"GTS":  The Secret to Good Grades on Formal Writing

The title of this writing is a lie.

The secret to good grades on formal writing (which is most of what you do in an English essay) is not really a secret.  But is IS simple as 1-2-3, or actually "GTS."  GTS stands for. . .

 

General

 

To

 

Specific

 

 Let's look at examples.  I'll use one of my own (three) class rules: "Tell the truth." 

 

This rule is one of three because it pretty much covers about a third of what I expect from my students, and NEED from them so they hold up their end of the bargain in the classroom.  But it's just a rule.  It's just an idea, a "moral" or feeling, and doesn't mean anything at all  until it gets USED in real life situations.

Here are just a few such situations:

1) explaining why they didn't do homework

2) admitting they read the wrong story

3) explaining they don't understand an idea

4) giving an honest opinion on something in class

 

The rule itself is a GENERAL rule, a direction for an action but is not the action itself.  The examples (1-4) are just a few SPECIFIC details taken from separate situations that all have the same "theme" in common:  different ways a student can the truth.  

This is what is meant by "general to specific":  starting with a general statement based in an IDEA (such as "truth") and then giving that idea a real-life (specific) identity, name, situation, or experience.   

 

We often are told not to "write like we talk."  By that, teachers almost always mean not to use slang or bad grammar.  While that's a good rule, it's not the most important reason not to write like we talk.  The truth is we tend to talk (in casual conversation) from specific to general, which is the opposite of how we organize formal writings. 

Think about it.  When we're "just talking," we don't have to have a "thesis" or main idea.  We don't have a thesis to announce when we tell a friend good morning at our lockers.  We usually don't have a main idea about anything when we stumble into the kitchen first thing in the morning. 

We start with small talk, gossip about something heard on the news, or maybe just start a conversation based on what we see out the window--all SPECIFIC things with no obvious point.  If the talk goes on long enough though, it may develop into an idea about the weather, about friendship, about politics--sometimes we never reach a "thesis" or a conclusion or walk away with something to prove, but sometimes we walk away with big ideas and set about writing about them, finding specific examples, so we can understand where they fit into our lives. 

 

As humans, we describe things to feel them.  We have to feel them to understand them.  That's just the way we are.  So I guess I lied before--there's no way to avoid talk, not without staying ignorant. 

 

In writing essays, a GENERAL IDEA that sums up all the experiences we want to communicate takes the form of what we call "main ideas," "thesis statements," or whatever.  And we save the BEST specifics for last because, well, it's just more entertaining that way.

 

So remember, GTS:  "general to specific."  This is the secret/non-secret to getting good grades on formal writing.