1. I feel like I'm always using was in a sentence. How can I correct this? What lesson should I look at to help me?
2. When I have a paper due for class, I have a hard time with the assignment because I don't understand how any student can take a subject that has been written about in multiple articles and from that provide the reader with any new information. It seems like it's still paraphrasing. I mean if you really know a lot about the subject maybe it wouldn't feel that way, but how can you make their work your work?

The verbs 'to be, to do, to get, to go, to have, to make, to occur, to use' are 'weak' and boring verbs if over-used.
Why not post a few typical sentences of yours, and we can thrash out how to revitalise your writing.

"What lesson should I look at to help me?"
Maybe this is something that Grammar Monster could have a section on in the future. In the meantime, you could consult a book, "The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier", which covers this issue in one of its chapters: 'The Delicious Drama of the Weak Verb." It's available on Amazon for £2 +p&p.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Curious-Case-Misplaced-Modifier-Mysteries/dp/1582975612/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405255148&sr=1-1&keywords=curious+case+of+the+misplaced+modifier

I admire your quest for originality.
Our high school education is geared to acquiring the basics of our chosen subjects. A university undergraduate degree introduces us to the breadth and depth of our current knowledge in a specific area.
It is only when we know WHAT IS KNOWN, that tantalising questions come to mind, and we have an opportunity to add to human knowledge with a Master's or Ph.D. thesis.

"but how can you make their work your work?"
This takes us back to your first question, and transforming some dusty academic writings into a vibrant retelling!

Thank you. Am I allowed to post a letter, not an assignment, and let you improve it, so I can get the idea. I study info on writing skills,; I seem to understand what I study but putting the info into use becomes a problem. Reading is my favorite pastime, so you would think that would also help me to write well ? good. I will consult your suggested resource.

Yes, post your letter and I'll have a go.

This is my first letter since grade school, and at that time I really enjoyed writing to another person. I am going to write to you as if I was journaling. Im going to type and let my thoughts freely flow. I will tell you about my first experience as a landlord. My husband, Miles, and I moved this past winter. We were undecided if we wanted to rent, sell, or allow someone to rent to own our place. We had a number of people look at our house. This one girl kept persistently pursuing me to rent the home. She would not have been my first selection, but she managed to convince me that she really liked our house and was going to make it her home. She presented me with tax papers from 2013 as if she worked at State Farm Insurance Company. I told her I didnt think she made enough money to cover the monthly expenses. She said she had a fiancé of seven years who was wealthy and helped to pay her bills, so I told her we would give it a try. The first month her boyfriend wrote a check for the rent and deposit. The second month she was to mail me the rent. Well, I didn't receive it, so I called her. She said she had to take her 24 year old son in for emergency surgery. The next day I went over to the house and he answered the door and he looked perfectly fine. She wasn't home. I called her and she told me she would bring over the payment three days in a row. She never did. I received an electric bill for the place, and I called to ask why the electric wasn't in her name. She said all there must have been some mistake just bring it over and put it in the mailbox. I waited four days and called the company and she still didn't take care of it. I contacted the court and they told me to post a three day eviction letter of the door, which I did, but three days came and went and she still did not leave. I told her on a Wednesday that my husband and I were coming inside the house on Saturday. She said you cannot come into my home. I talked to fair housing and your not allowed. Well, I then called fair housing and was told I could go into my home as long as I gave her a forty eight hour notice. I told her on Wednesday we would be coming into the house on Saturday. So, on Saturday she called to tell me they were cleaning and packing and would be out by 6 p.m. Well, around six she sent me a message telling me she was tired and would not be done packing till Sunday at noon., so I said okay. Because the next step in the eviction process would have cost me 100.00 , and also at least a month in time, so I thought great she is leaving on her own. On Sunday at noon she did not call me, so I called her and told her I would be over at two. She said that is fine the keys will be on the counter. Well, when I went to the house, I could smell the house even before I went inside. She had fly strips hanging in every room, which I never use. There was old and new dog crap on the carpet and walls. Prior to her moving into our house, we spent two months getting the place ready. We got the walls repaired and painted and all new carpet. This girl had a one year lease the people that lived in the home included her, her 24 year old son, who she claimed had one quarter of school left and then would be moving out, and her 3 year old granddaughter that she had custody of. She said she had one small dog that was trained. She was to cut the grass once a week. It has almost an acre in the country. She left a mattress in the yard, a couch in the shed, and a bed frame and box springs in the house. We picked up six large garbage bags of trash inside and we haven't even put a dent in it. My refrigerator and mower were stolen. I contacted the police department and an officer came to the house but said this was a civil matter and there was nothing he could do. He said I could take her to small claims court, but I would have to know her current address. I ended up driving by her boyfriends houses and it appeared as if she was living there. I received a notice from a rental company to call them. I thought that was wired because I don't rent anything. Here this tenant had rented a television, computer, tractor, and stove from them, and she was not making payments, and they wanted to contact her to recover their property. The manager at the rental company showed me a land contract that my tenant had typed up saying she was buying a trailer from me, and she had actually signed my name to it. I don't own a trailer and we don't have a land contract. I went to the police to file forgery and falsification charges. I was given a case number and told to call back in a few days. I was told the officer couldn't get her to answer the door at her boyfriends and therefore couldn't get her side of the story. I called the county prosecuted. I was not going to let this go. I was told the police had 7-10 days to submit the police report to them and the jury would determine if they had enough evidence to take her to court. I reported the tenant to child protective services because I thought the way the place looked was not a safe place for a child. I contacted animal control. Apparently, the tenant was convicted in 1970 of animal cruelty. She had left a rental back then with dog crap all over and had abandoned two dogs within the home. My old neighbor told me she saw the tenant and her boyfriend load a refrigerator onto the moving van. The tenants previous manager has a civil case against her. I am the third person she has done this to and got away with it. State Farm has no employee by her name. She presented 2013 tax papers to the rental company saying she had her own business...child care. So much time has passed that I don't believe the prosecutor is going to act on this, and I'm out 2,400 dollars. It's no wonder people don't like to rent their homes.

