Advice about writing

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First time poster here, looking for some advice. I am (or was -- more on that later) a second year college student, and for pretty much my entire educational career I've struggled with writing, particularly essay writing and other forms of academic writing. This isn't a typical sort of writing problem, in the sense that I have no particular difficulty with the mechanics of writing (grammar, spelling, vocabulary, etc); indeed, the essays I do complete are generally of high quality. There lies the catch though: the process of writing is incredibly painful for me. I end up spending most of my time "spinning my wheels," so to speak, staring blankly at my computer screen, unable to complete any amount of productive work. This state of affairs can persist for hours or days, which makes keeping up with due dates in English-type classes very challenging. I was on an IEP up through the end of high school, but my public school was never really able to provide very much help; as a result I ended up failing 9th grade English twice in a row, getting taken out of mainstream English classes up until 12th grade, and graduating high school a year late. My problems with writing continued to haunt me into college. Though I was getting good grades in most of my major-specific coursework, the gen-ed "core" requirements prevented me from moving forward. The accommodations the college was willing to give me were even more useless than the ones I received in high school, and my grades in those classes suffered as a result. Ultimately, halfway through my second year at the college (i.e., last December) I failed a required core class for the third time, the maximum number of attempts allowed, and was forced to withdraw from the college.

With that wall of background out of the way, I'd like to ask if anyone has any advice or resources for a college-age aspie struggling with writing. In particular I'm looking for tutors who specialize in teaching writing to people on the spectrum (for a point of reference for location-dependent services, I live in Massachusetts). I plan to re-enroll in college this fall, so I'd be interested to know if there are any colleges with a good reputation for providing help with this sort of thing. Bonus points if that college has my program of choice (computer science/game programming) or makes it easy to take classes individually, so I can transfer the credits to my preferred college. Any general advice from others who struggled with something similar is also welcome.

Last edited by B19 on 12 Dec 2019, 1:58 am, edited 1 time in total.: This is the spammer OP setting up a fake scenario

What is it specifically that you have trouble with? Is it getting started or the process of getting your thoughts down on paper?

One of the things I used to do was to get a voice recorder and record all my thoughts, as I have much better luck speaking them out loud as compared to trying to write them.

I don't know if that would help you at all but that was a big problem I had, and still do, but luckily I don't need to write papers anymore.

Some combination of both. I can generally make outlines just fine, but when I go to actually write the essay my thoughts completely freeze up. Once I manage to get into a "flow" I'm generally fine, but getting to that point is like pulling teeth.

What works for me is a non-conventional approach. I do not start with an outline. Rather I start brainstorming. I begin writing my thoughts on a subject. Generally I use small notepads because many times the thoughts hit me at 4 A.M in the morning. I then key all of these into the computer. When I feel I have fairly covered a subject, then I read the material and create an outline. Then I sort all the material into the outline headers. Then once sorted, I reread the paper or book over and over again. Part of this is proof-reading but also it forces me to fill in the blank areas that were not fleshed out in the brainstorming phase.

This for me works much faster than the conventional approach. Also because my brain is always thinking around the clock, I capture a lot of material.

Many times a writer has a goal in mind for their work and they create a well defined roadmap in their minds. But for me sometimes I do not know where a project is going. I let my thoughts lead my research. Sometimes I arrive at a completely different location. One I never expected.

Writing for a student is always been a challenge because no one can perfect in writing during school or college study days. If you need some writing tips then you should come across this [url=https://[/url] because they are professional online writing service provider and having plenty of experience in this field. I would recommend once you review hope you will find this in the fever to you.

Last edited by B19 on 12 Dec 2019, 4:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.: sock puppet replying to spammer OP

WRITING - BASIC CHECKLIST

Before turning in a writing assignment, go through this basic checklist.

1. Is every sentence complete, not a fragment?

2. Do the subject and predicate agree in number in each sentence?

3. Is every word spelled correctly?

4. Are sentences punctuated correctly?

5. Are words capitalized properly?

6. Does each pronoun unambiguously refer to its antecedent?

7. Do you stay in the same tense and person throughout?

8. Are all words used correctly?

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WRITING - ESSAY CHECLIST

Before turning in an essay, go through this basic checklist.

1.0. CLARITY

1.1. Is any expression ambiguous, too vague, or obscure?

1.2. Are definitions given where needed?

1.3. Is the thesis and purpose of the essay clear?

1.4. Are there examples, illustrations and quotations where needed?

2.0. COHERENCE

2.1. Is each sentence clearly related to the sentence before and after it?

2.1. Is each paragraph clearly related to the paragraph before and after it?

2.2. Are appropriate transition words used to indicate how your sentences and paragraphs are related?

2.3. Do statements which need support have reasons, facts or details to back them up?

3.0 FOCUS

3.1. Do you state in your first paragraph your purpose and focus?

3.2. Does each sentence in a paragraph clearly relate to the other sentences in that paragraph?

3.3. Does each paragraph clearly relate to the other paragraphs?

3.4. Does your conclusion tie together your thesis and support?

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METHOD FOR WRITING ESSAYS

1. Select a topic

2. List your ideas

3. Organize your ideas

4. Outline your essay (see "Five-Paragraph Essay Outline" below)

5. Write your first draft

6. Edit your first draft

7. Rewrite your essay

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FIVE-PARAGRAPH ESSAY OUTLINE

