Alesia Staskiewicz

Senior, Consultant since Fall 2013

Advice for writers 
Don't be afraid to just start writing. If I find myself reluctant to start a paper, I just put something down on paper and go from there. Also, the most useful way I’ve found to revise a paper is to read it out loud to myself; by actually speaking the words, I hear something I might have missed if I had been just reading it over again to myself.

How do you get started on a writing assignment?
First, I think about my thesis: What am I trying to say in this paper, and what points will help me achieve that? What is the main message I want to convey to the reader? Then, I go to an outline, thinking about my main points for each of my paragraphs. Drafting topic sentences is also a great way to start out writing a paper because then I can see if they clearly support and fit with my thesis. After that, I can tell where I’m supposed to go with my paper because I have all of my main points, and then I just have to add supporting material.