Tag: writer
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Beta Readers Offer Helpful Revisions
Beta readers play a key role in the writing-publishing process. As their name suggests, they aren’t the first ones to see a draft manuscript. Alpha readers see the first draft as it is being written and offer feedback on clarity, character development, and plot continuity, and how the composition reads as a whole. Beta readers…
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How Commas Could Get You Into a Fight
In my days as an instructor of basic English composition, I was often amazed at where students put commas. A comma might appear in the middle of a prepositional phrase or an infinitive. It could precede or follow a question mark or an exclamation point. At times, it seemed that students, while writing a composition,…
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In Praise of Punctuation
Several years ago, I served on a committee that was charged with revising the basic composition textbook used by Columbus State’s English Department. The committee consisted of 10-12 English faculty members, both full-time and adjunct. All were excellent writers. Many of them, besides teaching, had their work published. When it came time to revise the…