Academic Writing Blog | Academic Writing Success

How to Study for Online Classes: Advice for Success

by Suzanne Davis | Aug 20, 2020 | Studying skills

How do you focus on online classes amid a pandemic? On the news and among my colleagues, I hear the struggles students experience in studying for online classes: unfamiliarity with technology (or not enough access to it), less interaction and attention, special needs...

How to Boost Your GPA By Writing in a Reading Journal

by Suzanne Davis | Aug 6, 2020 | Academic Writing Skills, College and Graduate School

I know it sounds a little strange on the surface. How can keeping a reading journal help you have a higher GPA? It gives you an edge over other students because it increases your ability to understand, analyze, and write about what you read—skills other...

7 Sensational Summer Writing Projects To Inspire You

by Suzanne Davis | Jul 2, 2020 | Writing Projects, Writing Workshop

What can you write in 90 days? There are many exciting things to do in the summer, but if you aspire to become an excellent writer—writing needs to be on your list. Writing takes practice, but if you love what you’re doing, you will keep doing it and push yourself to...

How to Master Writing a Compelling Personal Narrative

by Suzanne Davis | Jun 18, 2020 | Writing Essays and Papers

I dreaded writing personal narrative essays. I cringed when teachers assigned a personal narrative essay. I couldn’t think of an interesting story about myself. And even if I chose a fascinating personal narrative story, I struggled with how to write about it. But...

6 Creative Prewriting Activities for Academic Writing

by Suzanne Davis | May 28, 2020 | Writing Process

How do you develop essay ideas? How do you find an interesting topic you can use for academic writing? Start with prewriting activities that help you unleash your thoughts and put them onto paper. What is prewriting? It is the first stage of the writing process...

Conquer The Challenge of Finding Academic Research Online

by Suzanne Davis | May 14, 2020 | Reading and Research

Finding academic research online isn’t easy. When I switched from teaching at colleges to online academic tutoring, I missed going to university libraries and having access to scholarly journals and other vasts amounts of research (whether I was there in-person or...

A Quick Tutorial on the Academic Writing Process

by Suzanne Davis | Mar 26, 2020 | Writing Process

The academic writing process is like sketching a portrait. You need preparation and planning for what you will draw. You sketch, and then erase and change what you’ve drawn, and then show it to others. As you continue to work, you grow as a sketch artist. The...

What is the Internet Archive? The Ultimate Digital Library

by Suzanne Davis | Feb 6, 2020 | Reading and Research, Writing Technology

There are 20 million books and texts on the Internet Archive. Internet Archive is a digital library with free books, texts, videos, audio recordings, webpages, and software. It is my go-to place for research because you can find credible primary and secondary...

5 Free Online Writing Tools & Resources You Will Love

by Suzanne Davis | Jan 16, 2020 | Writing Technology

“Suzanne, I have the perfect online writing tool for you.” I receive many emails from people telling me about an excellent new app, tool, or website for writers or students. Some of these online tools and resources are free, some are inexpensive, and some are an...

12 Creative Descriptive Essay Prompts

by Suzanne Davis | Dec 12, 2019 | Writing Essays and Papers, Writing Prompts

“Description is what makes the reader a sensory participant in the story.” –Stephen King Stephen King wrote about description in stories. But the same advice is correct for descriptive essays. Get your readers engaged by making them sense and...