High School Study Skills

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Motivation
Get Motivated
Stay Motivated

Monitoring Input
Listening
Note Taking
Reading
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Managing Process
Self Management
Time Management
Concentration
Managing Your Learning
Managing Your Memory
Class Participation
Test Preparation

Mastering Output
Test Taking
Dealing with Test Anxiety
Learning from Tests
Preparing Written Reports
Preparing Oral Reports
Class Participation

Preparing Written Reports

When preparing essays and written reports, it is important to begin with as clear a statement of your thesis sentence as you can possibly manage.  After you have selected your thesis, begin a preliminary outline.  The following model is helpful as a prewriting organizational tool to help you formulate a tentative outline.

Five-Paragraph Paper:  Outline Form

Use the five-paragraph paper outline form as a helpful tool in constructing the skeleton of your paper.  Do not worry with writing complete sentences on this form; just put down notes of the ideas you want to use.

Make your next draft smoother and more professional.  Get it edited and cleaned up by a teacher, a peer, or your parent.  Four or five drafts are not too many to produce a really slick, professional paper.

The Dirty Dozen of Writing

1. Sloppiness or ugliness.  Make your paper look professional and attractive.  With word processing, it's easy to turn in a beautiful paper.  Most teachers tend to save their best grades for the best-looking papers.

2. Illegible words and passages.  Clean up your handwriting, or fix your computer fonts, so that the teacher can easily read every word on your paper.

3. Errors of form.  There are many essay forms to choose from, and students often follow the wrong ones.  Find out what form your instructor wants you to follow--most teachers have preferences--and follow it very carefully.

4. Errors in spelling.  There shouldn't be any spelling errors in the final draft.  Use a spell checker and a proofreader.

5. Errors in grammar.  Find a proofreader with good grammar skills so there won't be any grammatical errors on your final draft.  A grammar checker program for your computer may also be helpful as a first check, but remember, they are not fool proof.

6. Errors in punctuation or capitalization.  Again, a good proofreader can help you avoid these costly mistakes.

7. Sentence fragments.  Make sure your paper contains no leftover chunks of sentences.  In academic writing, only complete sentences are acceptable.

8. Run-on sentences.  Check your sentences to be sure none are run-ons. If a sentence is longer than 12 words, be suspicious.

9. Errors of organization.  Write from an outline to avoid making errors of organization.

10. Errors of logic.  If you're writing about something that you think is really wonderful or really terrible, watch yourself.  Errors of logic tend to appear when the author is writing about topics very close to his or her heart; he or she is more likely to say things that can't withstand a rigorous logical analysis by an unsympathetic instructor.  Watch your logic, and check with your proofreader.

11. Errors of fact.  Factual errors creep in everywhere, and are very difficult to avoid.  We all think we know facts that we don't actually know.  Check every fact, and make sure your proofreader does too.

12. Overstatements.  Don't make extravagant claims.  Think small.  The less you claim on a certain point, the easier it is to defend.  It is generally better to understate your points and conclusions.  Tone down any extreme statements.

Essay Writing Preparation

Jr./Sr. English and 
Social Studies 
Essay Guidelines