The Writing Process (preparing part two ... and Step Two: Planning)

Last time, we talked about the first step of the writing process, focusing on determining your purpose and your audience. I ended with determining your subject and mentioned that it's often necessary to do some brainstorming to get started (this is still part of the preparing process).

There are three brainstorming activities I often recommend: freewriting, clustering, and mind-mapping.

The theory with freewriting is that you start with an idea or a thought and expand on it through just writing whatever comes to mind. This is a great exercise for kinesthetic learners because it gives them a hands-on approach. The theory with clustering is that you start with an idea or a thought and expand on it through logical hierarchy. This is a great exercise for visual learners because it gives them a linear view. Mind-mapping is a combination of the two and works well with most learners.

Okay. You've completed step one! You've determined your purpose, audience, and subject.

FINALLY!

Let's move on to Step Two: Planning.

This step is often skipped, but I learned the hard way how important it is. I used to skip planning. I'd go directly from preparing to drafting, and usually did okay in high school and as an undergrad. However, when I started grad school and began writing longer papers, I realized how important a good outline can be (my first few papers weren't as well-structured as they could have been, and once I began outlining, my drafts flowed much more smoothly!). I encourage you to incorporate this step with all your writing assignments!

When you begin planning, follow these four steps:



You will have determined your topic during your preparing, so now you're delving more deeply into that topic. A couple of blogs ago, I talked about developing a good thesis, so review that blog as a refresher. As a quick reminder:



Next, put together an outline (the same blog mentioned above deals with outlines as well, so take a look at it again). Outlines help to structure your essay and help you determine if you have enough support.


A sample outline:





See how a good outline can help structure your essay? If you have solid main and supporting points, you already have your paragraph topics!

Once you've written your thesis and have a well-developed outline, you're ready to move on to Step Three: Drafting. We'll talk about this next time.

Keep pen to paper!

Prof. Rinehart

The Writing Process: Step One (Preparing, part one)

One of the most difficult parts of writing is simply getting started. I highly recommend your following some kind of process to help get past that dreaded "writer's block." If you Google "writing process," you'll get countless responses. Some recommend three steps; others recommend five steps. I recommend seven. This blog will cover the first step: Preparing.

Before we start, let's take a quick true/false quiz.

So, what do you think?

Now, comes the hard part. While you may feel confident that you're not alone in this sometimes frustrating world of essay writing, you still may be asking: How do I get started?

STEP #1: Preparing

First, you need to determine three key elements: Purpose, Audience, and Subject. Until you know these three things, you can't really get started.

Purpose is the "why." Why are you writing this essay? The obvious answer for academic essays is often "to get a grade." While that's certainly true, you also need to understand what kind of essay you're writing. Are telling a story? Analyzing a piece of literature?  Explaining a procedure? You need to decide what your purpose is.

Next, you need to determine your audience. This is the "who." To whom are you writing? Yes, your instructor will be reading your paper (and of course, grading it!), but usually, he or she is standing in for a general audience.

Finally, you need to determine your subject. This is the "what." About what are you writing? Most often with academic papers, your subject will be given to you (or at least you'll have a choice of prompts or subjects). If this is the case, you can go write on to developing your thesis (see blog on that topic). However, if you find yourself having to come up with a topic of your own, you may want to try some brainstorming. Unfortunately, I'm running out of space, so come back next time for brainstorming and Step Two: Planning.

Keep pen to paper!

Prof. Rinehart