ENG 121 dicussion 2 week1

By writing an outline you really are writing in a way,

because you’re creating the structure of what you’re going to do.

Once I really know what I’m going to write,

I don’t find the actual writing takes all that long.

—Tom Wolfe

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Identify topics that have intellectual merit, as opposed to those that are flippant, frivolous, or alienating.

2. Demonstrate the ability to narrow a topic.

3. Select the best method for you for generating ideas, such as journaling, free writing, or brainstorming.

4. Experiment with different methods for organizing ideas, such as chrono- logically or logically.

5. Demonstrate your ability to create an outline and a reverse outline.

4Selecting a Topic and Prewriting

©Anna Gorin/Flickr/Getty Images

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.1 Selecting a Subject

This chapter concentrates on selecting and focusing a topic for a college paper and begin- ning the prewriting process. If you have ever written an outline, you have already done some prewriting. The skills you will learn in this chapter can be applied to personal, expository, persuasive, and research papers, but they are also portable—that is to say, these strategies can help you outside of the classroom experience. Writing is itself a por- table skill that will assist you in becoming a better critical thinker, organizer of ideas, and articulator of thoughts and arguments. Effectively selecting a topic and efficiently prewriting are organizational tools that will aid you in synthesizing any information on any subject.

4.1 Selecting a Subject

The first task when beginning a college writing assignment is determining a subject, or the general area of interest from which you will select the topic of your paper. Your assignment may provide you with the subject you must write about, or you may be asked to select your own. If you are asked to choose your own subject, it is important to choose one that is appropriate for the assignment and to properly narrow the parameters of your topic, which the following sections will discuss. In either case, remember to use the active reading skills you learned in Chapter 2 to identify key words and phrases and action verbs, and to make certain you clearly understand the purpose and requirements of the assignment.

Understand the Assignment The subject that you choose to write about should be appropriate for you, the writer. If you have a choice of subject, choose one that interests or excites you. If you are interested in the subject, it will be easier to make it interesting to your readers. It is also fine to choose something you know little about but have always wanted to explore. However, be aware that such a subject will require that you spend additional time researching and referencing sources.

Once you have generated a list of possibilities for your paper, think about which would be most appropriate for the assignment, appeal to you the most, appeal to your audience, and give you the greatest number of possible ideas. One of these subjects will probably be your best choice. For a subject or topic to be considered appropriate, it must fit the pur- pose of the assignment, the audience, and the writer (you). First, look at the assignment itself and determine the type of writing required. Highlight and underline key words in the assignment to help you understand its focus. Are you being asked to a give per- sonal opinion, explain a task or a process, persuade your readers of something, or argue a point of view? Recall that there are four main types of writing assignments: (1) personal, (2) exposition, (3) persuasion and argument, and (4) research. Each of these assignments requires a different type of topic and a specific pattern of writing, as discussed in Chapter 3. Always look for the page length requirements for any assignment. There is usually a page minimum that is necessary to reach in order to fully answer the prompt’s question. Some instructors may also ask that you do not exceed a certain number of pages, so make sure to ask your instructor what his or her specific policy is.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.1 Selecting a Subject

Consider the Audience In addition to being appropriate for the assignment type, your subject must also be appro- priate for your academic audience. Academic writing should be serious and have intel- lectual merit. Remember that your college assignments are designed to increase your knowledge of serious subjects. Do not be flippant or select silly or frivolous topics. For most assignments, the intended audience consists of your instructor and those in your class, so your tone, or the voice you create, needs to be appropriate for a knowledgeable audience. This means that you write with the assumption that your audience has some knowledge in the subject matter about which you are writing, and therefore you do not need to spend much time at all summarizing the plot or content of a text.

Avoid hot-button topics that may be offensive to your readers. An old adage reminds us to “be careful when talking about sex, politics, and religion at cocktail parties,” and this is also good advice for college writing assignments. If you have strong personal beliefs about these subjects, as many of us do, you may alienate some of your readers. Also, unless your assignment is to write a persuasive paper, your goal should not be to convince people to accept your opinion on a topic. For example, it would be appropriate in a per- sonal paper to write about how religion has influenced your life. However, it would not be appropriate to write about why you believe everyone should be religious.

