Writer-based purposes for writing

Because writing is, or should be, for yourself first of all, everything you write involves at least some purpose that benefits you. Of course, expressing yourself is a fundamental purpose of all writing. Without the satisfaction of expressing your thoughts, feelings, reactions, knowledge, or questions, you might not make the effort to write in the first place.

A closely related purpose is learning: Writing helps you discover what you think or feel, simply by using language to identify and compose your thoughts. Writing not only helps you form ideas, but actually to promote observing and remembering. If you write down what you observe about people, places, or things, you can actually "see" them more dearly. Similarly, if you write down facts, ideas, experiences, or reactions to your readings, you will remember them longer. Writing and rewriting facts, dates, definitions, impressions, or personal experiences will improve your powers of recall on important occasions such as examinations and job interviews.

Investigation paper writing techniques

Investigative writing begins with asking questions and finding informed, sources: published material, knowledgeable people, or both. In most cases, collecting information in an investigation requires the ability to use a library and then to summarize, paraphrase, and quote key ideas accurately from other people's writing. In addition, personal interviews are often helpful or necessary. For an investigation, you might talk to an expert or an authority, an eyewitness or participant in an event, or even the subject of a personality profile. Finally, you may wish to survey the general public to determine opinions, trends, or reactions. Once you have collected your information, you must then present your findings in a written form suitable for your audience, with clear references in the text to the sources of your information.

Investigative writing uses the following techniques:

• Beginning with an interesting title and a catchy lead sentence or paragraph. The first few sentences arouse your readers' interest and focus their attention on the subject.
• Giving background information by answering relevant who, what, when, where, and why questions. Answering the reporter's "Wh" questions ensures that readers have sufficient information to understand your report.
• Stating the main idea, question, or focus of the investigation. The purpose of a report is to convey information as clearly as possible. Readers shouldn't have to guess the main idea.
• Summarizing or quoting information from written or oral sources; citing sources in the text. Quote accurately any statistics, data, or sentences from your sources. Cite authors and titles.
• Writing in a readable and interesting style appropriate for the intended audience. Clear, direct, and readable language is essential in a report. Use graphs and charts as appropriate.

Reports within this section (see subsection links) illustrate three common types of investigative writing: the summary of a single book or article, the investigation of a controversial issue (using multiple sources), and the profile of a person. The three types may overlap (an investigation of a controversial issue may contain a personality profile, for instance), and all three types may use summaries of written material, questionnaires, and interviews. Some investigative reports are brief, intended to be only short news items, while others are full-length features.

The intended audience for each report is often determined by the publication in which the report appears: Psychology Today assumes that its readers are interested in personality and behavior; Discover magazine is for readers interested in popular science; and readers of Ms. magazine expect coverage of contemporary issues concerning women.

Writing about observations

Observing is essential to good writing. Whether you are writing in a journal, doing a laboratory report for a science class, dashing off a memo at work, or writing a letter to the editor of a newspaper, keen observation is essential. Writing or verbalizing what you see helps you discover and learn more about your environment. Sometimes your purpose is limited to yourself: You observe and record to help you understand your world or yourself better. At other times, your purpose extends to a wider audience: You want to share what you have learned with others, to help them learn as well. No matter who your audience is or what your subject may be, however, your task is to see and to help your readers see.

Of course, observing involves more than just "seeing." Good writers draw on all their senses: sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing. In addition, however, experienced writers also notice what is absent, or not there. The smell of food that should be coming from the kitchen but isn't. A friend who usually is present but now is absent. The absolute quiet in the air that precedes an impending storm. Writers should also look for changes in their subject — from light to dark, from rough to smooth, from bitter to sweet, or from noise to sudden silence. Good writers learn to use their previous experience and their imagination to draw comparisons and create images. Does a sea urchin look and feel like a pincushion with the pins stuck in the wrong way? Does the room feel as cramped and airless as the inside of a microwave oven? Finally, good writers write from a specific point of view or role: a student describing basic laws of physics or an experienced worker in a mental health clinic describing the clientele.

Depending on the purpose and the audience, writing from observation can be relatively objective, as when you record what is actually, demonstrably there; or it can be more subjective, as when you suggest how you feel, think, or react to a subject. A writer might describe a bicycle objectively as "a secondhand 1984 blue 10-speed Trek, with a 23-inch frame, 27-inch wheels, a Sun Tour DL deranleur, SR crank, and Dia Compe brakes." A writer might need to communicate that objective information to a prospective buyer or an employee in a cycle repair shop. On the other hand, the writer may wish to communicate the bicycle's subjective feel — how easily it pedals or how it flows like water down the street. In most situations, however, good writers describe their subject both objectively and subjectively. They use some objectivity for accuracy and specific detail and some subjectivity to suggest the value or relevance of the subject in a human environment.

The key to effective observing is to show your reader the person, place, event, or object through specific detail. Good description allows the reader to draw general conclusions based on specific detail. Rather than just telling a reader, "This bicycle has good technical components," the writer should show or describe how it feels as she rides it. If your reader is going to learn from your observations, you need to give the exact details that you learned from, not just your conclusions or generalizations. Even in writing, experience is the best teacher, so use specific details to communicate the feel, the data, the sights and sounds and smells. Whether you are a tourist describing the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, a salesperson analyzing consumer preferences for your boss, a physicist presenting data on a new supercon¬ducting material to other physicists, or a social worker putting together the details of a child abuse case, your first task is to recreate the experience, to show your readers, to make them see.

