Your professor has just given you an assignment. You are required to write a paper about a specific topic, or to come up with a topic of your own. You begin to panic. "Where do I start?" you may ask yourself. "How do I begin?"
First of all, take a deep breath and relax. You can do this! Aside from maintaining a positive attitude, here are a couple of ideas you can use to get yourself organized. Keep in mind that the following techniques and advice can be useful for both research papers and regular essays.
Prewriting techniques
The following procedures help you to unlock your memory and to associate your ideas with other experiences and recollections in order to come up with a workable and interesting paper topic. Three such activities involve directed questioning, freewriting, and brainstorming. You may not need to use all three, but you should acquaint yourself with each activity to find one that is most productive for you.
Directed Questioning
If you already have a topic that interests you but are not sure how to approach it, try directed questioning. Rather than encouraging you to expand your thinking, this method helps you to narrow your broad ideas. These questions may prove helpful:
How can I describe the topic? How can I define the topic? How does the topic resemble or differ form other topics? How does the topic work? How does the topic affect other things? Can I argue for or against the topic? Why does this topic interest me? What ideas are generally associated with the topic?
Freewriting
Many people find that they can bring ideas for developing a topic to the surface through freewriting, a strategy designed to "free" ideas from your subconscious mind and get them down on paper. This kind of writing is "free" in another sense; you don't need to worry about punctuation, correct grammar usage, etc. Your main objective is to write for a sustained period of time (ten to fifteen minutes) without stopping.
Freewriting can be open or focused. If you really do not have any idea what to write about, just begin to write down your impressions and thoughts in an "open" freewrite. Filling the page with words may coax something from your mind. Once you have done this, choose an idea or two from your open freewrite to explore in a more "focused" freewrite. Writing down your thoughts about a more specific idea that came up in your open freewrite will narrow down your topic even more, and hopefully will lead to the idea that will be the basis for your paper.
If you get stuck while you are freewriting and can not think of anything else to write, write the same word over and over again until you can think of something to write. This way you will not break your train of thought.
Brainstorming
Another way to get ideas down on paper quickly is through brainstorming Start with a significant word or phrase, and try to record everything that comes to your mind. If you reach a point where you can no longer come up with any new ideas, ask a friend to help you brainstorm some fresh topics.
After you have finished brainstorming, take a look at the material you have generated. What items seem to go together? What further connections can you see? What ideas and terms do you want to develop? What idea or concept seems to dominate your list? What material is surprising? You may decide to use most of the items you produced, or you may find only a few fragments to keep. However, one of these fragments may point the way to a good paper.
Audience
As you prepare to write about your topic, it is important to consider the audience for whom you are writing. If your audience is only your professor, for example, he or she may not require as much background information about a topic as would be required for a more general audience of your peers. Knowing who your audience is will help you decide how much information to present, and in what manner to present it. Be sure to ask your professor if you are unsure about the audience your paper should be intended for.
Organizing your topic
Whether you have come up with a topic on your own or whether you are given a specific question to answer, after you determine your audience, the next step is often to consider the order in which you will present information about your topic. An essay usually follows this structured format: introduction, body, and conclusion.
Note: Some writers are not comfortable thinking about the order of their ideas before they write them. They may prefer to write a rough draft of their paper by letting their ideas flow freely and then crafting a structure for their thoughts. This can produce excellent writing. However, keep in mind that whether you start your paper by working from a specific structure or whether you start by writing freely and then restructuring your ideas to follow a certain order, it is still important to have a strong sense of organization in your paper that works to support your main idea. In your final draft your ideas should not just flow randomly; the reader should sense that there is a reason why you have chosen to structure your ideas the way you have.
1. Your introduction will begin with a broad general statement related to your thesis.
An introduction gets the reader's attention and gives the reader enough background information to understand your thesis, which is usually the last sentence in your introduction. A good introduction does not depend on the reader being too familiar with the topic or assigned question. It also avoids being too general or obvious, and defines key words or terms that are important to the reader's understanding of the topic. In addition, it sets the overall tone of the paper, whether it be informative, persuasive, personal, formal, etc.
Think of your introduction as a way to prepare the reader for your main idea - start off general (but not boring), and lead up to what you want the reader to believe by the end of your paper.
