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potted flowers by a window
Thursday, May 2, 2019

May flowers: some poems that survived the winter

Spring is here. The birds are singing, the snow has melted, and flowers are poking up through the dirt, both where they are expected and where they are not. At the beginning of winter term, I wrote a blog post on freewriting with a focus on my notebook as an agent of the writing process. I’d like to come back to this general topic, but from a slightly different perspective: spring.

How to get yourself in a creative mindset
Monday, April 15, 2019

The poetics of originality: how to be creative

Why is creativity so elusive? We see artists and poets and marvel agape at their powers of creation, but in truth creativity is a learned thing – a practice of insight and introspection. You too have the potential to produce art almost as good as the greats, if only you look in the right places. It doesn’t matter that no one’s listening.

Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh
Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Writing genre series: Formal visual art analysis

I’ve always had an interest in art, whether I am creating it or viewing someone else’s. Art galleries are my favourite place to explore visual art as I get to experience how another artist creates their work of art and how it relates to their own concept of art. Through high school and my undergraduate studies, Formal Visual Art Analysis has been an important part of my studies in Fine Arts. 

The word poetry is spelled out in colourful letters against an orange backdrop.
Monday, April 9, 2018

Writing genre series: Poetry analysis

In our last two writing genre series blog posts, I offered some tips on Graduate School Applications and Catharina discussed the conventions of Lab Report writing. Her upcoming genre topic will be Visual Arts Analysis and you can check it out on April 16th! In this writing genre instalment, on Poetry Analysis, I will provide pointers for poking and prying at poems to peruse and pick up on the poem’s pronouncements and purport.

Laboratory equipment on a table
Monday, January 22, 2018

Writing genre series: Lab report writing

In our last blog post, we talked about different strategies for writing grad school applications. That was our first instalment of a new series on our blog where we will be exploring different writing genres throughout the term. Today’s topic is lab report writing!

jake from adventure time reading a book
Friday, January 20, 2017

Building habits to be a better writer: read daily

It’s no coincidence that the best writers we know are also avid readers. When we read, we unconsciously pick up on the vocabulary, phrasing, structure, and flow in what’s being read. When we read lots, we’re essentially learning a wide repertoire of writing techniques which we internalize and later use in our own writing. So, an obvious logical step towards improving one’s writing is simply to read more.

woman in puffy prom dress standing beside woman in business suit
Friday, October 21, 2016

Black tie blunders, part 2: how to correct formality errors

In last week’s post, we covered the many misconceptions that exist around the concept of formal writing, with a particular emphasis on the belief that formal writing should be full of polysyllabic words and complicated sentences. As we discussed, formality in writing is all about following a specific set of conventions and has almost nothing to do with shoehorning big words into your work.