Start With Yourself and What You Know Begin your search by thinking of subjects on which you have some knowledge. Consider the following questions to generate ideas:

• Do you have any special talents or hobbies?

• What do you do for fun and relaxation?

• What occupies most of your time? • What experiences have you had that

significantly changed your view of the world?

• What is most important to you in your life?

A great number of subjects might be appropriate for an assignment. At this point, do not evalu- ate the ideas that come to you; just generate a list of possible ideas and write them down as they occur to you. List all ideas, no matter how far fetched they sound. As one of the most promi- nent chemists of the 20th century, Dr. Linus Paul- ing once said, “The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas” (ThinkExist, 2006c). If you have trouble coming up with ideas, try some of the strategies discussed in the fea- ture Writing in Action: Having Trouble Choosing a Subject?

Exactostock/SuperStock It is usually best to write about a subject of interest to you so that you can convey that interest to your readers. If you are an avid cyclist, you may choose to write about training techniques or bicycle maintenance.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.2 Developing the Topic

4.2 Developing the Topic

Whether you are asked to write a response to an assigned question or to a topic—a specific area from a broader subject—of your own choosing, you need to make choices about how you will focus your response. This is more of a concern if you are selecting your own topic. When you have a possible subject to pursue, your next task is to narrow and focus the topic, or subject matter, of your paper. It is generally not enough to just have a topic—one must also have an interpretive question that one wants to explore. This turns a general area of interest into a feasible course of study in a paper. Interpretive questions can be answered in different ways depending on one’s analysis of the text or one’s research. They are not factual questions that have a set right or wrong answer. A reasonable human being who asks the same interpretive question may develop a different answer.

Narrowing the Topic One of the most common mistakes students make when choosing a topic is to select one that is too broad and too general. It is much better to choose a narrow topic and deal with

Writing in Action: Having Trouble Choosing a Subject?

If you draw a blank trying to find a subject for one of your writing assignments, here are some sug- gestions that might help you discover subject areas that you can write about:

• Surf the Web. Go to your Internet home page and look at the most popular searches, current news, the latest “buzz,” or your favorite blogs for possible topics.

• Phone a friend. Bounce ideas off friends or ask them to suggest possible ideas. Sometimes you can spend hours trying to come up with ideas on your own, but a few minutes talking about the assignment with someone else can provide ideas that you would never have thought of on your own.

• Do keyword searches. Use a tool such as Google’s AdWords Keyword tool at https://adwords .google.com/o/KeywordTool or the Wordstream Keyword tool at http://www.wordstream .com/keywords/. To try it, put in a term such as “children” or a hobby such as “cycling” and see how many different associated terms appear in the keyword list.

• Read articles in an area of interest. If you subscribe to newspapers and magazines, scan them for possible ideas. Or do an online search for areas of interest and read articles or webpages to learn what others have written about. Don’t copy those ideas, of course, but reading other people’s ideas will often stimulate ideas of your own or suggest other aspects of a topic that you might write about.

• Take a break. If you are having trouble thinking of topic ideas, take a walk, do the dishes, or listen to music for a few minutes to clear your mind. (Don’t procrastinate; be sure to give yourself a time when you must return to your assignment!) When you return to your computer refreshed, you might find that the ideas flow more easily.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.2 Developing the Topic

it thoroughly than to select a broad topic and treat it in a general or superficial way. For example, sup- pose your assignment is to write a two- to three-page personal narrative paper describing one of your hob- bies, and you choose soccer. People can enjoy soccer for many different reasons. Some people like to play competitively, while others are more interested in watching the sport than in playing. As a topic, the term soccer is much too broad for a short paper. You will not be able to cover the topic adequately in only a few pages.

You can usually narrow a topic in several different ways. Try to gener-

ate a list of alternatives for making the topic of “soccer” more specific. Figure 4.1 illus- trates some possibilities. If you think the topic might still be difficult to cover in a short paper, continue to narrow it further, as the figure illustrates.

Figure 4.1: Narrowing the topic

Topic = Soccer

Playing Soccer Playing Competitive Soccer

Soccer and Teamwork

Soccer’s impact on my Values

Playing Soccer as a Child

Playing Soccer as an Adult

At this point, it is difficult to know whether your topic is narrow enough, or perhaps even too narrow, to the point where you will not have enough information to fill two pages. Do not worry, however, about being too narrow; you can always make adjustments later during the writing process. At this point, the bigger danger is having a topic that is too broad. Once you have generated as many ideas as you can for narrowing the topic, choose the option that is most interesting to you and that you think will best fit the length and purpose of your assignment.

