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Show Ming Essays i By DR. DARYL McCARTY If your child doesn't like writing essays assigned bv th teacher, talk to the youngster about it. y "e CHANCES ARE, the student will make a comment' similar to; j( ?. "Aw, writing's too hard." t t THAT'S THE opening you want. (; "Of course writing's tough," you reply. "But it isn't difficult just for you. Even the greatest writers have to': work at it. And nobody ever told you school was going t0s be easy." j HAVING SAID that writing is real work, the next; things you say are that the student can leam to write well ' and that this is going to happen, period. Now you're on record as a person expecting great things. Still, it's no snap to learn the parts of speech. But the student must leam to wield a verb just as surely an; sharply as a carpenter delivers a hammer blow. (. ITS NO breeze to learn grammar, composition, worr usage, vocabulary, correct spelling and accurate : research-but it can be done by the student who wants tt ' do it. And it's no picnic to select a topic, much less write it 1 THERE'S AN excellent way for the young student tr' master those skills, though. That's for the student ti i write and write and write some more. Writing is one o, the most important things a person can do in learning rh craft. But rewriting can be j'ist as significan". Many grea '", writers say it's nearly impossible to rewrite an essay o article or book without improving it. And here's a tip; j THE WRITER should read over the work immediatel -i after completing it. Read it aloud, or in a whisper -J people are around. This will give the writer a bent: evaluation than silent reading. Of course, the wnttfl pencils in revisions while reading. Reading other writers is necessary, too. It's a yard 3 stick that permits a writer to measure his or her woi " against the greats. HAVING SAID all that to your child, there's one mar' statement you should make. It's this: "Get to work!"''''' |