Ep #21 Top 10 Mistakes Students Make in Their Writing
When you’ve read thousands of student essays as I have during my 20+ years of teaching, you don’t have to be a great detective to notice that the same mistakes keep cropping up.🕵️♀️🌱 🌱
Usually, I wait until after I’ve graded the first essay to begin addressing these mistakes, but this year, I’m getting in front of it and discussing these common errors before students hand in that first paper.
Now I know that me talking to students in advance is not going to magically prevent all the mistakes—they will surely need reminders—but I do think it will reduce the number of mistakes—and provide reinforcement of information that they’ve been taught previously.
In this week’s episode, I am sharing with you my Top 10 List of the mistakes I see students make in their writing. Being aware of these potential pitfalls can give you an edge in knowing what to look for in essays, and it a can also help you know what to focus on even before students write their first essay of the year.🔍
In this episode, I discuss
✅How having a strong thesis statement is the single best thing you can do for your paper. If you get that right, everything else falls into place. It is the cornerstone, the linchpin, the anchor, the backbone. Without it, the paper falls apart. (If you’re wondering how you teach students to write this crucial element, I’ve got you covered. Click here to get the Thesis Statement Workshop—it’s free!)
✅The parts of their grammar book students need to review before they write their first essay
✅When (if ever) you are allowed to use first person (I, We) or second person (you) in academic writing
✅How one pesky pronoun problem has been solved by a new pronoun rule
Plus so much more, including information about the new Thesis Statement Workshop which you can get your hands on right now for free! Just click on the button below, and I’ll send you the PDF. In it, you will find
- a step-by-step guide for teaching students to write a thesis statement
- plenty of examples
- a workbook area for students to practice writing thesis statements
- a sample answer sheet so you know they are on the right track