Micah Young It is always advisable to narrow and focus your topic. A general paper on dogs will be far less interesting to the reader than one focused on the use of German Shepherds in police duty.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.2 Developing the Topic

Developing a Focus After you have selected a subject area and narrowed it to a workable topic, your final task in developing your topic is to create a focus for your paper. Creating a focus will give you a starting point and help you establish a direction for your paper. At this point, merely focus your topic on some aspect of the narrowed topic that you plan to write about.

Let us take our soccer topic as an example. Suppose you decide to narrow the topic to “How soccer has shaped my life” and, in the paper, you want to share information with your readers about how playing soccer for many years has helped to shape your values and character and helped make you the person you are today. Now you have a narrower topic, but you still must focus on some aspect of how soccer has shaped your life that you want to share in your paper.

What is the most important point you want to make to your readers about your soccer experience? Do you want them to know how much fun it is? Is your goal to encourage others to take up the sport? Perhaps your intent is to help readers understand how being a part of a team can change one’s perspective. Create a focus for your paper that will nar- row your topic even further to some specific goal such as this. Your focus does not have to be a complete sentence, but it should be a single phrase that describes the most important point you want to convey to readers. For instance, your focus for a two- to three-page paper might be to identify the most important way that playing soccer has affected your life. Your specific response to this idea is technically your thesis statement. A thesis state- ment is a response or answer to a question, and in this case, the question would be: “In what ways has playing soccer affected my life?” This essay would create a thesis that answers this question very specifically and that possibly includes the main points the essay as a whole will address. Likewise, each body paragraph should have a topic sen- tence at the start of the paragraph that will prove one small aspect of the larger thesis statement. In this sense, topic sentences are really mini-arguments or theses articulated at the top of each body paragraph.

In a short paper, you cannot possibly go into detail about all the ways in which soccer affected your life or discuss every game you played. However, you can focus on the one or two experiences you think are the most important and limit your discussion to how those particular experiences affected you.

Be sure to write down the focus you develop so that you can refer to it as you begin to write your paper. Remember, this focus does not meet the requirements for a thesis state- ment, which should give the reasons why playing soccer has affected your life. The pur- pose of a focus is merely to help you get started in a clear direction, to help you organize your ideas, and to keep you on track as you write.

As you develop your paper, you may decide that you are more interested in writing about why you decided to take up playing soccer. If you change your mind about the direction of your paper, simply go back and modify your focus. Most writers do not finalize their thesis statement until the last draft of their paper, so think about the focus as merely a starting guideline that is flexible and subject to change. Remember to refer often to the assignment prompt and to continue to make sure that your thesis statement and paper topic are meeting the goals of the assignment.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.3 Generating Ideas

While you are drafting your paper, you might also find that the topic of playing soccer does not work well. Perhaps you have trouble finding enough to say about the topic or discovering material to support the points you want to make in the paper. Do not be afraid to change your topic if it was a poor choice, but do make this decision early enough that you have sufficient time to write a paper on a different topic. If you begin your writ- ing assignments early in the week they are due, you will have the opportunity to make changes such as this, if necessary.

4.3 Generating Ideas

The first step in the writing pro-cess occurs before writing—it occurs when you are using the active reading strategies discussed in Chapter 2. In that chapter you learned that active reading means creating a dialogue with the text.

Journaling Remember that active reading asks you to keep a reading journal of your responses, questions, and insights about the text, and to record these ideas as you are reading. You can do this in a reading journal or through extensively marking up and writing on the text you are reading. Once you are ready to start your paper, you can transform this dialogue into academic writing. Begin by writing informally, sorting through your thoughts as you write. The less you pressure yourself to immediately craft perfect sentences, the better your chances are of avoiding writer’s block.