I. Introductory Paragraph

A. Create a topic sentence that will draw in the audience

1. Note subtopic 1 (topic of 2nd paragraph)
2. Note subtopic 2 (topic of 3rd paragraph)
3. Note subtopic 3 (topic of 4th paragraph)

II. First supporting paragraph

A. Restate what subtopic 1 is

1. Supporting detail or example
2. Supporting detail or example

B. Transition

III. Second supporting paragraph

A. Restate what subtopic 2 is

1. Supporting detail or example
2. Supporting detail or example

B. Transition

IV. Third supporting paragraph

A. Restate what subtopic 3 is

1. Supporting detail or example
2. Supporting detail or example

B. Transition

V. Conclusion or closing summary

A. Synthesis and/or conclusion of thesis

B. Restate main topics or subtopics

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The Triad

• Thesis: A simple verbless concept, usually consisting of only one or two words (e.g., "one"). Contrary to a common misunderstanding, the thesis is not a proposition (a statement affirming or denying something), an assertion, or a detailed argument. Sometimes each of a dialectic's three stages consists of two concepts ("unconscious union" = unconscious + union) rather than one.

• Antithesis: Another verbless concept that is the opposite of the thesis (e.g., "many," the opposite of "one"); it is not just something different or a possibly lengthy "reaction" to or refutation of the thesis. When the thesis has two concepts, the antithesis has the two opposite concepts (e.g., conscious + separation; the opposite: unconscious + union).

• Synthesis: A third verbless concept that somehow combines the thesis and antithesis into a sort of compromise (e.g., "one composed of many" or, in the two-concepts-per-stage format, "conscious" from the antithesis + "union" from the thesis).

The word "synthesis," in its general meaning, refers to a combining or putting together of parts. (Synthesis is the opposite of analysis, taking things apart.) In the context of dialectics, the synthesis combines the thesis and the antithesis, or the best parts thereof. Contrary to what some interpreters have said, the third stage is not a brand-new position that completely rejects both the thesis and the antithesis. Instead, the synthesis either:

(1) Combines the best concept from each of the dialectic's first two stages, when there are two concepts per stage, or else;

(2) Reveals a previously unrecognized identity between supposedly opposite concepts.

In the dialectic that runs from (a) potential + truth to (b) actual + falsehood to (c) actual + truth, the synthesis combines "actual" from the antithesis with "truth" from the thesis. In the dialectic that runs from (a) God to (b) man to (c) God = man, God and man become identical when God is redefined as humanity.

Hegel's Dialectics

Most of Hegel's dialectics have two concepts per stage. The synthesis combines the best concept from the antithesis with the best concept from the thesis. An example is Hegel's freedom dialectic. This dialectic is hidden in Hegel's famous master-and-slave parable; it also runs inconspicuously through the entire length of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (also translated Phenomenology of Mind), culminating in Spirit's achieving freedom in the form of "self-realization" in the final pages of the book. The freedom dialectic:

• Thesis: potential + freedom
• Antithesis: actual + bondage
• Synthesis: actual + freedom

As in all two-concepts-per-stage dialectics, the two antithesis concepts are the opposites of (not just different from) their thesis counterparts. And the synthesis borrows one concept from each preceding stage. The freedom dialectic's synthesis combines "actual" (from the antithesis) with "freedom" (from the thesis).

(NOTE: This is based on the book "The Transitive Vampire" -- a presentation of basic writing rules in a humorous form. I learned more about writing from reading this book than from "The Elements of Style".)

The Rules of Writing
(in alphbetical order)

It has come to our considered attention that in a large majority of cases, far too many people use a great deal more words than is absolutely necessary when engaged in the practice of writing sentences. If you proofread and edit your work, you can find that by rereading and editing, a great deal of redundant repetition can be removed and eliminated by rereading, proofreading, and editing, so you should reread and edit to remove and eliminate these redundant repetitions.

• "Avoid overuse of 'quotation "marks."'"

• a sentence should begin with a capital letter and end with punctuation

• A writer must not shift your point of view.

• About those sentence fragments. Remember subject, verb, object.

• Also too, never, ever, ever be redundantly repetitive; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.

• Also, always avoid all awkward and affected alliteration.

• Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.

• Always be looking out for "be" verbs, for they are supplying verbiage all scholars are discouraging.

• Always pick on the correct idiom.

• Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.

• And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.

• Avoid ambiguous miscellany.

• Avoid colloquial stuff, and trendy locutions that sound flaky.

• Avoid commas, that are not necessary, and don't always make sense.

• Avoid overuse of exclamation marks!! !

• Avoid the use of dyed-in-the-wool cliches like the plague; they are old hat.

• Avoid utilizing sesquipedalian words.

