 8 9 10 11 1213 14 15 16 17 18 1920 21 22 23 24 25 2627 28 29 30 31Get a fine-toothed comb and check every comma and period. Analyze those dashes and slashes. Count your subjects and match them with your verbs. Make sure all your sources are cited. Ask yourself, “What would Mr Grumpy think about this?”

Don’t forget: Past issues of the Grumpy Writer's Grumps can be

easily downloaded or read online at thegrumpywriter.wordpress.com