The origins of spoken language are lost in the distant past of our species: all we know for certain is that sometime in the past million years or so we began to use our unique vocal apparatus to produce sounds that came to have symbolic meaning.  Those sounds eventually came to be represented by written marks on stone, bone, tanned skins or hides, papyrus and, finally, modern paper.  Along the way, spoken and written language came to have a variety of uses beyond simple communication—one of these was the use of language to supernaturally control nature and human beings; in short, magic.

Notable in the panoply of magical elements is the ‘magic spell’.  This is often spoken, although it can be written, too.  In either instance, the idea is that a carefully constructed set of words—spoken or written in the correct way—can give the spellcaster power over the victim(s) of the spell.  The right words give one control over others.

Today, of course, most of us no longer believe in magic spells; however, the concept that using the correct words carefully gives us power over others is as true in the 21^st century as it was in the times when sympathetic magic was regarded as real.  When we consider that we use written or spoken words to influence, sometimes to powerfully influence, other people, we begin to realize that it’s really true—words, used properly, do give us power over others.

Just look at the control that some of our national politicians have over great masses of people—simply through their use of carefully constructed rhetoric.  Look at the control Adolf Hitler exercised over Germany, principally by use of his demagogic speeches.   Language does give us tremendous power over other people, and this can be as true of  a paper written or a speech delivered by a Keuka College student as of a ‘magic spell’ spoken by an old witch on a blasted heath.  Effective language use always grants us power.

Do you want to learn how to produce writing that influences or persuades others effectively?  Do you want to know how to craft a speech that successfully motivates your audience to take action?  Do you simply need some help getting started with or finishing up a paper or essay?  Then come see us at ASK, in 301 Hegeman Hall, or give us a call at 279-5636 to make an appointment with one of our professional counselors or peer content tutors.  We can also be reached by email at pwebber@keuka.edu.  We hope to hear from you soon—remember, successful students ASK for help!

Submitted by: Jeffrey Carter, Academic Skills Counselor, Writing Tutor, ASK Office

A “synonym” is a word that can be substituted for another word.  And it’s fun to take a look at certain words, just to see how many ways there are to say the same thing.  Lots of synonyms grow out of every day use; some are jargon; a few are little one- or two-word poems.

Here are a few words that have attracted lots of synonyms.  I’ll bet you know more for each of them that I didn’t think of!

Coffee

Battery acid, bean juice, java, Americano, brew, caffeine, cuppa, leaded/unleaded, mud, mocha, and joe.

Toilet

Bathroom, convenience, head, privy, crapper, bog, john, gents/ladies, water closet/w.c., loo, throne, lavatory, can, jakes, closet, latrine, pissoir, washroom, and outhouse.

Car

Auto, rod, bucket, buggy, clunker, conveyance, heap, jalopy, junker, limousine, machine, motor, motorcar, pickup, ride,  roadster, wheels, and wreck.

Money

Loot, cash, bucks, swag, dinero, dead presidents, lucre, dough, clams, bread, moolah, pelf, simoleons, beans, skins, and fun tickets.

 Jail

Calaboose, slammer, big house, inside, lockup, brig, nick, stir, cooler, hoosegow, joint, jug, pokey, pen, and (my favorite) crowbar hotel.

–Ray Charles

 I read in Business Week magazine several years ago that something like 33,000,000 presentations get made in the U.S. every day.  Why do I suspect that most of them are terrible?

No matter what the profession, it’s fair to say that a great presenter with a mediocre idea is far more likely to succeed than a mediocre presenter with a great idea.  So it’s probably worth a few minutes to think about some things that can get in the way of great presentations.

Fear

 Every so often, the “what do you fear most” surveys (there are lots) are conducted, and over the years “public speaking” always comes in first or second.  (“Death” typically comes in somewhere around sixth.)

But knowledge conquers fear.  I.e., if you really feel like you know way more about your topic than your audience does, you’ll be lots less afraid.  Hard work getting to know your facts and practice, practice, practice will make you a star.

(By the way, that’s not to say you shouldn’t be nervous, because you probably should be.  Everybody is nervous, even if they don’t necessarily look it.  A little touch of nerves means you care and makes you sharp.)

Bad Visuals

 Well at the top of this category sits the fabled “death by PowerPoint” committed by presenters who read their slides to their audiences.   Not only is this practice unutterably boring, but it is also profoundly insulting-as though your audience is so limited that they must be read to, even though the words are right there on the screen.

One of the best PowerPoints I ever saw contained no words at all, just a series of well-chosen photographs that powerfully symbolized the speaker’s points and to which she was able to speak.