Brainstorming Brainstorming is any form of writing that allows you to generate ideas. The brainstorming strategy is particularly useful if you do not have clear ideas of what you want to write. The object of the strategy is to get as many ideas as possible down on paper so that you can consider them and find possible directions for your paper—without editing your gram- mar or your ideas. In brainstorming, quantity of ideas is more important than quality of ideas. You might think of brainstorming as a way of “getting the flow started.” You will probably not use all the ideas you generate, but as scientist Dr. Linus Pauling advised, “The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas, and throw the bad ones away.”

Some companies use a formal brainstorming strategy, with specific rules, as an organi- zational tool to help produce ideas for solving company problems. However, you can

iStockphoto/Thinkstock Journaling can be an effective way of generating ideas before writing a paper.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.3 Generating Ideas

brainstorm without rules by yourself, with one other person, or with a small group of people who are willing to help you. Often, others will think of ideas for your paper that you might not have discovered on your own.

Whether you brainstorm by yourself or with others, use this strategy by just thinking of ideas as quickly as you can and writing them down any way you wish—on a white board, the computer, a large piece of paper, or individual slips of paper. Continue this process until you run out of ideas. Then review the items and eliminate those that you think are unworkable, do not interest you, do not fit well with the other ideas, or will be difficult to cover within the scope of your paper.

Free-Writing Free-writing is similar in some ways to brainstorming, except free-writing generally involves synthesizing some ideas that have emerged in the brainstorming process. Like brainstorming, free-writing is helpful when you do not have clear ideas of what you want to write about. When you free-write, you begin with a blank piece of paper or a blank document on your computer screen and you can give yourself a time limit, such as 15 or 30 minutes, or a specific length, such as one page of text. Then begin writing and write quickly until you reach that goal. What you write is not as important as the fact that you keep writing until time is up or the page is full. Author Maya Angelou explains free- writing as a method of generating ideas when she states:

What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks “the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat.” And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write . . . . (Nordquist, 2009, p. 1)

The keys to free-writing are to write quickly and not to stop to edit what you write—either for grammar or content. Some people set a timer and turn off their computer monitors to help them resist the temptation to stop, to read what they have written, and to edit. Like Angelou, you may write the same words over and over, create rhymes, or just write, “I am having trouble getting ideas for this paper,” repeatedly, until other words begin to come to mind.

Some writers use a free-writing method on the computer screen if they are stuck and other prewriting stages are not working. It may be the case that for one assignment you write a detailed outline and free-write before you start drafting, but for another assignment you simply cannot figure out how you might outline the essay. Different assignments call for different approaches, and it depends on how well you connect with the assignment and have a sense of where to begin.

The value of free-writing is that the words you write often begin to suggest other words, and you then begin to create a draft of your paper. If you have developed a focus for your writing, you might make a copy of that focus and place it next to your computer screen. Then begin typing whatever ideas come to your mind that are related to that focus. Remember to keep writing until you reach the goal you set for yourself. Writing Samples: Free-Writing Example for the Soccer Paper shows a section of a free-writing exercise for our soccer paper.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.3 Generating Ideas

Tree Charts A tree chart or tree diagram is another strategy for generating ideas and organizing those ideas at the same time. A tree chart resembles an organization chart, and it creates a visual map of your paper. Begin the tree chart with your topic or focus at the top. Then create branches of the tree to show subpoints and additional, smaller branches to illustrate the supporting ideas, detail, or elaboration that support your points and subpoints. Figure 4.2 is an example of a tree chart for the soccer paper.

Figure 4.2: Tree chart for the soccer paper

Working Out Stress

Clear Mind Positive Aggression

Teamwork

Team Player

Positive Attitude

Time Management

Staying in Shape

Weight control

Lifelong Health

Time Commitment

Prioritizing Skills

Writing Samples: Free-Writing Example for the Soccer Paper

I’ve played soccer for years, starting with AYSO when I was about 7. At first, it was just a great way to play outside and meet other girls my age. But continuing to play soccer in middle school and high school, I realized how it was a combination of something incredibly hard and yet so rewarding. I barely had any free time with practices and away games, but I learned so much about making my time count, and I felt so dedicated to my team. Soccer truly has shaped who I am today.

