The Liberal

New Book Helps People

By Geoff Roberts

As a child, Bernie Gaidosch was teased mercilessly for his halting English and accent.

Today, he is helping students write better with his book The Professor's Secrets: Breaking The Silence--How to Write Essays and Term Papers.

"The taunts (suffered as a child) caused grief and I vowed I would learn this language so well," Gaidosch said. " As I got a little bit older, I thought, 'Wouldn't it be neat if I could learn it so well that I could teach it to their kids"?

Gaidosch was born in Europe. He taught himself English by watching television.

"I was aware of TV with "I Love Lucy", "Tugboat Annie" and "Gunsmoke" and absorbed the language," Gaidosch said. "I turned to comic books and whatever books I could read. I did well in any subject that had reading in it--better than in the sciences."

Gaidosch eventually went into post secondary studies, earning an M.A. and B.A. (Hons.) when he was 35. Gaidosch is now a professor of English at George Brown College and has been teaching students the finer points of writing since 1976.

During his teaching career, Gaidosch found a significant number of students had great ideas, but could not organize them on paper. He was always asked how students could improve their marks.

"The students only had one hour appointments with me and I thought, 'What can you do in an hour, it's too small?'" Gaidosch said. "I had to focus my knowledge for clarity and make it short and sweet. In the late 80s and early 90s my focusing device kicked in and the chapters for the book started evolving through the one-hour sessions as an extension of that."

In his book, Gaidosch asks students to approach an essay as though it were the answer to a question. He then has them start the writing process in reverse order with the conclusion first, then the body, and then the introduction.

" If an essay is an answer to a question, then the conclusion must be the destination you are taking the reader to," Gaidosch said. "The danger (of starting other sections first) is putting the answer in your introduction. Intro, body and conclusion will become different answers if done wrong."

Gaidosch believes being able to think and answer questions is the same as being able to write. "It's something you do every day as you give answers all the time."

"Writing equals thinking; what you think is what you write and how you think is how you write. If thinking changes what you can do with your writing, change your thinking."

Professor Bernie Gaidosch is helping students write better with his book The Professor's Secrets: Breaking The Silence -- How to Write Essays and Term Papers.

Professor Gaidosch's writing manual is not available in stores but is available by calling toll free 1-877- 439-3999.

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