20/20 – Day 2: 20 ways to find your own voice

“I am not saying that I have completely found my voice. I see it more as a journey. We are all on the same path. Some of us are further along than others. The important factor is to be consistent and keep writing. You will run into frustrations for the rest of your life, so keep your eyes on the long-term.” – Henri Junttila writing on kikolani.com

For all the help out there, most advice is on the right way of doing something, or the best way of succeeding. But that help can also bog you down so you stop listening to yourself.

For instance, these 20 lists of 20 that I’m writing will not be to the liking of some writers who dislike list articles and suggest it’s not a good way forward.

But if I had listened to that advice, I wouldn’t be publishing 20 blog posts and I’d miss out on offering some of this advice. On the other hand, if I listened to that advice, I’d then be ignoring the people who heartily encourage list articles.

Advice is something you can choose to listen to or ignore. It’s advice, not an order. Take in the advice you want, stir it all up, add your own ideas, and do what makes you feel comfortable. Here are some ways to go about finding the magic:

Stop caring about others. They don’t matter when you’re searching for what makes you tick.
Don’t try to emulate someone else. It’s a trap. You want to catch a style that you like, which means you stop developing your own style.
Enjoy the process. It’s not meant to be a chore. The search is meant to create excitement and give you all sorts of positivity for the future.
Experiment. Take chances, be playful. If you don’t, you can’t surprise yourself and you’ll get nowhere.
If feasible, publish your output in a blog or similar. Public output helps focus what you’re doing. It doesn’t always work, but it can be the kick you need.
Don’t expect anything. You won’t know what to expect until you find it. It can take years before you’re satisfied that your own voice can be heard. I’m sure many never find it. At least you’re looking, which is a major start. Just let the process grow organically.
Stop taking it personally. You are you. That’s a good thing.
Don’t hide behind a front. No matter how comfortable you feel putting on a front, it’s still not you. If you’re serious about finding the true you, throw the fake attitude away. The moment you hide is the moment you’ll stop being heard at your best.
Devour more from other people. How does it make you feel? You can only develop a unique voice when you listen to other voices.
Keep going. Persevere.
Acknowledge that even original work may not be your true voice. There’s a difference between you being you and you being original. If all you crave is originality, you don’t need to take such a wild journey.
Write on different topics. Who knows what you’ll stumble upon?
Use different styles. Same reason as above.
Be prepared to throw away a lot of material. Whether you write, paint, or sculpt, you’re on a learning curve. That said, you don’t need to actually throw stuff away. A lot of it will probably be useful even if it’s not ‘your voice‘!
Ask “What do I want to use my voice for?”
Finding your voice is about more than confident writing, success and original output. You can find success and create amazing works without catching the intensely personal spark of ‘voice’. ‘Voice’ is an ambiguous term, so be careful to know what you want here. Do you crave something more personal? Like, really crave it? If that’s not the point, you might as well focus on more important things.
Don’t stop searching until you’re totally satisfied. For some, it means finding what works and striving to give it even more clarity and zest.
Don’t stop once you are satisfied. You’ve found what works, you’ve developed to a tee, now there’s nothing more to do, right? Wrong. There’s always something to do. If you drop your guard and work to old standards, you’re working to formula. At some point in time, you’ll be pushing out content that you don’t even believe in and you won’t even notice. Unless you don’t care at that stage, stay on your toes.
Don’t feel constrained. If you only need to make 19 points, don’t feel the need to make 20.
Meh.

Okay, I’ll give you a Point 20. Because I want to:

Don’t listen to any of the advice I’ve given above. Finding your own voice is your job. You may find it when you least expect it, with the help of nobody but yourself. Happy searching!

Title image: original by tiffa130 (cc) / Bottom image: original by G|o®g|O (cc)

20/20 – Day 1: 20 ways to engage with feedback

Over the next four weeks I’m treating you to a new series of posts, 20 Lists of 20 (or “20/20” for short). Twenty posts on a variety of subjects, all as lists of twenty. I hope you find them useful.