Now that my son Toby is turning 4, I’ve been thinking more about soccer and how I want him to get him signed up someday soon. It makes me mad when other parents don’t see the value of team sports and just give their kids a video game to play instead. In this paper, I would like to persuade people of the benefits you can gain from playing a sport like soccer, as well as how it can shape your character and values in the long-term.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.4 Organizing Ideas

Ask the “Five Ws and an H” Questions Another strategy for generating ideas is known as Five Ws and an H. These letters stand for the questions Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? If you are stumped for ideas, particularly when you write about an incident or event, ask yourself the following ques- tions: Who was involved? What happened? Where did it happen? Why did it happen? How did it happen? Answering these questions will often provide you with information to get started on the first draft of your paper.

4.4 Organizing Ideas

After the idea-generating stage, writers should use some method of organizing ideas. Organizing your ideas will help you maintain a clear focus on creating a final paper that presents your arguments and information in a logical way. You might choose to organize ideas visually by using mind mapping, or you might try outlin- ing your ideas. You should try a variety of organizing methods for each assignment, and find a method that works well for you.

Mind Mapping A mind map—also known as a cluster diagram, a bubble diagram, or a word web—is a graphic diagram that illustrates ideas and how they are connected to one another. This strategy uses your creative brain to help you generate ideas. Like brainstorming and free-writing, you can use mind mapping without having clear ideas of what to write about. A mind map organizes ideas, as they come to you, around a key word or idea. Some people like mind mapping because it helps them visualize and classify ideas without worrying about prioritizing and organizing these ideas into an outline.

To create a mind map, begin by making a circle in the middle of a piece of paper or a blank computer document and writing your topic or a key word inside the circle. Then think of ideas or words associated with the topic or key word and write them down as they occur to you. Circle each one and connect it, with a line, to the word in the middle or to another word on the page. For example, a writer can start a mind map of our soccer topic by plac- ing the words How Soccer Affected Me in the middle of the page. Then, as other ideas occur to the writer, he or she can write them down, circle them, and connect them to other words on the page.

Remember, there is no right or wrong way to draw a mind map. Just work quickly and record and connect ideas to the topic or key word as soon as you think of them, without judging them as good or bad. At first, the ideas may seem random and disconnected from one another. However, you will soon begin to think of words that are associated with other words you have written. When this happens, connect the new word to one of the previous words you wrote. Just keep creating connections until you run out of ideas. If an idea occurs to you that is relevant but does not seem to fit with other words you have written, draw another line of association from the word in the center of the page. View the mind map in Figure 4.3 that was created to generate ideas for the soccer paper.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.4 Organizing Ideas

Figure 4.3: Mind map

Outdoors

Working Out Stress

Clear Mind

Aggression

Competitive Soccer

Teamwork

Team Player

Good Attitude

Time Management

Staying in Shape

Weight Control

Lifelong Health

Commitment Prioritization

If you run out of ideas while you are creating your mind map, go back to your topic or key word in the center of the page and think of a new direction. Or ask yourself questions such as “What if I wrote about . . . ?” or “What else could I include in the paper?” Sometimes you will have very short word associations or branches from your topic; at other times, the words you write will lead to many other words, and you have a strong thread of ideas that could create a focus for your paper. You might even want to use one of the many free or proprietary software programs on the market today to help you create your mind map. Go online and search for “mind-mapping software” and check out some of the available programs such as Bubble.us, XMind, or FreeMind. The widely used software Inspiration®

even allows you to automatically turn your mind map into an outline.

Mind-mapping applications are also available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. ThinkDigits 2.0, for example, is a combination of mind-mapping software and a calculator; Headspace provides 3D visual mapping; and iThoughts has functionality that allows you to cut, copy, paste, and merge topics.

Outlining You might also consider outlining before you start writing the first paragraph of any paper. Outlining is a method of organization that allows you to sort out your thoughts and to notice what points seem to be the most significant. Sometimes, a paper works well following a chronological order, but more often than not, a paper should follow some other organizational structure. This may include tracing and explaining the steps of an argument you read, countering a position, or even completely reordering the sequence

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.4 Organizing Ideas

of events you read so that they are presented in a manner of increasingly strengthening your argument. You might order your body paragraphs according to the development of a central theme in the text, and this may not happen in chronological order in the text.

Your outline can be an informal scratch outline, or a formal, detailed outline. Try to develop some type of outline when you think you have finished your prewriting process but before you start drafting your paper. This will help you organize your paper and think through the best possible order for your main points.

