The Basics of Writing

2012-01-21T11:40:00.002-05:00

Yesterday (Jan 20) Asian American Studies program faculties and students gathered around for a workshop. AAS workshop hasn't happend last fall quarter at all, so I was very excited to see old faces that I have missed. Thanks to this occasion, I could make an appointment with my thesis project advisor right before the workshop so that we can talk about my bad writings and unorganized thoughts for the project.

It was a very productive meeting that we discussed my problems on the paper and things which I can improve on (alongside with other chitchats to catch up on each other). The most powerful thing that caught me, however, was the "basics of academic writing," if I may, which was to stick to the main thesis. What happened was, I wrote an irrelevant sentence at the very beginning of the paper and thought it was connected to my thesis somehow. When my advisor pointed it out, I had to read it hard why it is not related because I had no doubt that it was a very important piece of information. But then I realized it may seem to be related to the topic (South Korean films) but not to the thesis (South Korean films with the theme of non-normative sexuality represent very different "queer"-ness).

I remember working on my writing in my high school at DOSP (Daeil Overseas Studies Program; which disappeared a couple of years ago) classroom with Mr. Choi. It was the most harsh time in my English learning process during the high school years, but at the same time, it was the most exciting and rewarding time as well. The biggest problem for most of DOSP students (even though I don't doubt that it is the same for many Korean students who start learning how to write an English essay) was "writing too inclusively." Although Mr. Choi always emphasized the detailed connections between each sentences and the strong thread that goes through all of the sentences, we students somehow usually thought the irrelevant information to be connected to the main focus.

About four years have passed and I have written many essays as an undergrad at OSU. I am quite proud of myself in a sense that I have grown this much and have improved a lot. And to be honest, I was pretty confident in writing. However, yesterday I realized that it was a big mistake to think that I am good somehow. I couldn't even follow the basics of writing! Of course the paper was not a regular essay, I wasn't quite sure what research description was, and I didn't even think that it is a different form of writing from research proposal (which is my fault and I was reminded that every different type of papers means different things). No matter what it was, I should have known my argument clearly and not strayed from the thesis.

I am very conscious of this journal now as well. It is not an academic writing or a formal letter to someone else, but I think this also can be a small practice to keep a main thread in a writing. And I know that reading and writing continuously is the only answer to my frustration and problems. So I guess here it is! From now on, this blog is a place for me to succeed and fail in writing until (or even after) I become an amazing writer.

마당 [ma:daŋ]

The Basics of Writing