HELP Trouble Using the Tool ....................................................... 1 Further support writing your essay....................................... 1 Further information about Using the Tool .............................. 2 Further information about Freewriting .................................. 3
Trouble Using the Tool If you experience technical difficulties using the tool please send an email to c.llewellyn-jones@londonmet.ac.uk or m.agombar@londonmet.ac.uk describing the problem.
Further support writing your essay For further help with writing your essay you might wish to book an appointment to see a mentor at the LondonMet Writing Centre. You can book a session by • registering on: http://www.rich36.com/london/index.php • calling Dr Katerina Koutsantoni on 020 7320 1211 • visiting the Reception at the Writing Centre (CMB-20 Basement, Calcutta House). Nearest tube station: Aldgate East. For more information about the writing centre please visit: http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/depts/dops/writing-centre/writingcentre.cfm
Further information about Using the Tool When you get an assignment, it is an excellent idea to spend 10 minutes or so writing about the topic. You may find that you have lots of ideas which you didn’t know about. You may find that you become surprisingly engaged with the topic. You may even find that you know exactly what you want to write about. Even if you find out that you have nothing to say about the topic, you might find that you can get rid of some of the junk which might be stopping you from getting going and it might be clear that you had better go to the library and do some reading! This tool is designed to help you focus on generating thoughts and words and to silence the critic that so often stops us from making progress with our writing. If you have ever suffered from writers’ block, this tool may help! Instructions: For the duration of the exercise that follows, you will simply need to RELAX and WRITE. All you have to do is write without stopping. Write anything and everything that occurs to you about the topic. What is interesting about it? What do you already know? What would you like to find out? Why does it matter? What would you like to write about? Simply keep writing without stopping for even a moment. If we stop writing, this is often because a thought from the critical side of our brain has intruded to tell us that what we are writing is rubbish or that this is pointless. This is precisely the kind of thing which leads to writer’s block. If this is what you are thinking, just write that down. Write down whatever is going through your mind. It doesn’t matter what this is. If you do this, you may find that you are able to write your way through your block and that you do have something to say after all. Don’t worry about your grammar or anything else – noone will read this except yourself and you will have plenty of time to worry about making your writing perfect later. You will never know unless you try! If this all sounds terrifying, don’t worry – the computer will help you and keep you going.
Further information about Freewriting According to Peter Elbow (a famous writing teacher), there are two processes involved in all good writing: a creative process where we come up with material to write about and a more critical process where we put those ideas into the best possible order and shape. However, at university we are often so worried about writing for a lecturer and getting a good mark that we forget all about the need to be creative and we focus entirely on the critical aspect of writing. As soon as we have an idea or write a few sentences, we immediately start criticising our work and we might delete it or worry about it or give up and do something else instead. As a result, we often torment ourselves and make writing difficult. But writing doesn’t have to be that difficult. Many writers find that an easier and more effective way to write is to keep the creative side separate from the critical side. Think about how we know the brain works. The right hand side of the brain is involved in more creative and intuitive activities, while the left hand side is involved in more critical activities. So we are not likely to do out best critical work or our best creative work if we are constantly going from one side to the other. It’s much better to tune into the left hand side as fully as possible and then later on tune into the right hand side. Here’s what Peter Elbow has to say: “If you separate the writing process into two stages [i.e. the critical and creative], you can exploit these opposing muscles one at a time: first be loose and accepting as you do fast early writing: then be critically tough-minded as you revise what you have produced. What you’ll discover is that these two skills used alternately don’t undermine each other at all, they enhance each other.” Writing with Power (1998)