eduify | write faster

Name dropping works a lot better while writing a paper than while having a conversation in real life. An activity that makes you look foolish in real life can be highly effective while writing a paper. Why?

Looking at a topic through a theoretical or philosophical lense can add a deeper level of understanding. Theory and philosophy are in practice everywhere, from politics to psychology to art to literature. Literary theory is something that every English major in college is expected to understand. Not only does theory add more layers of understanding to any literary work, but it also helps readers analyze works in deeper and more meaningful ways.
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Writing persuasively is not easy. At times, persuasive writing can even feel a bit manipulative. Really, isn’t writing persuasively merely an attempt to coerce a hopefully impartial audience into trusting your arguments, judgments, and proclamations? Why should any audience trust what you have to say?

But, if you think about it, all writing is inherently pursuasive. A novel requires that a writer persuade the reader into accepting the book’s picture of the universe, be it Middle Earth, Holland in the 1600s, or in a galaxy far, far away — we have to accept that the world of the book is an actual world and suspend our disbelief in things like hobbits and aliens if we are to enjoy the story. Similarly, writing that makes no bones about being blatantly persuasive, like op-ed articles, legal briefs, and persuasive essays, also has to operate in such a way that the audience trusts the word of the writer and opens up their mind to accept, or at the very least consider, the writer’s position.

Writing persuasively is difficult, but there are things you can do to make your arguments more cogent and appealing to readers.

5. Earn your reader’s trust.

The best way to earn a reader’s trust is to come across as an intelligent writer. If you make grammatical errors, give misconstrued facts, or appear as if you aren’t an expert on your topic, you automatically undermine yourself as an intelligent writer, thereby weakening the sanctity of your argument. Writing well is the simplest way to come across as an intelligent writer. People are swayed by an eloquent writer: just look at the eloquent speeches of compelling orators like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,  who were able to start entire movements on the power of their words.

4. Back your writing up with facts.

A well-stated opinion is all good and well, but the real meat of an argument comes from strong factual evidence. Lawyers don’t win cases based on arguments alone. Lawyers win cases based on who has the most compelling evidence that backs up the arguments they make. If you write a persuasive essay, make sure that each of your paragraphs has as least one powerful fact that backs up your position. If you are writing a persuasive essay on a piece of literature, for instance, facts can be theoretical ‘proof’ from a literary theorist (writing a Freudian interpretation of “Othello” would obviously require that you quote Sigmund Freud himself) or a quote from a published paper in a literary journal or a strong quote from the literature itself.

3. Explain, and then argue, a contrary point of view.

Every great debater knows in order to win a debate, you have to premeditate the opposition and then disprove it. The same goes for writing a persuasive essay. Having an idea of strong points of opposition is not only crucial in order to construct a solid argument, but it’s also simply good practice in critical thinking. If you know some oppositions that might arise in your reader’s mind while reading your essay, think of responses to that opposition and embed the responses in your writing. That way, you advance your argument and counterpoint your reader’s contention in one fell stroke.

2. Be passionate about what you are writing.

Even if you don’t believe in your own argument — as in, you were assigned a topic to argue from your teacher and you have no choice but to argue it in your paper — you have to write as if you do believe. Passionate writing comes from using strong, specific language. The more specific your language is, the more precisely you can carve your argument, the stronger and better your argument will seem. Passionate writing also requires reinforcement. Don’t repeat your ideas, but keep the central argument in your mind while writing your paper and think of every sub-argument, every piece of constructing evidence, as a way to reinforce or strengthen the central position.

1. Be interesting.

The best way to not persuade a reader is to bore them. If I can’t make it to the end of an op-ed piece, there is no way I’m going to believe or be persuaded by what the writer is saying. Good writing is inherently interesting. Use your oratorical fireworks to wow your readers so that every next line, every following word, is something the reader wants to arrive at. Don’t make them trudge through your writing. If you aren’t sure of how to make your writing interesting, ask yourself what you would be interested in if you were an impartial reader who was faced with your paper. Would it be something you would want to read? If yes, great! If no, then work your way through the problem until you arrive at a satisfactory place.

