Course: Writing and Editing: Drafting

Welcome to “Writing and Editing: Drafting,” the third course in the four-course Good with Words: Writing and Editing series. This series of courses targets the writing side of that recommendation. …

By the end of Week 4, you will be able to: Embrace the power of naming things See how it can be good if your “pencils outlast your erasers” No …

By the end of Week 3, you will be able to: Practice “writing before you are ready” Understand how starting drafts early can make your research process more efficient See …

Consider revisiting Richard Posner’s How I Write essay published in Scribes Journal for Legal Writing in 1993. When you are ready to move on, click Next.

By the end of Week 1, you will be able to: Develop personalized defaults Experiment with temptation bundling Embrace the idea of a “sh@*ty first draft” Increase your comfort with …

Professor Patrick Barry is a clinical assistant professor and the director of digital academic initiatives at the University of Michigan Law School. His teaching and research focus on creating a …

For a short history of semicolons: Read Has Modern Life Killed the Semicolon? (Slate, 2008) For a longer history of semicolons: Read Semicolon: Past, Present and Future by Cecila Watson …

For more on semicolons: Read The Most Feared Punctuation Mark on Earth (The Oatmeal, 2020) Listen Divide and Conquer (Revisionist History Podcast, 2018) Some people have helpfully flagged an error …

If needed, take some time to review the first two courses in this series:  Writing and Editing: Word Choice and Word Order Writing and Editing: Structure and Organization Otherwise, click …

Teaching Style My approach to teaching focuses on three things: Creating an engaging conceptual vocabulary people can use and share. Providing plenty of opportunities for low-stakes practice. Helping people apply …