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Guidelines for Student Writing: A Learning Activity
This learning activity will direct you through a series of steps that can help you when you are assigned an essay or research paper. The steps are arranged in a logical sequence. Even though you may feel you can go directly to the actual composition of the paper, make yourself complete each step in sequence. Once you have mastered the process outlined here, you will find that it will help you write in virtually any mode on any topic. It is a process that you need to learn and one to keep in your writer's tool box.
School based writing usually starts with an assignment that states the topic, whether this is in English class or in another subject area. When the topic is given, it is usually very broad and open to a variety of approaches, interpretations, or positions for the writer to adopt for his or her written response. Also, there are occasions when the topic is not given at all and you, as writer, are free to write about anything that interests you. Regardless, you need to begin with a process that is called PREWRITING. Prewriting is a part of the composing or the writing process. We call it prewriting because it comes before you actually try to outline your paper or compose the sentences and paragraphs of the final copy.
Let us begin with Prewriting.
Step One:
Preliminary Reading
Whether you are given a topic or choose one for yourself, begin by writing down in list form as many questions as you can about the subject or topic. These questions are the key to the development of the ideas you will use in the final paper. Also, the questions represent what you do not know about the topic and what research and reading you need to do.
Preliminary reading is not a waste of time as many students seem to think. Preliminary reading will accomplish the following things:
- provide you with an overview of your topic or help you find a new topic
- help you determine the materials that are available for your use
- give you a collection of ideas from which you can further narrow your topic to a specific thesis for your final paper
Armed with your list of questions, go to your school's library or Center for Information Services and consult the encyclopedias there (both printed and electronic). Encyclopedias contain concise articles on a wide range of topics, and usually are a good place to begin to read on a topic. Electronic encyclopedias may be available from your writing lab or classroom if you are on a computer network. Look for answers for each of your questions.
Some skills needed to use reference collections in libraries
- using guide words
- using the index
- using the bibliography
- using the table of contents
- using the card catalog or patron catalog of an automated library
- using multiple volumes of reference books such as encyclopedias
NOTE
As you read, you may encounter words or concepts that are unfamiliar
to you. Your writer's tool box should include a thesaurus and dictionary and the
ability to use these quickly as you read. If you have a computer, its word processor program may also contain a thesaurus.
If you have not learned how to use any one of the tools listed above or the resources listed below, you should ask the librarian for assistance. Ask your librarian to show you how reference resources are organized and how to best use them as you do your preliminary reading.
Some categories of reference books you may find useful:
Biographical Dictionaries
Almanacs
Encyclopedias
Atlas
Telephone Directory
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Literacy Criticisms
Dictionaries
Readers' Guide
Newspaper
Bibliographies |
Step 2:
Beginning to Develop the Thesis Statement
Remember that you are engaged in preliminary reading to gain enough understanding of the subject or topic to enable you to pick the one thesis statement or controlling idea that you will develop into your final paper. Many students will want to check the Internet immediately upon receiving an assignment. However, at this stage of writing, the more general and well organized resources are the better choice. As you encounter ideas, questions, or statements that appeal to you write them down on a second list.
Consider this example:
Say that your topic was "Dams and the Environment"
As you read about dams on rivers and streams, you encounter a newspaper article about a proposed dam on Virginia's Mattaponi River in King William County. The dam will provide water for the Middle Peninsula of Virginia, but it will take 95 million gallons of water from the river daily. The article asks what the impact will be on species of animals and fish that will live below the dam. Will salt water come in from the Chesapeake Bay to replace the fresh water taken out? What will that salt water intrusion do to the ecology of the Mattaponi River?
Already you have found a range of more narrow topics. You might write on your list the following:
"Will Damming the Mattaponi River of Virginia Harm the Environment?"
From the very broad topic of Dams and the Environment, you have now narrowed your subject to a specific dam on a specific river, but the topic is probably still too broad. There are many species of fish and animals that depend on the fresh water flow of the Mattaponi River. Your paper will have a better chance of success if you focus on one or a few of these.
Your reading now is focused on a topic related to the proposed dam on the Mattaponi River. As you read, you discover that a tribe of Native Americans live on the banks of the river and have for centuries depended upon the river for subsistence. You might narrow your topic to read as follows:
"The Impact of Damming the Mattaponi River on the Mattaponi Indian People," or stated as a question, "what will be the impact of damming the Mattaponi River on the Mattaponi Indian people?" As a thesis statement, it may read as follows: „Damming the Mattaponi River will adversely impact the lives and livelihood of the Mattaponi Indian people."
Prewriting does not end with the selection of a thesis statement or controlling idea. It continues as supporting detail is identified and selected. You can best find supporting details and examples to develop your thesis statement by reading and listing as before.
Let's review our process so far:
1. We listed questions about a broad topic or area of interest.
2. Based on the questions list, we did preliminary reading about the topic.
3. We made a second list of questions or issues as we read.
4. From the second list we finally narrowed our topic
5. The narrowed topic was refined into a thesis statement for the final paper, one that requires development and final editing.
Step 3:
Preliminary Outline
Good writing has a beginning, middle, and end. Now that you have a very focused thesis statement, you can begin to collect the material that will develop the idea for your readers. The structure of beginning, middle, and end is a good one to use as you continue your reading and thinking about the project.
For the beginning, your paper will have an introductory paragraph, and, likewise for the ending, a concluding paragraph. The middle will provide the reasons, details, references, etc. that support or defend the thesis statement.
Your outline could look something like this:
Title of Your Paper
I: Introductory Paragraph:
Thesis Statement (Try to make this a single, complete sentence.)
a. Sentence of explanation or illustration of thesis statement
b. Sentence of explanation or illustration of thesis statement
II. First Main Point That Develops (adds to, explains, illustrates) the Thesis Statement
a. Fact or detail about II.
b. Fact or detail about II
c. Fact or detail about II
III. Second Main Point That Develops (adds to, explains, illustrates) the Thesis Statement
a. Fact or detail about III
b. Fact or detail about III
c. Fact or detail about III
IV. Concluding Statement
a. Summary fact or detail about IV
b. Summary fact or detail about IV
c. Summary fact or detail about IV
Step 4:
Reading/Thinking/Researching In-Depth
Using the outline above, you can now begin to review notes and lists you made during the preliminary reading process to begin to put together the body of the paper. You may find some useful facts or details from these lists, but it is more likely that you will need to return to your sources to gather more information in depth. At this stage the Internet may prove to be an appropriate choice for information. Consult with your teacher or librarian about search engines or possible sources on the Internet. It is during this stage that you make careful notation about your sources (use the approved method and style in your school and class).
Step 5:
Write the Paper
Continue the writing or composing process by developing each point with well formed sentences. Don't let the outline become too restrictive on how much you write. Any paragraph may have more or fewer sentences, facts, details, etc. Let your judgment about the needs of the reader help you decide how much support or development the thesis statement needs.
Revise the paper more than once after you have completed a first draft. If you have been able to compose the first draft on a word processor, use the spell check and grammar analysis tools if they are available. The word processor will make it easy for you to rearrange the paragraphs and add or delete information as you revise. Remember that a word processor's spell checking program does not adequately check for proper forms of words. You should still proof your paper the old fashioned way. Read it and then read it again for usage, spelling, and mechanics. The spell checking program will not catch a word such a relive as an error when you meant relieve.
Written by
Charles Stallard, Norfolk, VA
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