Using bad grammar in class, at work, in your writing, and in your general life, is the quickest way to make people think you’re stupid. Luckily, grammar can be learned with practice and dedication, even to those for whom it does not come naturally. By recognizing common grammar mistakes, you can make a greater effort to avoid them and to begin writer clearer, more precisely, and more intelligently. Students, here are 5 common grammar mistakes to avoid:

5. Dangling participle.

“After rotting in the cellar for weeks, my brother brought up some oranges.” -Tom Sant, Persuasive Business Proposals

Unless you are interested in rotting brothers, this sentence will make no sense to you. First of all, decomposing people have no business bringing anyone oranges and, secondly, dangling participles are some of the most egregious errors you can make while writing. The dangling participle, also called a dangling modifier, “attaches itself to a word different from the one the writer apparently meant. It may be intended to modify the subject f a sentence, but due to word order seems to modify an object instead.” In plain English, a dangling participle doesn’t modify what it should. If you write, “After having paid for my groceries, the cashier bagged them for me,” what you are actually saying is that the grocery cashier paid for your groceries, because the participle (the clause at the beginning of the sentence) is grammatically modifying “cashier” rather than the intended subject.

4. Double negatives.

Many languages allow for double negatives, but English is one that does not. While to say that you “don’t know nothing” would mean, at literal face value, that you do know something, using it actually reveals that there is, in fact, nothing you know – about grammar, that is! Rather than using a double negative, what you need to use in a negation sentence is a negative adverb or a noun of negation. Negative adverb: I do not know anything. Noun of negation: I know nothing.

3. i.e. versus e.g.

This is a huge pet peeve of mine, because it seems that even successful journalists and other career writers get confused between i.e. and e.g.! E.g. means Exempli gratia, or “example given”. I.e., on the other hand, means id est, or “that is”. Sometimes, however, i.e. and e.g. are actually interchangeable, but only if you are using them in the context of a finite versus non-finite list. So if I were to say, “I love medical shows on television, i.e. House MD, Grey’s Anatomy, and Scrubs,” what I mean is that these are the only medical television shows I love. If I were to say “I love medical shows on television, e.g. House MD, Grey’s Anatomy, and Scrubs,” what I mean is that I truly love medical TV shows and that these are an example of some I like (but by no means a finite list).

2. Split infinitives.

The split infinitive, while technically incorrect in grammar, is always used. “To boldly go where no man has gone before,” the famous opener from Star Trek, is just one example. But in proper grammar usage, the adverb (boldly) ought to go after the verb (go). Proper English would have Star Trek announce “To go boldly where no man has gone before”. Many people see nothing wrong with using the split infinitive, but I had an English teacher in high school whose very reason to get out of bed in the morning was to wage war against it, so I would use at your own peril. Especially in English class.

1. Mistaken apostrophes.

Mistaken apostrophes annoy grammarians more than anything. Though this is something we all should have learned in grade school, it really hasn’t sunk in with everyone. The general rule follows: use the apostrophe and s in singular noun constructions to make the meaning possessive (”Sally’s dog is cute.”). For plural possessives, use the apostrophe after the letter s, unless two s sounds are pronounced (”The twins’ dog is cute, but Carlos’ dog is cuter”). With biblical names, out of tradition, we always use the apostrphe s rule (”Jesus’s birthday is on Christmas”).

Proofreading, like many things, has never been my strong suit. Over the years, however, I’ve picked up some tricks on how to proofread more effectively. By no means a professional editor, I still occasionally gloss over and miss errors in my writing from time to time. But the tricks I picked up really help me in my writing, whether in finding spelling errors that spellcheck doesn’t pick up (like quickly typing “by no means a professional dieter” instead of “by no means a professional editor”) or in correcting grammatical construction or in simply rephrasing sentences to make them sound better the second time around.

Hemingway once advised writers to write drunk and edit sober. While I don’t advise anyone to imbibe whilst writing (especially you underage students), I see some wisdom in that remark. Write with an open mind and a creative spirit, without too much thought to making things 100% perfect. Unplug yourself from doubt and fear and engage in some stream-of-consciousness freedom! That way, you stay as creative as possible. The real work comes afterwards, after you already have your thoughts on paper. Proofreading and editing is when you turn your thoughts in writing. Proofreading is that crucial step in transforming everything you’ve thought of and everything you’ve written down into something legible that makes it fun for readers to read.

Here are my 5 tips for proofreading most effectively.

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We are so happy Eduify has added more users this week to its beta than ever before. And, that you’re using our product! Welcome, new students and avid writers! We hope that with us, you can write better, smarter, and more efficiently.

The first rule about Eduify is that you don’t talk about Eduify. Just kidding, we want you to tell everyone you know! By doing so, you’ll win points which you can convert to coins, which you can use to purchase services on the site. So the first real rule of Eduify is that you should share our services with your friends. Eduify is a social platform that enables students to interact with and help one another in writing assignments, so the more friends you have on Eduify, the better it works for you!

In honor of this weeks “more users than ever” added to beta, we want to tell you the top 10 reasons to use Eduify.

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