There are many ways to help link your sentences together to help your reader follow your ideas. One way is to repeat key terms. In this sample, the student writer repeats such key terms like "support" and uses variations of the words ("supportive" and "succeed"/"success") to keep the repetition from making the paragraph sound boring. The writer also uses synonyms to link ideas; for example, the last sentence uses the word "ingredient" which is another word for "element," a key term in the first sentence of the paragraph. This use of synonyms is also found in the following word pair from the paragraph: "reason to learn," found in sentence two, and "motivation," placed in the final sentence.
A student who doesn't succeed is missing an element of the system. It could be any of the main elements: support, a reason to learn, or the right attitude. To do well in college, a student needs support from teachers and family. Supportive teachers seem to know when a person is struggling. They ask why and help the student develop a plan for success. But even with supportive teachers, a student in college will not make it easily without a supportive family. The family needs to be able to give up its claims on the student's time and energy, and family members have to actually take extra time and energy to debrief and reassure their mom or spouse or dad who has become a student. Support is a crucial ingredient for success in college, but so is motivation. Without a reason to learn, the support offered by teachers and family will not make a big difference. The student also has to be motivated by the prospect of making more money, getting a better job, or learning new things, for example, to do well in school. If a student has no reason to do well in school, she or he will probably not try very hard. Closely related to this idea is the necessity of the student to have the right attitude. A poor attitude makes learning difficult, if not impossible, because the student is not receptive to new ideas and situations. With a good attitude, however, a student will not become discouraged when school is difficult. In summary, if a student is not succeeding, he or she is probably not getting enough support, lacks a reason to learn, or doesn't have the right attitude.
The OWL is an extension of the Community College
of Denver Writing Center. Bret Hann, Writing Center Coordinator This project was made possible in part by a grant from the Technology Learning Grant and Revolving Loan Program, State of Colorado, Department of Higher Education. We are also grateful for the ongoing support of Colorado Community Colleges Online (CCCOnline).
|
|
 |
©
2003 Community College of Denver 303-556-2600 |