“Stealing” Skills and Techniques from Other Writers
What to do:
A great way to improve your writing is to identify what other writers do well and then incorporating those skills and techniques into your own writing.
Variations on the saying “Good artists copy, but great artists steal” have been attributed to many artists. The kind of stealing that this saying encourages isn’t really plagiarism (an artist passing off someone else’s work as their own). Rather, this saying encourages emulation—adopting other artists’ skills and techniques.
The purpose of this course is to improve your academic writing. For this essay, then, please do the following:
a) Identify at least 3 skills of Malcolm Gladwell and Oliver Burkeman that you would like to “steal”—in other words, adopt—to use in your academic writing. (Three skills total)
b) Analyze Gladwell’s and Burkeman’s writing to explain what these skills are and why they help make Gladwell’s and Burkeman’s writing more effective.
c) At least one of the skills you write about should be one discussed in the three chapters we read from the book “They Say/I Say” by Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russell Durst. (These three chapters are all included in the .pdf entitled “They Say/I Say: Starting with What Others Are Saying.”)
Readings:
• “The 10,000-Hour Rule”—a chapter from Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers
• “What Would Seneca Do?”—a chapter from Oliver Burkeman’s book The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking
Audience:
Your audience essay is your classmates and the instructor. Keep in mind that we all have the same—learning to write better academically. We can learn from what you have to say.
Citation Requirement: As always, use MLA in-text citations and include a works cited page that contains MLA works cited entries for all of your sources.
How Your Essay Will Be Graded:
Your essay will graded on a) how well it meets the “challenges” listed below; and b) how well it embodies the “traits of a well-written academic essay,” which are also listed below.
Challenges:
• Identify the precise skills and techniques (at least 3) that you would like to “steal.”
• Discuss both Gladwell’s chapter and Burkeman’s chapter.
• Explain thoroughly how the writers of the readings make effective use of these skills and techniques.
• Integrate borrowed ideas and quoted material into your writing effectively. Avoid dropped quotes.
• Cite sources of borrowed ideas and quoted material clearly and correctly.