Today’s topic is on engaging with feedback.

When you get your coursework back from your tutor, you hope the comments will be positive (as well as the grade). But what about the constructive criticism and suggestions on where you could improve? Even a well-received paper will have constructive comments, but a poorly marked essay is likely to go as far out of your sight as possible, not to be looked at again. This is a mistake.

Your less pleasing essays probably have the best feedback to help you improve. In Day One of my “20/20” series, here are some ways you can make the most of the feedback you’ve been given.

Focus on what you’ve been asked to improve. You probably want to forget about the negative feedback, but that’s what you need to concentrate on. Make a point of tackling those issues head on in your next piece of work.
Don’t be complacent. Enjoy that shiny gold star and revel in the glory as your tutor suggests you publish your essay in the biggest scholarly journal out there. But don’t lose sight of the next essay. And the one after that. And the one after that. You’re not looking for a one-off, you’re looking for consistency!
Ask why. Whatever feedback you receive, ask yourself why you think you got it. A few days after you get the marks, spend ten minutes taking it seriously and work out why you feel it happened the way it did. It doesn’t always take more than a few moments to work out how to improve for next time.
Get MORE feedback. Take some time with your tutor to chew over the pros and cons. Always take the feedback seriously and seek out advice on improving your game via the people who know. After all, the tutors are grading you, so find out what will help them grade you higher.
Re-read your work. Are there any passages that make you cringe? Do you yawn at the filler paragraph you added just to make the word count? Could you have defined your argument more clearly?
Read a study guide. When you’re given areas to improve upon, study guides are invaluable. Something like “The Study Skills Handbook” or “Effective Study Skills” should help.
Stop being defensive. Criticism, no matter how constructive, sucks. Big time. But criticism is there for a reason. Now is not the time to argue why the comment was uncalled for. It’s time to address the issue and think about how you could change the coursework so you didn’t get criticised in the same way again.
Don’t respond straight away. Give yourself time to relax before returning to the piece. No matter how well or badly you feel you did, you can’t focus on the feedback properly until it’s settled in your mind.
Get creative. Some issues arise when you try too hard to conform to a particular way of writing or you don’t believe you can do better. Get rid of these blocks and work to your own strengths. Churn out great stuff in the most creative way you can and consider making it fit after that.
Plan your next coursework in advance. You can always use your time more productively.
Play to your strengths and work on your weaknesses. You know what you’re good at, so make sure you continue to shine there. But don’t do that by neglecting your weak points. Aim to turn those into strengths too.
Don’t panic! A poor grade can be disheartening, but the whole point in engaging with feedback is so you can get a better grade. Don’t worry about the feedback, embrace it and make good use of it!
Read more around the subject. Ask about what research you have missed out on and go beyond the suggested reading list. Push yourself to find something new and unexpected.
Give yourself feedback. Similarly to re-reading your work, why not be critical about your own work? You know it’s not perfect, so where would you like to improve? What aspects would you change if you could go back?
Accept peer feedback in the same way you would from a tutor…at first. You may not agree with the feedback and it may sound stupid. You’re more likely to discard comments from peers. What would they know? But don’t be quick to ignore. Take the comment seriously (unless completely stupid) and see what you can learn from it.
Feel encouraged. Feedback is designed to spur you on and help you improve. The tutor isn’t laughing at you, they’re hoping you’ll take the advice on board and hand in a better piece of work next time.
Focus on larger concerns. We all make mistakes. Don’t get bogged down with guilt over a spelling mistake and the odd formatting error. Deal with the criticism regarding content.
Spend time improving on key points. Did the conclusion have nothing to do with the main text? Were you lacking a solid introduction? Analyse what’s missing so you don’t suffer the same way next time.
Break it down. Negative feedback, especially lots of it, can be difficult to take in. Take each point one at a time so you’re not overwhelmed by it.
Make separate notes if you need. What would you do different next time? Engage with the feedback on a deeper level by noting problem areas, how you aim to improve, and go over what you could have included/changed in hindsight. Taking the feedback further than reading the comments is important if you’re going to make the most of it.