The best visuals, I would argue, are actual, three-dimensional objects.  I could talk all day, with pictures, about how a bike helmet could save your life, but you will remember my point much better if I hold up a cracked bike helmet and tell you about the head inside that was spared.

(NOTE:  resist the temptation to pass things around the room or to give your audience notes or a printed PowerPoint outline during your presentation.  You need to be everyone’s focal point, and anything that competes with you for attention is bad.  Give them stuff at the end.)

Unclear Focus

Your audience needs to know, right up front, exactly what this presentation is about.  So, just as in an essay, articulate your thesis right away:   What is my subject?  What is my attitude toward my subject?  What will be my method?

And, as much as you can, think hard about what your audience knows and cares about-where are they “coming from”?  About the worst thing that can happen would be for some guy in the back row to wonder to himself, halfway through, “when is she going to start talking about me?”

Human language began as spoken only; tens of thousands of years passed before humans discovered the art of writing.  And it’s believed by most psychologists that spoken language is hard-wired into our brains—that is, the predilection for learning spoken language is inherent in our cerebral genetic structure.  Meanwhile, written language, as generations of weary students will testify, has to be painstakingly learned in school.  Grammar, punctuation, parts of speech, verb tenses, and so on have to be consciously learned; they aren’t picked up casually through association with native speakers of the language.

Speech is the basis for written words, of course—it’s our spoken words that are the models for our writing.  Most of the time that’s just fine, but there are occasions when the slippage from how we speak to how we write can be problematic.  Mainly this happens because we tend to slur our speech, to round the edges off crisp, clear words, so that “how are you?” morphs into “howrya?”  or “what do you want?” slurs into “whaddyawan?”  This becomes, by the way, a major difficulty for ESL students who try to learn spoken English; we can easily see why.

This slippage from spoken to written words can be seen in many ways—one of the most significant has to do with contractions: when we use the contraction of ‘should have’ in speaking—‘should’ve’—we tend to pronounce it like ‘should of’.  Then, if we’re not sure how to spell it we wind up trying to spell it like it sounds, and we consequently write ‘should of’ instead of ‘should have’.  The same holds true for ‘would of’ (would’ve), ‘could of’ (could’ve),  and so on. 

Can you think of other examples of slippage from spoken to written English that cause us to misspell words?  If so, just send them along to jbcarter@keuka.edu; if we collect enough we’ll run another blog highlighting your responses.

Do you want to learn more about how to communicate effectively in writing?  Are you interested in becoming better at managing your time, studying, or taking tests?  Then stop by the ASK office (301 Hegeman) or call us at 279-5636 to make an appointment with one of our professional counselors or peer content-area tutors.  We’re eager to help you maximize your success at Keuka College.

Submitted by: Jeffrey Carter, Academic Skills Counselor, Writing Tutor, (ASK)

How often do we worry, fret, regret, fear, and otherwise torment ourselves about concerns from the past or events that will take place in the future?  How many times do we set ourselves up for failure by dwelling upon past mistakes or by assuring ourselves that we won’t do well in upcoming situations?  How often does this happen to us in college, during studying, testing, or any other activity related to academic performance?

Fears, worries, and existential angst affect us all, and they probably affect us more of the time than we even know.  And one very negative element of these psychological forces is that they keep us from living in the present moment.  Maybe that sounds odd, but it’s true.  Regrets, resentments, angers, worries, projections, self-defeating thoughts—these keep us living in the unchangeable past and fearfully anticipating the unknowable future.  Consequently we miss out on the immediate present—the only real space of time we possess, and the only one we can influence.

Maybe we didn’t perform well once on a statistics test in high school or earlier this semester; maybe we’re a little afraid of this professor because she’s got a reputation for being a tough grader; maybe we’ve got some personal issue upcoming that’s keeping us distracted.  Whatever the reason, we often find ourselves unable to focus on the here and now—the present moment, which is where we need to be, especially in a collegiate environment.  But there are techniques designed to help us with this problem, and the good news is that they’re free and they work remarkably well.  What we’re going to talk about today are two of the simplest of these techniques, and arguably two of the most effective: deep breathing and positive visualization. 

These are just what they sound like: deep breathing is a fundamental relaxation technique, while positive visualization is a method of focusing on success and capability.  Here they are:

• Deep Breathing: this works well anytime, but for this moment we’ll consider it in an in-class testing situation.  Before we even look at the test, we close our eyes, try to ignore any noise around us, and breathe deeply—in …. hold for a few seconds …. out …. hold for a few seconds …. and repeat.   We should do this about four times, to allow the body and mind to relax.
• Positive Visualization: again, this can do performed anytime, but, again, we’ll stick with our testing situation.  While doing deep breathing, we think with deep focus on positive images from our past.  They could be anything good that we’ve done, but, to offer an example directly related to our test: we can remember that we were successful in elementary school, in middle school, in high school, and that we successfully enrolled at Keuka College, where once again we can be successful.  We made it!  We’re in a very good college!  Yay!  We are good, strong people who can and will succeed—we’ve made it this far and, by golly, we’ll succeed in this present activity!
• Now, after deep breathing and positive visualization, we pick up that test and begin, or maybe we sit down and start to write that paper, or we do whatever necessary activity is next to be done.

