Tools and Insights – Page 4

Writing at Its Best by Katherine Clifton

John Weeren2020-03-20T12:07:07-04:00

Writing at Its Best by Katherine Clifton In this, the latest post in our series of reflections on the nature of "good writing," Katherine Clifton captures the cheer and comfort to be found in the utterance and performance of even simple words, especially in times of trial. Katherine, a member of the Class of 2015, coordinates the Religion and Forced Migration Initiative in the Office of Religious Life. Thumped and bumped Groaned and moaned Thrashed and crashed What do these words have in common? They rhyme. Dr. Seuss features them in Big Dog Little Dog. Two of Princeton’s newcomers [...]

Writing at Its Best by Katherine CliftonJohn Weeren2020-03-20T12:07:07-04:00

A LOT of Mistakes! by Cate Mahoney

Cate Mahoney2020-03-19T11:57:11-04:00

A LOT of Mistakes! by Cate Mahoney There are times when I’m reading and I cringe. That may be for a huge variety of reasons—like I don’t understand the academic jargon of the article I’m trying to read about Walt Whitman. But in most cases, it’s when people are writing colloquially and they make mistakes that would not be obvious if they were speaking. Here is one of my favorites: “A lot” spelled as “Alot.” Hyperbole and a Half, an awesome blog written and drawn by Allie Brosh, has an excellent way to counteract the instinct to write “alot”: “The Alot is [...]

A LOT of Mistakes! by Cate MahoneyCate Mahoney2020-03-19T11:57:11-04:00

What’s Your Routine? by Cate Mahoney

Cate Mahoney2020-03-19T11:59:41-04:00

What’s Your Routine? by Cate Mahoney Benjamin Franklin's routine A telegram from Dorothy Parker to her editor I’m sure we’ve all been both Benjamin Franklin and Dorothy Parker at different times in our lives. I’m in the last stages of finishing my dissertation, and I feel more like Parker than Franklin, but I’m trying to balance that out. For sympathy, and perhaps inspiration, I’ve recently turned to Mason Currey’s two books on the rituals of great artists: Daily Rituals: How Artists Work (2013) and the sequel, Daily Rituals: Women at Work (2019), which makes up for the curiously [...]

What’s Your Routine? by Cate Mahoney Cate Mahoney2020-03-19T11:59:41-04:00

Coding is Writing by Rebecca Sutton Koeser

John Weeren2019-12-03T12:07:34-05:00

Coding is Writing by Rebecca Sutton Koeser Rebecca Sutton Koeser is the Lead Developer at Princeton’s Center for Digital Humanities, designing and building customized software in the service of scholarly projects such as the Princeton Prosody Archive and the Shakespeare and Company Project. Trained in both English literature and computer science, she is well positioned to explore the nexus of coding and writing. I read an article years ago comparing writing software to creative writing. The author’s takeaway was that, as with writing, some people will be more gifted than others. As someone interested in both literature and computers, the idea [...]

Coding is Writing by Rebecca Sutton Koeser John Weeren2019-12-03T12:07:34-05:00

So You Want to Write a Dissertation? by Cate Mahoney

Cate Mahoney2019-12-03T12:16:47-05:00

So You Want to Write a Dissertation? by Cate Mahoney First of all, WOW, it’s going to be a long road. But you can do it! So many people have! For full disclosure, I’m writing a dissertation for the humanities, English literature specifically. My specialty is poetry, and I range from around the 1830s-1960s in the U.S. I’m hoping, though, that my advice can pertain to all fields. Before you write a dissertation, you need to write what’s called a dissertation prospectus. As the name suggests, the prospectus maps out what shape you think the dissertation [...]

So You Want to Write a Dissertation? by Cate Mahoney Cate Mahoney2019-12-03T12:16:47-05:00

On Apostrophe by Cate Mahoney

Cate Mahoney2019-12-04T15:47:05-05:00

On Apostrophe by Cate Mahoney O Wisdom, grant me the ability to share information with my Princeton Writes peers about the figure of speech “apostrophe.” O Courage, put a steady hand on my back to let the breath in and keep my fingers a-typing. That, my fine friends, with its telltale invocations, was an example of apostrophe. Did you find it slightly embarrassing? Well, the literary critic Jonathan Culler thinks it probably was, as apostrophe now seems archaic because of its performative aspect. It was originally used by the ancients when stories were heard aurally and always had a waiting [...]

On Apostrophe by Cate Mahoney Cate Mahoney2019-12-04T15:47:05-05:00

Avoiding Jargon at All Costs by Cate Mahoney

Cate Mahoney2019-12-04T15:52:42-05:00

Avoiding Jargon at All Costs by Cate Mahoney Jargon. We all know it when we see it. And by that I mean we wonder what in tarnation the writer is talking about, why they made us see it, and what they want us to do with it. Jargon can be found in every field, but I know about it best in academia. Written or spoken, jargon complicates the whole point of discourse, which is to communicate, to share information. When I first entered my graduate program and was in class with people in the year above me, some of them [...]

Avoiding Jargon at All Costs by Cate Mahoney Cate Mahoney2019-12-04T15:52:42-05:00

On Roland Barthes and Writing Letters to Our Beloveds by Cate Mahoney

Cate Mahoney2019-12-04T16:00:37-05:00

On Roland Barthes and Writing Letters to Our Beloveds by Cate Mahoney Most letters aren't worth reading more than once or twice, but love letters invite us to read and reread not just the text but ourselves and others. There is, of course, more to any letter than meets the eye, as many a writer has attested: “A Letter always feels to me like immortality because it is the mind alone without corporeal friend. Indebted in our talk to attitude and accent, there seems a spectral power in thought that walks alone." - Emily Dickinson, letter #330 “I might be [...]

On Roland Barthes and Writing Letters to Our Beloveds by Cate Mahoney Cate Mahoney2019-12-04T16:00:37-05:00

Writerly Challenges and How to Overcome Them by Cate Mahoney

Cate Mahoney2019-12-04T15:51:29-05:00

Writerly Challenges and How to Overcome Them by Cate Mahoney I am a writer, and I’ve been a writer since I was taught in fourth grade how to write a book of poetry (a big deal at any age, although my English teacher got the entire class to finish their books! I’m not sure how she did it -- probably magic). In this post, we will cover some of the challenges writers face and how we can overcome them. I am currently finishing my dissertation in English literature, so this post is for me as much as it is for [...]

Writerly Challenges and How to Overcome Them by Cate Mahoney Cate Mahoney2019-12-04T15:51:29-05:00

What Makes a Good Essay? by Stephanie Whetstone

Stephanie Whetstone2020-03-19T12:04:59-04:00

What Makes a Good Essay? by Stephanie Whetstone The deadline for this year's Princeton Writes Prize Staff Essay Contest has been set (March 1, 2020)! We hope you are already hard at work polishing your prose, but in case you are struggling to get started, let's consider what makes a "good" essay. Dictionary.com defines the essay as “a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.” This leaves a lot of room for creativity. For a personal essay, focus on the personal part. Why are you writing about this subject? Why [...]

What Makes a Good Essay? by Stephanie WhetstoneStephanie Whetstone2020-03-19T12:04:59-04:00

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