Smart Sentences and Strategies for Writing with Style - Online

This workshop aims to help graduate students with grammatical and stylistic features of English sentences that are often challenging for academic writers. You will learn and practice “Smart Sentence” strategies, adapted from the work of Helen Sword and others, to improve the structure and style of sentences in your papers. Using these strategies, you will be better able to transform unclear and convoluted sentences into ones that are not only grammatical, but precise, vigorous, and enjoyable to read.

The workshop will include:

·         A reflection exercise on your own academic sentences

·         A review of English sentence types and clauses

·         The “topic and stress” approach to sentence structure and style

·         “Flabby or Fit?” Test your academic sentences

·         Smart Sentencing strategies and revision practice

·         The “house” metaphor for sentence logic and clause combinations
 
Instructions: Please bring your laptop and an e-copy of a recent paper you have written. Each part of the workshop will include applying the sentence strategies to your own writing. You may also bring an e-copy of a well-written published paper.
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Renée Lallier teaches academic writing to graduate and undergraduate students at the McGill Writing Centre. Renée is a former CEGEP literature professor and has been an instructor with the MWC since 2014. Her current academic interests focus on helping emerging scholars write academic papers that are a pleasure rather than a chore to read.