Keep a journal (blog): practice your writing

Many writers keep some kind of notebook or journal in which they write down their thoughts for later use. Some writers call it a journal, a place for their day-to-day thoughts. Other writers call it a daybook, a place to record ideas, collected information, possible outlines, titles, questions — anything related to the process of writing, thinking, and learning.

Scientists keep daily logs in which they record data or describe behavior. The word "journal" is the general term referring to "a place for daily writing." Whatever you call it, it should become part of your writing ritual. In it should go all kinds of anting. Bits and pieces of experience or memory that might come in handy later. Reactions to what you're reading. A log of the problems you face as you write. Memorable sayings or quotations. Short summaries of what you're reading in your classes. Your journal is a place to practice, a closet where all your "fish paintings" go.

For maximum flexibility, your journal should be a loose-leaf notebook, so you can add, take out, or rearrange materials. Some writers, though, prefer a spiral notebook, a manila folder with pockets, or a computer disk. Whatever format you choose, make sure that you feel comfortable with it. As the following list indicates, there are many kinds of journal entries.

• Warm-up writing. Writing, like any other kind of activity, improves when you loosen up, stretch, get the kinks out, practice a few lines. Any daybook or journal entry gives you a chance towarm up.
• Collecting and shaping exercises. Some journal entries will help youcollect information by observing, remembering or investigating people, places, events, or objects. You can also record quotationsor startling statistics for a future writing topic. Other entries will give you a chance to practice organizing your information. Strategies of development, such as comparison/contrast, definition, classification, process analysis, and casual analysis will help you discover and shape ideas.
• Practice in writing for a specified audience. In some entries, you need to play a role, to imagine you are in a specific situation and writing for a defined audience. For example, you might write a letter of application to a college admissions officer or a letter to your employer asking for a week's vacation.
• Identifying and solving writing problems. Your journal is also the place to keep a log, a running account of your writing plans and problems. The log helps you record your progress and identify and solve problems as they occur.
• Summarizing, responding, and recording vocabulary entries. A journal is an excellent place to summarize articles for other courses, respond to class discussions, or record definitions of words you look up in the dictionary.

For most journal entries, try to let your ideas flow easily. Don't stop to fix spelling or punctuation. Focus on your train of thought.

Writing about memories: effective techniques

Writing vividly about memories includes all the skills of careful observing, but it adds additional techniques that are described below. Not all writing about memories uses all five techniques, but often one or two of them will transform a lifeless or boring account into an effective narrative.

1. Using detailed observation of people, places, and events. Writing vividly about memories requires many of the skills of careful observation. Give actual dialogue where appropriate.
2. Creating specific scenes set in time and space. Show your reader the actual events, don't just tell about events. Narrate specific incidents as they actually happened. Avoid monotonously summarizing events or presenting just the conclusions (for instance, "those experiences really changed my life").
3. Noting changes, contrasts, or conflicts. Changes in people or places, contrasts between two different memories or between memories of expectations and the reality, or conflicts between people or ideas will often lead to the meaning or importance of a remembered person, place, or event.
4. Making connections between past events, people, or places and the present. The main idea of a narrative often grows out of the changes and conflicts or arises from the connections you make between past and present.
5. Discovering and focusing on a main idea. A remembering essay is not a random narrative of the writer's favorite memories. A narrative should have a clear main point, focus on a main idea, or make a discovery. The essay should clearly show why the memories are important.

Using details, creating scenes, noting conflicts, making connections between past and present, and focusing on a main idea are all important techniques, but you should also keep several other points in mind. Normally, you should write in the first person, using "I" or "we" throughout the narrative. Usually, you will write in past tense, but sometimes you may wish to lend immediacy to the events by retelling them in the present tense, as though they are happening now. Finally, you may stick with a straightforward chronological order, or you may begin near the end and use a flashback to tell the beginning of the story.

The key to effective remembering, though, is to get beyond generalities and conclusions about your experiences ("I had a lot of fun — those days really changed my life") to specific incidents set in time and place which show how and why those days changed your life. The specific incidents should show your main point or dominant idea.

Web/blog writing vs. academic writing

Although the general term «writing» refers to the process of creating both academic papers and web articles, the end products of such writing process are significantly diverse. Website article or blog post writing differs in that it must comply with the search engine and usability standards, while academic essays must, most importantly, show academic knowledge, reason and various skills to the professor.

Articles on the web can be classified as news articles, blog posts, encyclopedia articles, tutorials, reviews and much more, and the writing tone and style of each type will differ from one another. However, all of these types have a list of common features which differentiates them from any other type of writing. Features, in which web content article and blog post writing is different from academic essays writing include:

• very severe length requirements
• always keep to the point
• use simple and straighforward wording and explanations
• keep paragraphs short
• privide images and other supportive media
• pay very close attention to text structure
• separate paragraphs with relevant captions as much as possible
• spend much time on formatting such as bold, italics, hyperlinks etc. (unlike in academic essays)
• begin the article by stating the conclusion (provide abstract)
• pay close attention to the first 2 words in each heading, link, and paragraph
• pay attention to keyword density for search engine optimization

The entire list is much bigger, but these are the main distinguishing features.

Difference of audiences of web articles (blog posts) vs. academic essays

The differences listed above are stipulated by the significant differences in the audience, readers of the texts. While academic essays are written for no more than 1-2 people (rarely more) who would definitely read the entire text, web content articles and blog posts are written to virtually unlimited number of readers who are in a hurry and might leave the text at any second. Thus, one of the functions of web content article and blog post writing is to keep the readers on the page by providing them with what they expect and keeping the page content very usable and accesible.