Stages of writing assignments

If a topic is not assigned, identify a subject that interests you. Refer to your text book, a lecture, a hobby you have that relates to the subject, something that you are curious about.

1. Summarize your topic

State your thesis, theme, or objective in a sentence or two at most:

If the topic is assigned, or when you have identified your subject:

• Note key ideas or words (search terms!) you think will be important. Use only short phrases or individual words at this point Construct a map using these words and phrases
• Identify what you want to do with the concepts! Pick a likely verb (or two) and write out the definition to keep before you. Are you to develop a persuasive or expository essay, or a position paper? What has the teacher assigned?
• List out what sources you will need  to find information for your essay: Start small: what does an encyclopedia say about it? Is there a reference librarian who can help you find sources, both for an overview and for detailed research? Is a search engine enough? Or too boring? Think big: are there experts you can talk to? an organization?
• Analyze your topic so far Is it too vague or broad, or too narrow? Is it interesting enough? Is there a controversy to explore, or do you think you can help others understand a problem? Will you provide information from two points of view, or only one while anticipating questions and arguments?
• Summarize your topic and present it to your teacher for feedback. Bring these first few steps with you in case the teacher will want to help you refine or restate your topic
• Write out your opinion on, or approach to, the topic Remember: you are writing an essay as a learning experience and you may find information that is against your position. You will need to resolve this.
• Keep an open or critical mind as you research: You may only see your side and not be objective. Your position could be prejudicial to, or otherwise affect, your investigation

  2. Define your target audience, and how you will address them Some ways of thinking of audience

• You are selling a product: what style of writing will appeal to them?
• You are explaining a sport: how would your vocabulary change if your audience were children? visitors from another country? your parents?
• Are you documenting an event: how would you detail the facts of a crime you witnessed?

3. Writing an essay: research

Develop your time line Allow for editing, revision and unexpected developments

• Inspiration phase: This is continuous to prevent losing ideas and inspirations Keep a convenient place to organize phrases, vocabulary, events, etc. for later use
• Research phase; information gathering and recording: Do not copy research word-for-word unless using quotes to illustrate ideas. The goal is to transform source material into your ideas and organization while adequately representing the authors in a neutral manner. Keep a good record of source material for citations and bibliography.
• Organizing/prewriting phase with concept mapping, outlining, even brainstorming Determine how you will build the scenes of your argument, narrative, story, etc.

Research phase; information gathering and recording:

Document all interviews, readings, experiments, data, websites, reports, etc. People: instructor, teaching assistant, research librarian, tutor, subject matter experts, professionals

1. Develop research strategies and a list of resources
2. Narrow your topic and its description; Pull out key words and categories Develop a list of key words–50 or so–that form the foundation of both your research and writing. Build the list from general sources and overviews
3. Bring your topic and keyword list  to a local research librarian, teacher, support professional on resources available Text books (!), reference works, web sites, journals, diaries, professional reports
4. International conventions of copyright govern the use  and reproduction of all material: all information should be properly cited

What are some resources?

• • Search engines
  • Web sites devoted to particular topics, including text, graphics, movies, music files e.g. Internet Directory for Botany
  • Services and information by non-profit organizations and by for-profit businesses
  • Resources at your local (public) library These may require membership or registration
  • Newspaper, journal, magazine databases Often restricted to subscribers, require registration, or can be fee-based for access

Using an Internet search engine: Find the best combination of key words to locate information you need; Enter these in the search engine

• Refer to known, recommended, expert, or reviewed web sites
• Review the number of options returned. If there are too many web sites, add more keywords. If there are too few options, narrow/delete some keywords, or substitute other key words
• Review the first pages returned: If these are not helpful, review your key words for a better description
• Use advanced search options in search engines: Search options include
  • Key word combinations, including Boolean strings
  • Locations where key words are found For example: in the title, 1st paragraphs, coded metadata
  • Languages to search in
  • Sites containing media files (images, videos, MP3/music, ActiveX, JAVA, etc.)
  • Dates web sites were created or updated
• Research using several search engines Each search engine has a different database of web sites it searches Some “Meta-Search” engines actually search other search engines! If one search engine returns few web sites, another may return many!
• Evaluate the content of the web sites you’ve found: Beware referencing blogs as they are basically opinions and not “fact”
• Track your search: List resources you checked; the date your checked them Identify the resource, especially its location and the date you found it c.f. index card system
• When printing, set your options to print the Title of the page | the Web address | the date printed