What is a thesis statement?
A thesis statement is a sentence that communicates the main idea of your paper to the reader. Your thesis tells the reader what point you are going to make about your topic. If someone were to ask you, "What is the main idea you want people to believe after reading your paper?", the sentence you would give in reply is your thesis statement. Remember that a thesis statement does more than simply introduce the reader to the topic of your paper; a thesis statement takes a stand on a topic.
Example:
Topic: Researching information on the internet
Thesis: Researching information on the internet has many disadvantages, including unreliable web sites, the large amount of time it takes to find valuable information, and the difficulty of verifying the truth of the information found.
Why is a thesis statement necessary?
Aside from making a paper more organized, a thesis causes you to focus your thoughts as you write. Knowing what the main point of your essay is allows you to narrow down your information. You are then able to include information that is relevant to your paper and weed out any unnecessary data.
Examples of how a thesis statement can be written:
A good thesis statement can be written in four different ways (or a combination of these styles may be used).
1. A strong controversial statement--
Bilingual education has not fulfilled its early promise.
2. A call to action--
All inner-city schools should set up bilingual programs.
3. A question that will be answered in the essay--
What can bilingual education accomplish for a child? It can lead to academic and personal development.
4. A preview or forecast of the structure of the essay--Bilingual education suffers from two main problems: the shortage of trained teachers and the lack of parental involvement.
A thesis statement in a persuasive essay:
A thesis in a persuasive essay demonstrates where you stand on the issue. Although you consider alternative and opposing arguments, you state your opinion clearly. Here is an example of a weak thesis statement in a persuasive essay and its revision.
Needs Revision:
Bilingual education has advantages and disadvantages.
(This is a statement of fact; it does not express a conclusion or take a stand on the issue. This statement is too vague.)
Revision:
A bilingual program is more effective than an immersion program in helping students to succeed academically.
(This thesis is not a simple statement of fact, but rather an opinion that will be supported with evidence in the paper.)
Final thesis tips:
Once you have developed a good thesis, write it on an index card and prop it up next to your computer so you will stick to the main point of your paper as you write.
Also, remember that you may want to change your thesis statement as you discover new views and information, and that's okay. It's easier to change your thesis to fit the information in your paper than it is to go back and try to fit your information to your thesis.
2. The paragraphs in the body of your paper following the introduction can include concrete details, examples/incidents, facts and statistics, and supporting arguments.
The number of paragraphs in the body of your paper will be determined by the content of your paper. Remember, it is a good idea to stick to one main idea per paragraph, without switching to new topics or digressing.
Each sentence within your paragraphs should relate to the main topic sentence of that paragraph (the sentence that states what the paragraph is going to be about - usually located at the beginning of each new paragraph). In addition, each paragraph in your essay should support or relate in some way to your thesis statement.
To check whether you are sticking to one topic per paragraph and whether your paragraphs are related closely enough to your thesis, try doing a backwards outline. After you have finished writing your draft, count the number of paragraphs in your essay, writing the numbers on a separate sheet of paper. Then skim your draft and write down enough words next to each number to represent what is in each paragraph.
If you find that you have a lot of words with little relationship to each other next to your numbers, you should probably go back to your draft and rework your paragraphs so that they each cover only one main idea. Also, if you find that you have paragraphs which cover information unrelated to your thesis, you might want to consider either cutting or modifying those paragraphs in some way. Finally, doing a backwards outline like this will show you whether or not you have followed a consistant outline in the organization of your ideas, and it will assist you in reorganizing your ideas if necessary so that you are following a consistent outline.
3. Your conclusion will summarize the main points in your essay.
Your concluding paragraph should also include (usually at the very beginning or the very end of your paragraph) a restatement of your thesis using different words. You should end your conclusion on a strong note, without apologizing for anything in your paper and without introducing completely new ideas that were not covered in your paper. It is often a good idea to end your conclusion with a call to action or a comment regarding the future as related to your topic.
