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Choosing a topic can be extremely difficult—even more difficult than deciding which Ben & Jerry's flavor to try next. No, scratch that. Nothing w...
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How to Avoid Repetition in an Essay 940 Views
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Description:
Reading repetitive essays can bore teachers to death because the essays repeat the same ideas repetitively. You don’t want your teacher to get bored reading your repetitive essay because you could not avoid repeating the same ideas. Yes, writing those two sentences was as painful as reading them.
Transcript
- 00:04
How to avoid repetition in an essay, a la Shmoop.
- 00:11
You know when you go to a family reunion, and your Aunt introduces you to your long-lost
- 00:15
Third Cousin Marty?
- 00:17
You've never met before, and from the looks of him, you're hoping you never will again.
- 00:22
Anyway, we're guessing your conversation goes something like this:
Full Transcript
- 00:25
"Hey."
- 00:25
"Hey."
- 00:26
"What's up?"
- 00:27
"Not much, not much. What's up with you?"
- 00:30
"Not much, you know, not much."
- 00:32
"Yeah."
- 00:33
"Good."
- 00:34
"Good, yeah." Well, all that repetition results from a little
- 00:37
condition we like to callÉ
- 00:39
A Complete and Utter Lack of Anything To Say.
- 00:43
And this is one of the primo vera problemos that leads to too much redundancy in your
- 00:48
writing. Yes, we saw all those red marks up on your
- 00:51
Jane Eyre essay.
- 00:52
But never fear! The Repetition Busting Squad is here!
- 00:56
To get your paper fresh and clean next time, just follow these simple stepsÉ
- 00:59
First, take a look at your notes, and ask yourself:
- 01:02
What is my main argument in this essay?
- 01:05
Then make a list of the evidence you are using to develop that argument.
- 01:09
If you've only got two supporting points for a ten-page essay, you'll quickly find yourself
- 01:13
caught in that redundancy quicksand. Because no matter how hard you stretch 'em,
- 01:18
bend 'em, and flex 'em, those two little points just won't cover it.
- 01:21
Kind of like that little tank top your Cousin Marty was trying to squeeze intoÉ
- 01:26
Next, consider the difference between repeating your main pointÉ
- 01:29
Éand restating it.
- 01:34
As you write, you'll end up coming back to your central argument throughout your essay.
- 01:38
It's inevitable.
- 01:39
But please don't pull the ol' Copy-and-Paste, okay?
- 01:42
Imagine you are building a house.
- 01:44
You've already laid the foundation, but now, you're adding the floorboards.
- 01:47
The whole thing looks kinda different, doesn't it?
- 01:50
You should never be repeating exactly the same argumentÉ
- 01:53
Ébecause the supporting point you've just discussed has made the reader consider your
- 01:57
original thesis in a new light. Cool, huh?
- 02:01
Bet you never knew just how powerful your writing could be.
- 02:03
Oh, and one last tip:
- 02:04
If you find yourself repeating the same word or phrase over and over again, you know what
- 02:12
to doÉ
- 02:12
Éjust consult your handy-dandy Dictionary-Thesaurus-Shmooptionary-Key to Unlocking the English Language.
- 02:19
This is the 21st century, so there're no excuses. And if you ever see Cousin Marty again, you
- 02:22
can impress him with your fresh, rhetorical gymnastics:
- 02:22
"Hey."
- 02:22
"Well hello."
- 02:23
"What's up?"
- 02:23
"Nothing so titillating here, my old chap."
- 02:23
"Huh?"
- 02:24
"I'm great."
- 02:24
"Oh."
- 02:24
"Indubitably."
- 02:24
WeÕre guessing he wonÕt be bothering you much anymore.
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Want even more deets on wordiness? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.
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