Manhattanville College: Preceptorial -- Fall 2004--Spring 2005

Writing Guidelines for the Freshman Preceptorial

The writing reference for the Preceptorial is

The Easy Access Handbook A Writer's Guide and Reference
by Michael Keene and Katherine Adams
Mayfield Publishing

Go to assignments for Fall 2004.

• Suggested Writing Checklists for Preceptorial Papers
• Common Language Errors and Their Corrections
• Hints on How to Read a Textbook
• Hints on How to Take Lecture Notes
• Internet Resources for Writers

Suggested Writing Checklists for Preceptorial Papers

Overall organization checklist

·Is the paper's topic sufficiently limited, or is the student trying to cover too many things?
·Does the paper have a single controlling idea or thesis, as opposed to a general topic?
·Can the controlling idea or thesis idea be summarized in a single sentence?
·Is the controlling idea or thesis clearly announced in the introductory paragraph?
·Does the paper have a distinct introduction, body, and conclusion?
·Is the body of the paper divided into distinct paragraphs?
·Does the paper develop its main idea or thesis, or does it merely repeat it again and again?
·Does the paper support its general ideas with sufficient specific examples?
·Does the paper have a sense of logical development and progression?
·Does the final paragraph draw a conclusion or merely repeat what has already been said?

Paragraph checklist

·Is each paragraph related to the paper's overall controlling idea or thesis?
·Does each paragraph have an explicit or implied topic sentence?
·Is each paragraph limited to one main topic, or do any have multiple topics that should  
	be divided into additional separate paragraphs?
·Is each paragraph long enough to allow for sufficient development of its topic?
·Is any paragraph too long for the reader to keep track of its main topic?

Sentence checklist

·Is the sentence complete or is it a fragment? 
	The old aluminum boat sitting on its trailer. (lacks verb)
	Helped bring on the French Revolution. (lacks subject)
·Does the verb agree with the subject?
	My brother and his friend Larry commutes from Westchester. (commute)
·Does the pronoun agree with its antecedent:
	With tuition on the rise, a student has to save money wherever they can. (he, she)
·Is the sentence a run-on?
	She doubted the value of medication she decided to try it once being
	pleasantly surprised. (lacks punctuation) 
	Corrected: Although she doubted the value of medication, she decided to
	try it once. She was pleasantly surprised.

	Marx and Engels both wrote The Communist Manifesto, Engels wrote the
	preface by himself, it was first published in 1848. (comma splices and
	ambiguous pronoun reference) 
	Corrected: Although Marx and Engels both wrote The Communist
	Manifesto (first published in 1848), Engels wrote the preface by himself. 

·Does the sentence contain dangling participles or modifiers? 

	Rotting unburied on the plain, Antigone grieved for her dead brother.
	Antigone grieved for her dead brother, whose body lay rotting unburied on
	the plain.

	A ruthless and powerful ruler, Machiavelli would have praised Mussolini.
	Machiavelli would have praised Mussolini as a ruthless and powerful ruler.

·Are the sentences sufficiently varied in length and complexity?

Common Language Errors and Their Corrections

Hints on How to Read a Textbook

Don't read your textbooks slowly and passively.

Do actively and aggressively master your textbooks by using the following steps (SQ3R):

1. Survey: 
        Survey the whole chapter by reading all the headings and subheadings.
        Rapidly read the first and last paragraphs of the chapter.
        Rapidly skim the first and last sentences of each paragraph.

2. Question:
        Write down questions that you will expect to find answered upon rereading
        the whole chapter.

3. Read:
        Read the chapter to answer the questions you've written and to formulate
        new ones.
        Underline selectively.
        Write comments to yourself in the margins.

4. Recite and Write:
        Answer your own questions aloud, then write down your answers on paper.

5. Review:
        Review the chapter by rereading your own questions, answers, underlinings
        and marginal notes.

Hints on How to Take Lecture Notes

Don't sit passively in class and let lectures flow over you in the hope that some of it will 
        seep in.

Do actively engage yourself in the lecture in order to master it by the following process:

1. Preread: 
        Read in advance the assignment to be discussed so that you will be familiar
        with new terminology and concepts when they come up in the lecture.

2. Question:
        Ask questions during the lecture if you get lost or need something clarified.

3. Write:
        Write down everything you can.
        As you write, try to organize your notes into what you perceive to be the
        lecturer's outline. 

4. Reread:
        Within one hour after the lecture, reread your notes and fill in whatever gaps
        you can.

5. Transcribe:
        Within twenty-four hours, transcribe your notes into a structured outline.
        Fill in additional gaps and write down questions to ask at the next lecture.
        Use the textbook to clarify terminology or concepts that are not clear.

6. Review:
        At the end of each week, review your notes and try to answer any questions
         from the lectures of that week.

Internet Resources for Writers

In addition, there are extensive resources for writers on the Internet. A list of many of these resources is available at Writing Help at Ruth Vilmi's Web World.

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