• Avoidification of neologisms strengthenifies your prosification.

• Be carefully to use adjectives and adverbs correct.

• Be more or less specific.

• Bee careful two use the write homonym.

• Between you and I, case is important.

• Beware of and eschew pompous prolixity, and avoid the utilization of enlarged words when shortened ones will suffice.

• Beware of malapropisms. They are a communist submersive plot.

• Comparisons are as bad as cliches.

• Continuity of thought, logical development and smooth transitions are important. Never leave the reader guess-ing.

• Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.

• Corect speling is esential.

• DO NOT USE ALL CAPS TO EMPHASIZE YOUR POINT.

• Do not put statements in the negative form.

• Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.

• Don't never use no triple negatives.

• Don't string too many prepositional phrases together unless you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

• Don't use no double negatives.

• Don't verb nouns.

• Each pronoun agrees with their antecedent.

• Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.

• Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."

• Employ the vernacular.

• Eschew ampersands & abbrevs, etc...

• Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.

• Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.

• Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

• Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.

• Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms, ya know?

• Good writers do not use one verb tense in one part of a sentence, and then have switched to a different tense in the next.

• Hyphenate between sy-llables and avoid un-necessary hyphens.

• If a dependent clause precedes an independent clause put a comma after the dependent clause.

• If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.

• If the writer is considerate of the reader, he won't have a problem with ambiguous sentences.

• If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million uses it correctly.

• In all cases, you should never generalize.

• In letters compositions reports and things like that use commas to keep a string of items apart.

• In statements involving two word phrases, make an all out effort to use hyphens, but make sure you hyp-henate properly.

• It is incumbent on us to eschew archaisms.

• It is not resultful to transform one part of speech into another by prefixing, suffixing, or other alterings.

• It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.

• Join clauses good like a conjunction should.

• Kill all exclamation points!! !

• Never leave a transitive verb just lay there without an object.

• Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.

• Never use a preposition to end a sentence with.

• No sentence fragments.

• One should never generalize.

• One word sentences? Eliminate!

• Only Proper Nouns should be capitalized.

• Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.

• Perform a functional iterative analysis on your work to root out third-generation transitional buzzwords.

• Place pronouns as closely as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.

• Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

• Profanity is for as*holes; it makes writing crappy.

• Proofread carefully to see if you words out.

• Puns are for children, not groan readers.

• Run on sentences cause all sorts of problems for readers and people should never use them and must try to write better and divide their sentences.

• Sentences without verbs -- bad idea.

• Simplify! How? Eliminate one-word sentences.

• Steer clear of incorrect forms of verbs that have snuck in the language.

• The de facto use of foreign phrases vis-a-vis plain English in your written tete-a-tetes is not apropros.

• The passive voice is to be avoided.

• This sentence no verb. Which is not a complete sentence, but merely a subordinate clause.

• Try to not ever split infinitives.

• Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth-shaking ideas.

• Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.

• Use delightful but irrelevant extra adjectives and adverbs with sparing and parsimonious infrequency, for they unnecessarily bloat your otherwise perfect sentence.

• Use hyphens in compound-words, not just where two-words are related.

• Use language that includes all men.

• Use parallel structure when you write and in speaking.

• Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.

• Use the semicolon properly, always use it where it is appropriate; and never where it isn't.

• Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.

• Usually, you should be more or less specific.

• Vary your words variously so as to use various words.

• Verbs has to agree with their antecedents.

• Verbs has to agree with their subjects, and the adverb always follows the verb.

• When composing informal documents, employ the vernacular.

• When dangling, watch your participles.

• Who needs rhetorical questions?

*Hoping that my advice isn't somewhere in Fnord's exhaustive reply*

Firstly, everybody has writer's block so don't stress. Be patient. One way that might break it is to consider three things:

The audience. Who are you writing for? How will this affect you're writing?

The purpose. Why are you writing? What is the objective of your writing?

The occasion. What is the context of the writing? What is it for?

This was helpful for my area of study (Astrophysics). I'm not sure if it will apply to your studies.

The first time I went to college, I struggled with writing papers so much. I put so much pressure on myself to write something good that when I sat down to write, I couldn't write anything. I found when I went to college the second time, that a lot of professors don't really care how good something is as long as the ideas are there. I needed to learn to bull sh!t. I eventually got a bachelor's degree in writing, oddly enough, so it is very possible to get over that fear or reluctance to put your ideas out there whether or not something is good.

A lot of colleges not only have disability services to help you address these issues, but I know many of them also have writing resources where you can get a tutor (with no additional cost to you) to help you work through writing papers.

My current English teacher told me "just write. Don't worry about having it perfect, just make sure you keep writing, even if it's just 'f**k this I don't know what I'm doing" and I think it's the best advice for writing essays.

Last edited by B19 on 12 Dec 2019, 1:50 am, edited 1 time in total.: another sock puppet for the OP

Have the same problem, need at least an hour of stres, sort of warm up..

Last edited by B19 on 12 Dec 2019, 1:50 am, edited 1 time in total.: the same sockpuppet again