Working from an outline
Once you have a general idea of what will go in the introduction, body, and conclusion of your paper, the next step can be to develop a more specific outline in which you break down what specifically will be in each paragraph of your essay. Although some students find it more effective to create an outline based on a draft that they have already written, creating an outline ahead of time can help keep your writing more focused than inventing paragraphs as you go. Either method can create great writing - you might want to experiment with both methods to see which one works best for you.
The purpose of an outline:
An outline helps organize your ideas. An outline presents your material in a logical form. An outline shows the relationship between the ideas in your writing. An outline constructs an ordered overview of your writing. An outline defines boundaries and groups within your paper.
An important part of outlining your ideas is to remain consistent. For example, if you are presenting information or ideas in a certain order at the beginning of your paper, don't switch that order half way through your paper. This may confuse your reader. Try to make it obvious to your readers why and how you are presenting your information so that they don't have to work at figuring out your organization as they are reading your paper.
Here is an example of an outline covering the topic of rain forest preservation.
OUTLINE
I. Introduction
A. Square miles
B. Location
C. Thesis:
Because of the valuable characteristics rain forests possess, the rapid destruction of the forests is creating negative effects on the environment.
II. Characteristics of rain forests
A. Variety of species
B. Value of rain forests
1. Medicinal values
2. Food values
III. The destruction of rain forests
A. Rate at which rain forests are destroyed
B. Reasons why rain forests are destroyed
1. Poverty
2. Large company projects
IV. Effects on environment
A. Extinction of species
B. Global warming
V. Reactions
VI. Conclusion
A. Restate thesis
B. Key role
C. Consequences
Transitions
Once you understand how to organize the ideas in your paper, the next step is to figure out how to create logical transitions between those ideas. A transition serves as a bridge connecting one paragraph, sentence, or word with another. Not only does a transition signal a connection, it also identifies the kind of connection by indicating to readers how the item preceding the transition relates to that which follows. Transitions help readers anticipate how the next paragraph or sentence will affect the meaning of what they have just read.
Transitional words and phrases showing logical relations:
To introduce another item in a series: first, second, in the second place; for one thing...for another; next; then; furthermore; moreover; in addition; finally; last; also; similarly; besides; and; as well as.
To introduce an illustration or other specification: in particular; specifically; for instance; for example; that is; namely.
To introduce a result or a cause: consequently; as a result; hence; accordingly; thus; so; therefore; then; because; since; for.
To introduce a restatement: that is; in other words; in simpler terms; to put it differently.
To introduce a conclusion or summary: in conclusion; finally; all in all; evidently; clearly; actually; to sum up; altogether; of course.
To introduce an opposing point: but; however; yet; nevertheless; on the contrary; on the other hand; in contrast; still; neither...nor.
To introduce a concession to an opposing view: certainly; naturally; of course; it is true; to be sure; granted.
To resume the original line of reasoning after a concession: nonetheless; all the same; even though; still; nevertheless.
An easy way to go about making transitions between paragraphs is to use the 1/2 and 1/2 method. When you begin a new paragraph, the first sentence of that paragraph should be half of what you just said and half of what you are now going to say. However, the trick is that you need to find the connecting idea between the two paragraphs.
Example:
Cats are the greatest pets to have. They are friendly, cuddly, and intelligent companions. Many people value their cats so much that the cats seem like members of their family. Cats also do not need to be walked, or otherwise exercised, very much. A ball of string is enough to keep them busy for hours.
In addition to cats being great pets, dogs are also wonderful pets to have. They provide protection in addition to companionship, and they also help their owners get exercise through taking walks. Dogs are great for cheering people up if they are in bad moods, and they are extremely loyal pets to have.
The connecting idea between these two paragraphs is that both cats and dogs make great pets.
Final tips:
Before you become overwhelmed by the entire writing process, here are a couple of final tips that may alleviate some stress and tension.
Instead of just turning on the computer, writing until you have the number of pages required for the assignment, then doing a spell check and turning the paper in, break the writing process down into small chunks. For example, set aside a specific block of time in your day (20 minutes or so) to brainstorm ideas for your paper. When you have completed this step, take a short break. Next, develop an outline that summarizes the main points you want to cover in your paper. After this step is finished, you may then begin to jot down some ideas that could be considered for a thesis statement. This whole process could take place within an hour, or you could spread it out over a day or two if you prefer.
Next, begin writing a rough draft of your paper (it is helpful to start writing the day after you have completed the steps above to give yourself time to think about your paper a little more). Proofread the paper yourself, and then give it to a friend. He or she may be able to find errors that you overlooked the first time and offer other helpful suggestions. Rewrite and revise until you come up with an end product that you can be proud of. This process can take one day or more than a week, depending on the amount of time you have and the amount of work you are willing to put forth to produce a strong piece of writing.
Remember, the writing process is a procedure that takes time, time, and more time. Do not expect yourself to sit down the night before a paper is due and create a masterpiece. Give yourself ample time to organize, structure, and edit your paper. In addition, it is important to go back and revise your draft several times. Try not to think of your papers as being "done," however tempting that may be; strong writers recognize that writing is a constant process of revisions to improve not only content but sentence structure and style as well.
Finally, remember that if you would like additional help with a paper, free assistance is available at the Hawley Academic Resource Center. Just call us at 961-1524 to make an appointment.
Prewriting Strategies
What Is Prewriting?
Prewriting is the first stage of the writing process and the point at which we discover and explore our initial ideas about a subject. Prewriting helps us to get our ideas on paper, though not usually in an organized form, and brainstorm thoughts that might eventually make their way into our writing. Listed below are some of the most common types of prewriting techniques. You should become familiar with all of these and figure out the one that works best for you. The different types of prewriting that we will explore here are freewriting, brainstorming, clustering, tagmemics, and journalistic technique.
Some Useful Prewriting Strategies
Freewriting involves jotting down on paper all of the ideas you have on a particular topic before you even begin to read about it or do research. You are not worried about complete sentences, proper spelling, or correct punctuation and grammar. Instead, you are interested in “dumping” all of the information you have on paper. You should write everything that comes into your head—even if it doesn’t necessarily make sense yet. Give your self a set amount of time (maybe five to ten minutes), and write down everything that comes to mind about your topic.
Example: I have to write a paper about the environment. I have no idea where to start! I know there are many problems with the environment, but I don’t know much about this topic. Maybe I could take a look at my biology book to come up with some ideas. I know my biology professor is also really into the environment, so maybe I could ask for his help. I remember he was talking about hybrid cars in class the other day and how much better those are for the environment. What is a hybrid car? I know it uses some sort of alternative fuel and they are becoming very popular. Maybe that is something I could write about…
Brainstorming
Much like freewriting, brainstorming involves capturing all of the thoughts, ideas, and fragments in your head and writing them down on paper. Often, brainstorming looks more like a list while freewriting may look more like a paragraph. With either strategy, your goal is to get as many ideas down on paper as you can.
Example: Environment
Problems
Future
Cars
Alternative fuels
Hybrid cars
Costs
Benefits?
Clustering
With this technique, you start with a circle in the middle that contains your main idea and then you draw lines to other, smaller circles that contain sub-ideas or issues related to the main idea. Try to group like ideas together so as to organize yourself.
Example: About the value of a college education
Particle, Wave, Field (Tagmemics)
The basic idea underlying tagmemics can be easily stated: an object, experience, or idea can be viewed as a particle (a static unit), a wave (a dynamic unit changing over time), or a field (a unit seen in the context of a larger network of relationships). Each of these perspectives encourages you to ask different kinds of questions about your subject (represented here as X).
- Particle perspective: What is X?
- Wave perspective: How has X changed over time?
- Field perspective: How does X relate to Y or Z?
Example:
If you view something as a particle, you focus on it as a static (still) entity. For example, if you were exploring ideas for a sociology paper on the transformation of the American nuclear family, you could use a particle perspective to ask questions like the following:
- What does the term nuclear family mean?
- Who formulated the term nuclear family?
- What features characterize the nuclear family?
If you look at a subject from the wave perspective, you view it as dynamic or changing over time. The wave perspective would encourage you to ask the following questions:
- How long has the nuclear family characterized family structure in America?
- When did the nuclear family begin to change?
- What factors have caused the nuclear family to change?
- How might these factors affect the American family in the future?