These relaxation techniques have been used successfully for millennia, and they continue to be used throughout the world today.  Any good book or article on dealing with stress and/or test anxiety will mention them glowingly.  They are free to be tried anytime; they require no extensive or expensive training; and they are proven to work.  What could be better?

Do you want to learn techniques for improving study skills, time management, writing, or content-area work?  Then come on down to the Academic Support at Keuka (ASK) office and sign up for a professional Academic Skills Counselor or peer tutor to discuss your academic needs with you.  Once more—it’s free and it works!

Contact ASK at 279-5636 to schedule an appointment, or email us at pwebber@keuka.edu.

Submitted by: Jeffrey Carter, Academic Skills Counsler,Writing Tuor, (ASK Office)

And words are all I have

To take your heart away.

 –The BeeGees

 You can’t know too many words, right?  Sure, you can always consult a Thesaurus to find another word to replace one that you don’t want to overuse, but that can be dangerous:  words that mean nearly the same thing may carry different suggestive meanings (called “connotations”) that can trip you up.  So it’s better just to use words you know-and, again, the more the better!

Here are some little-used words that you may know.  Match the word with the definition that most nearly fits.    Find the answers at the bottom of the page.  Good luck and have fun!

1.        Aught

a.       Should

b.      Anything

c.       Eight

d.      Bad

2.       Scabrous

a.   Obscene

b.   Ripe

c.   Full of scabs

d.   Ancient

3.      Victual

a.      Not actual

b.      Like a victim

c.       Accusatory

d.      Food

4.       Uxorious

a.      Greedy

b.      Overweight

c.       Foolishly affectionate

d.      Rhythmic

5.      Aplomb

a.      Self-possession

b.      All together

c.       Uncooked

d.      Despair

6.       Gerrymander

a.      Wander aimlessly

b.      Prepare dessert

c.       Sing out of tune

d.      Redistrict

Answers:  1-b, 2-a, 3-d, 4-c, 5-a, 6-d

I relate this story to underscore the central reality of plagiarism in the internet age:  it is so easy to do.  (Those of a certain age will recall a time when, in order to plagiarize, you had to do a lot of typing.)  And it takes many forms, all the way from the obvious cheating involved in patronizing one of those term paper mills to the much less serious failure to properly cite a source.

So:

Q1:   What is Plagiarism?

Webster’s online dictionary defines “plagiarism” as:  “A piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your own work.”  That’s pretty clear, right?  So plagiarism involves stealing (copying) and lying (presented as your own work).

That’s why plagiarism is treated so seriously by the college.

Q2:  What information do I need to cite?

To some extent, this is a judgment call-because it involves deciding whether what I have written is “common knowledge” or not.  This can be tricky, but it’s usually fairly easy to determine.  Everybody knows that Abraham Lincoln gave a speech called “The Gettysburg Address”-that’s common knowledge.  Not everybody likely knows that on the day of the speech, those in attendance, Lincoln included, thought that the speech had been a flop.

Q3:  My teacher said I cited too much.  How could that be?

When the paper you submit consists of one quote after another, with very little of your own thinking, you can’t really say that you have “written” anything.  While your citations and References page may be laudably accurate and complete, what you have done is assemble other people’s writing.  In writing for college, it’s important that most of what you write represent your own thinking, opinions, experience, and analysis; you’ll want to use other people’s writing only to support your own position or to substantiate facts.

OK.  Surely you have other questions about plagiarism.  Please send them along, and I will be glad to devote future Workworks to trying to provide some answers.  In the meantime, the ASAP Writing Center website has a useful section on avoiding plagiarism.  Check it out!

Email can also be annoying.  And, if not used carefully, it can have disastrous effects.  The following list is the result of many, many conversations with students, colleagues, and clients.  The list of Email Best Practices is always open for comment, editing, and input.  But it’s a place to start.  Let me know if you have any “Best Practices” that should be added.

When you communicate via e-mail . . .

–Be concise and to the point.

–Answer all questions your reader may have and pre-empt further questions.

–Use proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation, and do not trust Spell check or Grammar Check.

–Make it personal.

