GENERATING IDEAS & TOPICS FOR WRITING

Brainstorming. The most immediate way to begin exploring a topic is also the most simple and familiar: Talk about it with your friends, your

classmates, a tutor, and/or your instructor. This exploratory talk can work effectively for you in two ways: As you talk about your topic, you can

hear your mind at work, articulating what you think about the topic and what you most need to know about it. You can also find someone else,

another instructor or someone who works in a related job, for example, who knows about your topic and talk with him or her, listening carefully

and taking notes.

Freewriting. Freewriting is a method of exploring a topic by writing about it—or whatever else it brings to mind—for an uninterrupted period of

time and without concern for form or correctness. Begin by setting a time limit for yourself (5 or 10 minutes). Then let your mind wander over

your topic, writing down everything that occurs to you. Don’t stop for anything; if necessary, write “I can’t think of what to write next” over and

over until something else occurs to you. Use the full time you allotted to write. When the time is up, look at what you’ve written. You are sure to

find much that is unusable, irrelevant, or nonsensical. But, you will also find important insights and ideas to build your paper on.

Looping. Looping is a form of focused freewriting that narrows or focuses a topic in 5-minute stages, or loops. Begin by freewriting for 5 minutes.

Then, read over what you have written to identify a central thread or important idea in those thoughts and begin writing for a second 5 minutes,

following that thread or idea wherever it leads you. Keep this looping process going until you feel comfortable that you have discovered and

developed a clear and productive angle on your topic that will focus your essay.

Listing. Like freewriting, listing is a method of free association of ideas. Just let your mind wander freely over your topic, jotting down key words

as they come to you. Don’t even bother trying to write out your ideas in complete paragraphs or sentences. Just a random list of related words

and phrases is all you should aim for.

Clustering. Clustering is a way of building on the ideas generated by freewriting or listing and organizing those ideas into a visual diagram or

chart. Like a more formal outline, a cluster diagram is especially helpful in understanding and representing the relationships among ideas. Begin

by writing down a topic or main idea in the middle of a blank piece of paper and circle it. In a ring around that main idea, write down what you see

as the component parts (or subtopics) of the main topic. Circle each and draw a line from it to the main idea. Think of any ideas, examples, facts,

or other details relating to each subtopic. Write each down near the appropriate subtopic, circle it, and draw a line connecting it—the new

information—to the subtopic. Repeat this process until you exhaust your ideas about the topic. Some trails may dead-end, but you will still have

generated some extended trains of thought to follow and many useful connections among ideas to explore in your essay.

Reporters’ Questions. A more structured way of finding something to say about your topic is to ask the kinds of questions news reporters ask

when they write their stories. Your answers to these questions will allow you to explore your topic in an orderly and systematic fashion. Ask

yourself the following six questions: Who? What? Where? When? How? And Why? Keep in mind that these questions can be repeated to explore

your topic from a variety of different perspectives (e.g., Who are the characters I’m describing? Who is my audience? What is my main idea? What

am I trying to accomplish in this paper?). Also, each question can be used to help develop and elaborate on the others (e.g., What happened?

Where and when did it happen? Who did it? How was it done? Why was it done?).

Purpose audience and tone

Paragraphs separate ideas into logical, manageable chunks. One paragraph focuses on only one main idea and presents coherent sentences to

support that one point. Because all the sentences in one paragraph support the same point, a paragraph may stand on its own. To create longer

assignments and to discuss more than one point, writers group together paragraphs.

Three elements shape the content of each paragraph:

1. Purpose. The reason the writer composes the paragraph.

2. Tone. The attitude the writer conveys about the paragraph’s subject.

3. Audience. The individual or group whom the writer intends to address.

Essay elements

1. DEA: the general proposition or thesis that your essay argues about its TOPIC, whether it's spelled out fully at the start or revealed

gradually. It should be (1) true, but (2) arguable--not obviously true, and (3) limited enough in scope to be argued in a short composition

and with available evidence. (In the early stages, you might think of your idea as a HYPOTHESIS, to help keep it open to change as you test

it in drafting.)

2. MOTIVE: a reason for writing, suggested at the start of the essay and echoed throughout, establishing why you thought the topic needed

taking up and why the reader should care (the "so what" factor). Perhaps

the truth isn't what one would expect, or what it might appear to be on first reading

there's an interesting wrinkle in the matter, a complexity

the standard opinion of this work (as great, or as -dull or minor) needs challenging

there's a contradiction, or paradox, or tension here that needs some sorting out

there's an ambiguity here, something unclear, that could mean two or more things

there's a mystery or puzzle here, a question that presents itself

we can learn something interesting about a larger phenomenon by studying this smaller one

there's a published view of this that's mistaken, or needs qualifying

he published views conflict

this seemingly tangential or insignificant matter is actually interesting, or important

and so on.

3. STRUCTURE: the shape your idea takes, the sequence of sub-topics and sections through which it is unfolded and developed. This happens

by the complementary activities of CONVINCING your reader and EXPLORING your topic.

Convincing requires you to push forward insistently, marshalling evidence for your idea, in a firm, logical structure of clear sections--

each section proving further the truth of the idea.

Exploring requires you to slow down and contemplate the various aspects of your topic--its complications, difficulties, alternatives to

your view, assumptions, backgrounds, asides, nuances and implications.