Finally, if you look at a subject from a field perspective, you ask questions about the way that the subject functions as a part of a larger network of relationships. This perspective would encourage you to ask questions like these:
- How are changes in the structure of the American family related to other changes, such as those in the work force, organized religion, the educational system, and divorce rates?
- What are the consequences of changes in the nuclear family for American life in general? For politics? For social services? For education?
Journalistic Technique
As you may know, journalists have six important questions they need to answer about any story they report: who, what, when, where, why, and how. By answering these questions, journalists can be certain that they have provided the most important information about an event, issue, or problem to their readers.
These questions are also useful to you as writers when you are describing and event or writing an informative essay. As with the exploded moment, this technique allows you to make sure you have provided all of the important and specific details of a situation.
Example:
Suppose that your government professor has asked to write about the political conflict in the Middle East. Using the journalistic technique, you could begin working on the paper by asking yourself the following questions:
- Who is involved in the conflict?
- What issues most clearly divide those engaged in this dispute?
- When did the troubles in the Middle East begin, and how have they developed over time?
- Where does the conflict seem most heated or violent?
- Why have those living in this area found it so difficult to resolve the situation?
- How might this conflict be resolved?
Using the journalistic technique helps you make sure you have answered all of the important questions.
Other Useful Strategies
Aside from the strategies listed on these pages, it is also sometimes useful to discuss your ideas with a classmate, friend, or professor. Often, brainstorming aloud and hearing your ideas in auditory fashion can help you think about ways to start your paper. A great resource is the Writing Lab. You do not have to have a rough draft to go the lab; often, it is useful to go there and brainstorm ideas with one of the tutors. Finally, before you begin your prewriting techniques, make sure you thoroughly understand the purpose and audience for the assignment. Ask questions if you are unsure what you are supposed to do. It is difficult to prewrite if you do not understand the assignment.
Why Use these Techniques?
Though you have already used brainstorming, clustering, or any of a number of other prewriting techniques, the particle, wave, field and journalistic techniques are slightly more formal. Try these new ways of prewriting and compare them to the previous strategies you used. The key to any prewriting is finding something that works for you and also finding a technique that is comprehensive enough. Jotting down a word or sentence or two for prewriting is usually not enough; the more ideas you can get on paper in the early stages of writing, the stronger your final paper will be.
Parting Words
Remember to save all of your prewriting! You will have to turn in this step with the rest of your writing, so make sure you put is somewhere safe until the paper is due. Also, your prewriting will often look very different from the final draft. That’s ok—remember that this is just the first step to get you started writing. Your writing will evolve in each step you take it through.
Works Cited
Ede, Lisa. Work in Progress: A Guide to Academic Writing and Revising. 5th ed. Boston:
Prewriting: Freewriting
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001.
Dawson, Melanie, and Joe Essid. “Pre-Writing: Clustering.” University of Richmond
Writing Center. 31 August 2005.
<http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/cluster.html.>
Freewriting consists of focused but informal writing about the topic at hand. There are four important rules to this activity:
- Write for a short, specified time (5, 10, 15 minutes).
- Keep your hand moving. Don't stop writing until the time is up. If you're having trouble finding the right word, draw a line and keep going, or use a less than perfect word in its stead: you can always go back and fix it later. If you can't think of anything to say, just keep writing you last word, or your name, or "I'm stuck" over and over again: the words will come.
- Turn off the internal editor, the one who tells you to go back and dot that "i" and cross that "t," tells you that this or that idea is stupid, or tells you that you've just written a run-on sentence or fragment.
- When the specified time is up, go back over the text and circle the surprises and draw arrows connecting ideas or themes: identify those passages/ideas/phrases that should carry over into your text.
Follow the writing; find out what you have to say by just saying it (on paper). Feel free to change topics or areas of focus, but try to follow the writing where it wants to go. Trust yourself and your writing.
- Pros: Freewriting is a terrific memory stimulator. This activity reminds you of what we already know and helps you to make connections you might not otherwise make. It helps you to get past the sterile, static, surface responses so that you can burn through to the insightful and fresh "meat" of what you really want to say.
- Cons: Freewriting is a time-consuming activity and does not guarantee brilliant results. It is possible to achieve only a clear idea of what you don't want to write.
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