–Always use a meaningful subject line, putting topic first.

–Answer swiftly.

–Do not write in all CAPITALS or use various and/or colored fonts.

– Don’t leave out the message thread. Also:  don’t start new; continue with old thread.  Conversely, don’t start a new conversation with an old thread.

– Read the email before you send it.  (Hint:  Fill in the “To” line last.)

– Do not overuse “Reply to All.”

–Do not use email to discuss confidential information or to address conflicts.

Finally, don’t use email when another communications tool (the phone, a formal letter, a face-to-face meeting) will do a better job.

To be a successful college student, especially in the Keuka College ASAP program, you must also be a successful college writer.  Of course that means getting the grammar and punctuation right, correctly following APA Style, using appropriate research sources and citing them, and making sure you accurately and adequately complete the assignment.  You can find out about all of that elsewhere, and you certainly should.  What I want to review here are some very basic guidelines.

Title Everything

A good title encapsulates or comments on what’s in your paper.  And, as we know, you only get one chance to make a good first impression.

 Make a Good Beginning

Your reader will be much more likely to follow what you’re up to if you make it clear right from the beginning what you’re writing about and why, in what context you are writing, and what your method will be.

 Academic Writing Differs from Writing for Work

In the writing we do for work, we use bulleted points; we keep things brief and to the point; and the content may reflect a company’s or industry’s  point of view.

In Academic Writing, the format is structured; in-depth analysis is required; ideas must be explained and supported; content is research based.

 Four Steps to Writing with “Style”

1.  Assume that your reader knows nothing about your topic.

2.  Write the way you talk.

3.  Clean it up (for grammar, spelling, etc.).

4.  Don’t try for sophistication; try for “real.” (Eschew obfuscation.)

Writing is Rewriting

Getting words onto a page is useful inasmuch as it gives you something to work on.  It’s the work that you do on those words that the results in quality writing.  Each formal paper or essay that you submit for a course should go through several drafts before you hand it over to your instructor.

Subheads Are Magic

Identify the sections of your paper by using subheads.  They’ll let your reader know what’s going on in the most economical way.

Proofread, Proofread, Proofread

Sending a letter or an email that you obviously didn’t bother to proofread conveys two messages to your reader:  1.  this information wasn’t all that important; and 2. you aren’t all that important.  And the same is true of any work that you turn in for one of your courses.  Bottom line: those are not the messages you want to send to your instructors.

–Dire Straits, “Money for Nothing”

As we have noted before many times, English Word Usage can be devilishly tricky.  Informal word usage becomes accepted formal diction; words fall by the wayside; and we find that some words that we use all the time don’t mean what we thought they meant.

Strait/Straight

The word “strait” isn’t used too much anymore.  It means something like “a very tight  (even uncomfortably tight)  situation.”

It is also a geography word– “Straits of Magellan”, “Straits of Hormuz”-denoting narrow sea lanes.

Otherwise, it shows up mostly in compounds like “straitjacket” and “straitlaced”-or to describe a desperate, even deadly, state of affairs (or, indeed, a great rock band) as “dire straits”.

It is important not to confuse the word with its homonym, “Straight”.

Being that/Being as

These phrases are, to some degree, regionalisms:  in some parts of the country folks say things like, “Being that the teacher was late, most of the students left before class started.”

This is conversational English, best to avoid in formal writing.  It is much better, when you need to show a cause and effect relationship, to use cause and effect words like “since”, “because” and “so”.

“Because the teacher was late, most of the students left before class started.”

Or

“The teacher was late, so most of the students left before class started.”

Mettle/Metal/Medal/Meddle

“Mettle” means a certain kind of resilient courage, and is almost always used in sentences like, “The soldier’s mettle was tested by the long battle.”

The trick is never to confuse it with any of those words with which it rhymes (or almost rhymes).

Nauseated/Nauseous

I have a hard time remembering to use the right word in this pair.

When you feel like throwing up, you are nauseated, not nauseous.

“Nauseous”, in fact, means something close to “nauseating”-making you feel like throwing up.

So, that lunch that you left in the car trunk four months ago is nauseous; you, as a result, are nauseated.

(Just for the record, I am being overly pedantic here.  Lots of highly articulate people use “nauseous” to mean the same thing as “nauseated”.  They are wrong.)

Downfall

I see this word misused a lot.  It does not mean “mistake” or “error”.

It does mean “utter ruin”:

“The Iowa caucuses accurately predicted the candidate’s downfall.”

It can also mean something like “fatal flaw”:

“A habit of procrastination was his downfall.”

Adviser/Advisor

Good news!  You can’t go wrong here.

These are simply alternative spellings of the same word.  Take your pick; both are correct!