The challenge is to make your essay's structure firm and clear while still allowing for complication--without making it feel mechanical

or like a laundry list. (Just as you might think of your idea, at the draft stage, as a hypothesis, you might think of your structure, when

it's a provisional outline of sections, as merely a plan.)

4. EVIDENCE: the facts or details, summarized or quoted, that you use to support, demonstrate, and prove your main idea and sub-ideas.

Evidence needs to be

ample and concrete--enough quotation and vivid summary so readers can experience the texture of the work, its sound and feel, so

they feel able to judge your analysis

explicitly connected to the idea--so it's always clear exactly what inference is being made from the evidence, exactly how the details

support the idea or sub-idea.

5. EXPLANATION: bits of background information, summary, context to orient the reader who isn't familiar with the text you're discussing. This

includes

essential plot information

precise locating of scene or comment (e.g. "in the opening scene/ the climactic scene/ the opening volley, where the protagonist/

where the author/ where the critic wonders, considers, proposes...., we find....)

setting up a quotation, telling who's speaking it, in what context, and what the reader should be listening for in it.

6. COHERENCE: smooth flow of argument created by

transition sentences that show how the next paragraph or section follows from the preceding one, thus sustaining momentum

echoing key words or resonant phrases quoted or stated earlier.

7. IMPLICATION: places where you speculate on the general significance of your particular analysis of a particular text; you suggest what

issues your argument raises about the author's work generally, or about works of its kind (e.g. all short stories), or about the way fiction or

criticism works, etc.

8. PRESENCE: the sensation of life in the writing, of a mind invested in and focused on a subject, freely directing and developing the essay--not

surrendering control (out of laziness or fear) to easy ideas, sentiments, or stock phrases.

Parts of essay

The Body is the main part of the essay. In an argument essay, it is divided into two or three paragraphs, giving your opinion and reasons.

Each paragraph in the body is between FIVE and SEVEN sentences long. .

Conclusion

The Conclusion is the end of the essay. It is a short paragraph – about THREE sentences. It often has the same idea as the Introduction, only in

different words.

Some people think of the essay as a sandwich. The Introduction and Conclusion are the bread, and the Body is the filling in the center. If the

introduction looks good, people will carry on to the body. Hopefully, the conclusion will leave them with a nice taste in their mouth…

Basic essay writing

ese simple steps will guide you through the essay writing process:

Decide on your topic.

Prepare an outline or diagram of your ideas.

Write your thesis statement.

Write the body.

o Write the main points.

o Write the subpoints.

o Elaborate on the subpoints.

Write the introduction.

Write the conclusion.

Add the finishing touches.

Using vivid language

Transcript of Using Vivid Language

One important skill you should take from this course: 

the ability to compose memorable and vivid sentences.

Vivid writers operate with these rules:

#1. They opt for unique and distinctive words where common words might work.

Charles Frazier writes in Cold Mountain:

When planning a persuasive essay, follow these steps

1. Choose your position. Which side of the issue or problem are you going to write about, and what solution will you offer? Know the

purpose of your essay.

2. Analyze your audience. Decide if your audience agrees with you, is neutral, or disagrees with your position.

3. Research your topic. A persuasive essay must provide specific and convincing evidence. Often it is necessary to go beyond your own

knowledge and experience. You might need to go to the library or interview people who are experts on your topic.

4. Structure your essay. Figure out what evidence you will include and in what order you will present the evidence. Remember to

consider your purpose, your audience, and you topic.

Personal essay

) Double-check the assignment (follow instructions)

If you were asked to reflect on a single specific experience, providing a list of six or seven interesting things (with little or no

reflection) won’t be very valuable.

If you were asked to create a mood, or persuade the reader, or describe a change, then a bunch of interesting, accurate, and loosely

connected facts won’t be very valuable.

2) Be specific (rather than general)

Of the following, which is more interesting?

“There are many things that come to mind when I think about what I did on my summer vacation”

“On the three-mile hike from my uncle’s cabin to the swimming hole, I expected to get back to nature, but I didn’t expect to get tired,

get ticks, and get lost.”

3) Plan to revise

You can’t expect to pick up a ball and immediately play like a pro. The star athlete has spent many hours at practice for every hour in the game.

Likewise, even the best writers understand that good writing is the result of a process, and that process includes false starts, confusing

digressions, and dead ends. Nobody, not even professors or novelists, churns out perfect paragraphs the very first time.

4) Show, Don’t (Just) Tell

If your writing teacher asks you to write a personal essay, rather than submitting a laundry list of every detail you can remember on a particular

subject, satisfy your reader by delivering a sustained development of a single, vivid incident that shows your reader what the experience was

like.

5) Make the Important Interesting

Maybe your topic is important to you not because it was a single, huge, momentous event, but rather because it’s part of your everyday life.

Perhaps it’s something that you’ve never really examined in detail before.

6) Use Dialogue Effectively

“If your essay includes quoted speech, punctuate the dialogue properly,” said the helpful professor, who also recommend the handout

7. Organize your Ideas

For a paper with a thesis that argues point, try a reasoning blueprint.

For a paper that narrates a story, try connecting the beginning and the ending. A satisfying essay will introduce an idea, an image, or even a

word, without fully revealing its significance until the end.

This connection can be explicit: