Students often come to Options Solutions’s writing consultants with a familiar complaint: their writing is less than impressive, and they want to improve it. It’s easy to focus on writing as the problem area. After all, a student’s grade is often largely based on his or her assignments and essays, the ones returned to the student marked up in red ink. However, we believe that in order to solve writing issues, you need to take a few steps back. You need to consider what came before the writing: the reading, thinking, and planning stages.
None of these stages happens in a vacuum; in fact, reading, thinking, planning, and writing all reinforce one another. You want to be a better writer? Then work on also becoming a better reader, thinker, and planner.
This summer’s High School Essay Writing Boot Camps are designed to address all the components of effective writing. Studying the essay, students will learn to think about genre: the conventions of a literary essay are very different from those of a personal narrative, which, in turn, are very different from those of an academic research paper. Students will analyze arguments, observe rhetorical and stylistic techniques, think about audience and voice, and practice the kind of critical thinking required in university and in the work force. The boot camps will also cover essential grammar and allow students to practice what they’ve learned in session.
Some friendly advice: don’t wait until the school year when you’re bogged down with tricky writing assignments to seek help. The summer is the perfect time to tackle your writing (and reading, thinking, and planning!) issues head on, so you can return to school prepared and perhaps even excited for what’s to come.
The next session will take place from Monday, August 10th to Friday, August 14th from 1:00 – 4:00 PM daily at the West Vancouver office (1549 Marine Drive, Suite 303). If you’re interested in signing up for one of the boot camps, or you want more information, call (604) 922-8456, or email info@options-wp.chhdev.com.
