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Share Your Voice: Resources
- Remember that writing usually involves numerous drafts; that is, authors very rarely get it exactly right the first time. Try to stay focused on the ideas you identified in your plan (see the Identify Knowledge section of this guide) when you’re writing your first draft, and you can polish the document in subsequent drafts. If new ideas emerge as you’re writing, refer back to your plan to determine if the ideas fit in your current work, and if so, decide the best place for them in the document. For more suggestions, see Start Writing the First Draft.
- If you feel like you’re getting stuck in your writing, you might be experiencing writer’s block. Writer’s block happens to all writers, and there are many different things you can try to keep moving forward in your writing. Please visit Overcoming Writer’s Block for tips and suggestions.
- Refer back to resources such as the Introduction to Academic Writing video and the Writing an Academic Paragraph video for information on the structure and style that is typically expected in academic writing, including suggestions of how to make your writing clear, concise, and easy to understand.
- Are you citing Traditional Knowledge in your work? If so, please remember that even though the knowledge might reside with an entire community, academic integrity policies ask students to cite their sources of information to avoid plagiarism. Please make sure that you have permission from the appropriate person to share the teachings since not all knowledge is meant to be shared outside a community, and ask permission to cite the individual who gave you the information. See How Should I Cite Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers? for information on citing and referencing Traditional Knowledge.
- When you have a draft that accurately explains your thinking on your topic, you’re ready to prepare the final version and submit it. See Revise the Draft, Edit the Draft, and Prepare the Final Version for tips and resources.
