Suggestions from Review of Homework #4: Edit of Sample Document

• Use one term for each concept– Most traditional engineering graduate programs today

focus on creating new knowledge while leaving the task of applying that knowledge to private industry in the marketplace. This gap between innovation and practice is nowhere more visible than in the field of Biomedical Engineering …

• “Once enrolled, the one-year CBID MSE program is designed to put students in direct contact with all key stakeholders critical to developing medical technology solutions.”

Other Examples• CBID’s principal partner, the non-profit JHU affiliate,

Jhpiego, provides CBID with a clear understanding of healthcare problems in these environments and the performance specifications need to address them.

• The teams must complete prototypes and business plans. For their global health projects, this [requirement] represents a particular challenge.

• Innovate a business plan… (subject/verb compatibility)• This part of the program also serves the students well in

thinking of creative new ways to reduce the costs…• The CBID program has the potential to add to this success

leadership in the translation of knowledge…• Heading: In Addition

Using Creative Writing Techniques to Enliven Your Writing:

Shifting to the Right Brain

May 7, 2012

“Details, Details,” The Making of a Story, by Alice LaPlante, W.W. Norton & Co, 2007, pp.107-127.

A Different Way of Looking at Writing Principles

• We started with the general/context, moved into detail, then generalized/ summarized at the end.– Categorize things neatly.

• Here we look at things the opposite way: How can a general picture arise from specific details and events?– Observing things the way they really are.– This process helps avoid oversimplistic views and sentimentality.– Messy and chaotic details have the hallmarks of something potentially

very interesting.– Things that don’t quite make sense or “add up” make something true.– See “Details, Details,” The Making of a Story, in your reader for good

examples of this difference in style.

Creative Writing Tips• Write about “what you know.”• Identify the essential issue or problem.• Use specific, concrete details/imagery to create the scene.

– Show, don’t tell.• You won’t see the forest unless you see this tree and that tree…

– Think “small” and “particular.”– Think about complex, “messy” images that bring a situation to life.– Use the tools of specificity to evoke a universal reaction or emotion.– Avoid abstractions (e.g., love, war, faith) and generalizations.

• Identify a range of “characters.”– You– You lab partner– Anyone who’s quirky or odd (consider changing his/her name!) who might

be used to create interest (or conflict)– Your instructor/professor

Creative Writing Tips (Cont.)

• Identify a conflict and how it gets resolved.– E.g., members of your lab team have different

interpretations of experimental data.• Describe what happens, step by step.– Be selective: Don’t include steps that seem boring.– Make sure something changes by the end of the

story.• The ending doesn’t have to be happy or conclusive.

• Include dialog or your internal thought processes.

Creative Writing Tips (Cont.)

• Use analogy to bring your point home.– Compare your point(s) to something your audience would

be familiar with.– E.g., the hamburger analogy with respect to paragraph

structure.• Use your five senses to create a sense of immediacy.– How do things look, sound, smell, feel, taste, etc.– After you’ve written your story, review it to see which

senses you’ve included. (Sight tends to predominate.)– It’s not necessary to include all five. Just include the most

relevant ones.– When writing, imagine yourself blind.

Ask Yourself the Fateful Questions

• Why should my audience care about this?– Cast differently: Why would my audience be

interested in this?– Or: Why do I care?

• Why should my program officer (who’s funding my work) care?

Metaphorical Statements

• Simile: A metaphorical statement using like or as.– Comparison is explicit: “My love is like a red red

rose.” (Byron)• Metaphor: Comparison of two unlike things.– Comparison is implied: “These are the dog days of

summer.” (Shakespeare)– Produces a “good shock” and stretches our

imagination to see something in a new light; yet it seems true.

• Clichés can be a danger here!

Other Metaphorical Constructs

• Personification: Attribution of human characteristics to non-human entities.

• Symbol: Something specific (object or event) that stands for something else.– The cross: A symbol of the crucifixion of Jesus and

the ideals and beliefs of Christianity.– The whale in Moby Dick: A symbol of complex,

God-like power that man must not pursue.

Avoid Gratuitous Use of Metaphors

• Focus first on what is.• Then think about what that something is like.• Think of a metaphor as an extra, very heavy

suitcase you load into your car before leaving for the airport.– Do you really need it?

Tips on Writing from John Steinbeck (Paraphrased)

• Don’t think about finishing; just write!• Write freely and as rapidly as possible. Never

correct or rewrite until you’ve finished the story.– Rewriting (editing) during the process can be an

excuse for not continuing.– Rewriting interferes with flow and rhythm that

only come from unconscious association with the material.

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More Tips from Steinbeck

• Forget your generalized audience. Write for one, real person that you know or an imagined person.

• If you’re having trouble with a scene, move on.– Come back to it later.– You may find that the reason it gave you trouble is

because it didn’t belong!• Beware of the scene that’s too dear to you.• With dialog, say it out loud as you write it so it

has the sound of real speech.

Homework Assignment: Due Mon, May 14

• Read “The Making of a Story” in your reader.• Rewrite a lab report you’ve written in the past

to turn the discrete parts into a narrative or story.

Possible Outline for Your Lab Report “Story”

• Context for experiment, why it’s important.• What the technical nature of the experiment is (tools you use, what you’re

anticipating the results will be, what the current “theory” is, etc.).• What methodology and special techniques you used.• Things you had to be careful about (e.g., contamination of chemicals).

– Was there any danger about the experiment? (This would help create some drama.)

• Anything funny that happened.• What your results were.• Problems you experienced, how you addressed them, whether you had to rerun the

experiment and why.– For example, were there any disagreements among team members?

• What you concluded.– Did you get the results you expected? Why or why not?

• What you learned. (This might be different than the answer to previous bullet.)• What your results suggest in terms of additional experiments to take the work further.

A Completely Different Approach to Your Story

• Think about the images you had (now memories) when you were doing the experiment.

• Describe those memories.• Piece them together into a story in a way that is

true to the experiment and makes sense to you.

• Try to cover some/many of the items on the previous slide.