One post down, nineteen to go. Tomorrow I look at how you can find your own voice. Hope you can join me then.

Photo credit: tiffa130 (cc)

No More Fees Please

A new study into the future of HE funding is calling for tuition fees to rise above £5,000 a year.

The report by Policy Exchange, More Fees Please?, states:

“It is clear that if the cap is set at £5,000 or lower, once again the majority of institutions will charge the maximum fee and no real market will be activated.”

Sadly, rather than look to alternative models of funding, the call is simply to raise fees and get students to pay more. Specific caps are not discussed in the report as, “we do not think it is appropriate to stick our fingers in the air and specify a level for the cap here”. However, it does not go as far to suggest a removal of the cap.

photo by benrybobenry

As this new study is released, Times Higher Education reports of a survey that suggests more than half of students would be willing to pay fees of £5,000. Students were asked how low fees could go until they were so low that it would make them doubt the quality of their course, and how high fees could go before they would not pay it.

I don’t like the questioning here. Tuition fees are not the only source of funding for universities and the reality is more complex. To ask if a lower tuition fee would make students doubt the quality of a course seems the wrong question to ask. If taken out of that context, I’m sure students would not consider fees in the same way.

Nevertheless, the survey does suggest that widening participation will be disturbed if fees are raised.

The Policy Exchange report argues that poorer students will not suffer from higher fees. It states:

“There is clear evidence that top-up fees have not deterred poorer students from going to university, as the anti-fees lobby predicted they would. In fact in the second and third years of top-up fees applications soared in England, much more so than in the years preceding the introduction of top-up fees. Most crucially, the increase in applications was not just from middle-class students. In the 2007-08 academic year applications in England for students from the three lowest socioeconomic groups rose by nearly 10%, and in 2008-09 climbed by a further 27%.”

Firstly, applications in the higher socioeconomic groups rose even higher. Secondly, it’s no surprise that so many students and parents have pushed toward degree study as greater belief is put on the thought that a university education is the only way to secure a bright future. At some point, the game will change. Along with it, poorer students will be deterred by higher fees and applications are bound to suffer. This is bad news.

Universities group million+ agrees:

“The simplistic approach of this report, which proposes changes to the contributions made by students whilst at university, could have an immensely damaging impact on participation. […] It’s nonsense to suggest that there aren’t thousands of people from lower and modest incomes being denied places at university. This year alone up to a quarter of a million well-qualified applicants could miss out. This report’s proposals would simply serve to put yet more barriers in their way.”

The University and College Union (UCU) say that the call to simply charge students higher fees is an “astonishingly weak” solution.

The 1994 Group does give its support to higher fees, calling it “the only feasible option”. However:

“an increase should only be introduced if it is coupled with two fundamental guarantees. Firstly, a guarantee that a targeted and robust student support system is in place that ensures that no student is unable to attend university because of cost. Higher education should continue to be free at the point of delivery with repayments contingent on income after graduation. Secondly, a commitment from universities to continue to enhance the student experience on offer to all students.”

Raising tuition fees is not the way forward, no matter how much support is given to widening participation. The state of HE is rapidly changing and the full effects of those changes haven’t been felt yet. Nobody can truly understand the impact of recent, and upcoming, alterations in HE.

Given this uncertainty, the ‘solution’ to HE funding by raising fees could prove costly not just to students, but to everyone involved. To base so many future plans on past situations that no longer represent the true state of HE is unwise.

Last year, I hoped for more discussion on the future of HE funding. Now tongues are wagging, it’s time to make our opinions heard. One fantastic way of doing that is to visit Vote For Students and pledge to use your vote in the next general election to support candidates who would vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament.

Higher fees? No thanks!

