Writing Tips Part 2

1. Choose a tense and stick to it. If you begin your essay, "Wordsworth wrote," you have chosen the past tense. Your next sentence can't be "Wordsworth writes."

2. Do not switch to the 2nd person point of view. Example, "In the poem, the author chooses words to show how constraining the form of the sonnet is. Therefore, you can't be as creative if you only have ten syllables to a line!" Instead, revise the line to say,"ten syllables is too rigid a constraint to place on a form of writing intended to express creative thought." Or something like that.

3. Use topic sentences!

4. Stick to proving whatever your topic sentence promises to defend. For example, if your topic sentence says "Wordsworth uses imagery to elaborate on the restrictions of the sonnet." The rest of the paragraph should have examples and analysis of how the images are restrictive and NOTHING ELSE.

5. Use transitional phrases to move from one paragraph to another. For example, while Wordsworth seems to dislike the Sonnet, Keats on the other hand, seems to admire the form.