Let’s look at the first 15 lines, and the rhythm of the letter:
This is my first letter
I am going to write
I will tell you
We were undecided
We had a number
This one girl kept
She would not have been
She presented me
I told her
She said she had a
She said she had to take
She wasn't home.
I called her
I received an electric bill

The sentences are constructed without variety, in a subject + verb, ‘I will’,‘I told’, ‘I received’,’she said’ style; and this continues throughout.

“She said she had one small dog that was trained. She was to cut the grass once a week. It has almost an acre in the country. She left ... We picked up six large bags…”

“I went to the police ... I was given a case number and told to call back in a few days. I was told the officer … I called the county prosecutor. I was not going to let this go. I was told … I reported…”

By choosing to write as if journaling these events, you have limited yourself to a recounting of bald facts. Nevertheless, let’s see if a section could be made a little more vivid.
You write:

“Well, when I went to the house, I could smell the house even before I went inside. She had fly strips hanging in every room, which I never use. There was…This girl had a one year lease the people that lived in the home included her, her 24 year old son, who she claimed had one quarter of school left and then would be moving out, and her 3 year old granddaughter that she had custody of…She left a mattress in the yard, a couch in the shed, and a bed frame and box springs in the house. We picked up six large garbage bags of trash inside and we haven't even put a dent in it. My refrigerator and mower were stolen.”

I’m not Evelyn Waugh, but I came up with:

“As I approached the front door, I was assailed by the stench emanating from within. Bracing myself, I ventured inside, to be confronted with old and new dog crap on the carpet and walls, and fly strips hanging in every room. With the dog crap attracting the flies, the strips were black with the unsuspecting ones that had alighted and found it their final resting place. This girl had taken a one-year lease, and lived there with her 24-year-old son and three-year-old granddaughter, whom she has custody of. I shuddered to think that a small child had been living in such appalling mess and that perhaps the dog crap on the walls was her finger-painting. The amount of trash was such that filling six bags made no dent in it. What we really needed was a skip, what with an old mattress left in the yard, a couch in the shed, and a bed and box springs. However, she did take my refrigerator and my mower! “

Hope that is of some help.

Thank you. I'm going to continue to study the info on this web site and may mail you a letter in the future.

Hope to hear from you again, Christy.