Further Reading

Guest Post: How to Write an introduction

This post is part of the Guest Post Giveaway at the blog Unready and Willing. If you think articles about writing or personal development (or personal development for writers) sounds like a good fit for your blog, please take a look at the Guest Post Giveaway page and see if any of the articles spark your interest.

Understanding how to write an introduction effectively is essential to generate a reader’s interest, to convince them that the subject you’ve chosen to write about is important or relevant. A good introduction should pull the reader straight in and make them want to read more. Also, learning how to write a good introduction can be very helpful in overcoming “starting anxiety,” one of the major causes of writer’s block. This article provides some guidelines on the different types of introductions as well as some tips that will not only help you succeed in drawing in readers, but will also make starting your essays much easier.

photo by arquera

Types of essay introductions

Here are some of the types of introductions you can use:

1. Ask a question – Questions engage readers and often make excellent introductions. The question you use could be the very same question you asked yourself before writing the essay.

2. Paint an image – If you’re writing about the tragedies that take place in a war-torn country, write an introduction in the form of a short, provocative scene that describes the horrors of that country’s war in vivid detail. You can then move into your thesis about how such a scene could be prevented.

3. Use an anecdote – People are always curious about other people. Provide the reader with an experience from your own life that’s relevant to whatever subject you wish to talk about. Anecdotes are generally humorous or amusing, but you can also write about a serious experience you may have had.

4. State your thesis – Sometimes the best way to write an introduction is to have no introduction at all. Make your thesis statement the first sentence of your essay. Theses that work well for this kind of introduction are often controversial or humorous.

5. State a problem – Use some statistic, personal observation or description of an event to let the reader know that a problem exists. Lead the reader from the description of the problem to your thesis statement, which could be your suggested solution.

6. Emphasize importance – If you’re writing about water conservation you may want to alert us about how precious drinkable water is. Such an introduction could easily lead into an essay on how to conserve water.

7. Quotes – You could start by mentioning a relevant quote to the subject of your essay. If you’re writing about the future of technology, for example, you might quote Bill Gates. If you’re writing about cooking, you might quote Julia Child.

8. Outline first – Tell the reader what they’re going to get in the form of bullet points at the beginning of your essay. This isn’t a traditional introduction, but it’s very effective when writing for the web. As much as we’d like to think web surfers read every word, often the reader will only want or need a single part of your entire essay. Provide hyperlinked bulleted points in an outline which lead to a corresponding parts of your essay.

Other Tips and Tricks

1. Make it relevant – When you write an introduction it should relate directly or at least indirectly to whatever subject you’re writing about.

2. Lead into the thesis – Make sure that your introduction leads quickly and efficiently into your thesis. No rambling.

3. Make it short – Write an introduction of no more than 200 words for a 1500 word essay. Get the reader’s attention, then quickly get to the point.

4. Provoke an emotion, thought or image – An introduction should get the reader engaged, either emotionally or mentally.

5. Write it later – Writing introductions should not be the hardest part of writing the essay, but for some reason it often is. One of the biggest reasons for this is because we’re worried about whether we can finish the essay or not. Skip the intro and write the body of your essay first. You can always go back to the introduction later when you have a better handle on your subject.

6. Try several introductions – If you’re having trouble deciding how to start, you can try several different introductions and see which one works best.

Choosing Wisely

Ultimately, whichever type of introduction you use is up to you. It’s important, however, to choose wisely. An anecdote might work well for a humorous essay but could be very out of place if you’re writing about some serious issue. Try to get a feel for the different types of introductions so that you can develop a sense of which one might be most appropriate for your context.

For many, the introduction can be the most difficult part of an essay to write. Once you learn how to write a good introduction, however, not only will more people read your work, but you may find that starting an essay will become the easiest part.

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Kenji Crosland is a creative writing major who, scared of becoming a starving artist, became a corporate headhunter in Tokyo. Since then he’s regained his sanity, quit his job, and currently blogs about creating an ideal career at unreadyandwilling.com. He’s currently developing a web application that just might change the internet. Follow him on twitter @KenjiCrosland.

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