Pre-Writing Exercises
Getting Started
·
Think right:
believe in yourself and ability to learn; keep trying and learn from
mistakes
·
Get organized
– Use
a notebook: keep track of handouts and
assignments
– Take
notes: notes help you to retain
important information and stay focused; write down whatever your teacher writes
on the board and specific information about assignments.
– Schedule
study time: don’t leave assignments to
the last minute; schedule regular time
– Use
good resources: teachers, books, on-line
sources, classmates
First Steps to
Writing
·
Understanding the assignment
– Make
sure you are clear on requirements:
Due Date
Length
Format of paper
Topic restrictions
·
Narrowing the topic
– Find
an area of the topic that you can write about
– Narrowing
tree to divide a general topic or subject into more specific parts until you
find a specific topic of interest
– Brainstorming
by thinking of the aspects of the topic or of specific examples and writing
down all the ideas that come to mind (can be done in a group)
·
Determining the writing context
– Purpose: why are you writing, what your goals are, and
what you hope to accomplish; what to include and what to leave out; most
writing is to inform, to persuade, or to entertain.
– Audience: tailor your statements to the person or group
to whom you are speaking; keep in mind your audience’s interests, concerns,
values, educational backgrounds, and attitudes.
– Tone: the writer’s attitude toward the subject or
audience; can range from serious, sarcastic, angry, humorous, condescending,
insensitive, compassionate, etc.
·
Formulating a main idea: think about the direction you might be
heading in or what you might write about; stating a tentative main idea will
help you generate ideas about your narrowed topic more effectively.
Generating Supporting
Ideas
·
Brainstorming:
write down everything you think of regarding this topic; be aware of all
the senses; can be done in phrases; can be done individually or in a group
·
Freewriting:
start writing sentences and paragraphs; write everything that comes to
mind
·
Listing:
visualize and write what comes to mind;
·
Clustering/ Mind map: cluster related ideas together; group or
organize ideas
·
Dividing:
break the topic into its components; use journalistic questions (who,
what, where, when, why how)
Organizing Ideas
·
State the main idea: narrow your topic into a thesis statement;
sometimes this will need to be revised as you gather materials
·
Map your topic:
Use the a table similar to the one below the develop your ideas
|
Supporting Ideas
|
Specific Details
|
Relation to Thesis
|
|
|
|
|
·
Outline:
use the formal outline structure to help organize topics of support and
subtopics. The outline below is an
example of style.
I.
Introduction
A. Specifics
B. Specifics
II. Suppporting idea #1
A. Specifics
B. Specifics
1. Details
2. More details
III. Supporting idea #2
A. Specifics
1. Details
2. More details
B. Specifics
IV. Conclusion