Scratch Outlines A scratch outline is a rough outline that lists the ideas in the order you intend to discuss them. When you begin the outline, your creative brain takes charge and helps you gener- ate and organize ideas.

To create a scratch outline, first list your ideas as described earlier. Then, edit your list and remove the ideas you think are unworkable, do not fit with the other ideas, or are too broad to include in your paper. Finally, organize the remaining items on your list into the order you think you would like to discuss them in the paper. Writing Samples: Ideas for the Soccer Paper shows an example of a scratch outline for the soccer paper.

Writing Samples: Ideas for the Soccer Paper

Focus: To persuade the reader that competitive soccer is not just a hobby, but an activity that can influence his or her character and values.

Long practices

Committing to workouts and game schedules

Working with teammates who rely on you

Juggling soccer, school, work, and family

Traveling for soccer games

Staying in shape

Exercising for fun

Taking care of uniform and equipment

Working out stress

Spending time outside

Winning and losing

Keeping a positive attitude

Being a team player

Formal Outlines A formal outline is created the same way as a scratch outline; however, you create a more structured outline by numbering your ideas and detailing the pieces of evidence you will use and in which section of the paper they will appear. When you outline, always reread

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.4 Organizing Ideas

your outline and ask yourself if your main points build on each other. Many great papers begin the first body paragraph by discussing the conclusion of the text they have read. Imagine if you were reading a paper someone wrote on Antigone and the writer did not mention until the very last paragraph that Antigone dies! If you decide to create a formal outline (or if a formal outline is required for your assignment), review Writing in Action: Producing a Formal Outline for information on how to create this type of outline.

Writing in Action: Producing a Formal Outline

A formal outline can be an effective way to generate and organize ideas for your college papers. The formal outline not only indicates the ideas that will be discussed in the paper and the order in which the ideas will be presented but also shows the relationship between those ideas.

In a formal outline, the main sections of your paper, or the main points in the body of the paper, are listed first. Then these main ideas are subdivided again and again, into subpoints, which are the facts and information that support that main idea. Each breakdown, or level, of points is more specific and more detailed than the level above it. Here are some basic rules for outlining.

Rules for Outlining 1. Outline beginning with Roman numerals for the main points in the paper and then alternate

between numbers and letters as you subdivide these main points into more detailed subpoints. 2. Some people create an outline for the entire paper, showing the introduction, body, and con-

clusion of the paper, to make sure they do not forget any of the required elements. Others outline only the body of the paper, showing only the main points and the supporting ideas. To make sure your paper is complete, you should outline the entire paper.

3. Points can continue to be subdivided to the level of detail needed. Most outlines are subdi- vided to only the third level (1, 2, etc.) or the fourth level (a, b, etc.), as shown in the outline template below.

4. When you divide something (think of a pie, an apple, or a candy bar), you always get at least two pieces. Therefore, in an outline, remember that you should never have an A without a B, a 1 without a 2, and so on. If you have only one point to make about a certain issue in your outline, work that point into the issue itself in order not to create a subdivision.

5. Each main point and subdivision should contain a single idea, and all subpoints should be related to or support the points above them.

6. All points at the same level must be expressed the same way throughout the outline: either as all complete sentences, all phrases, or all single words. You can have a variety of different expressions, as long as all points at the same level in the outline are expressed similarly. For example, if Roman numeral I, subpoint A is a complete sentence, then all A, B, C (etc.) sub- points in Roman numerals I, II, and III must be complete sentences.

7. Headings I, II, III (etc.) must be approximately balanced. In other words, you should have approximately the same amount of material under each of these main points.

Creating the Outline Begin your outline by writing your topic at the top of a blank page. Then write the Roman numerals I, II, and III, spread apart down the left side of the page.

1. Outlining the entire paper. If you want to outline your entire paper, write the words “Introduc- tion,” “Body,” and “Conclusion” next to each Roman numeral. Then, write A, B, C (etc.) indented under each Roman numeral.

(continued)

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.4 Organizing Ideas

Next to the capital letters under “I. Introduction,” list the elements of a good introduction. Next to each element, write what you plan to say about each of these elements. Next to the capital letters under “II. Body,” list the main points you plan to make in the body of your paper. Finally, next to Roman numeral “III. Conclusion,” list the elements of a good conclusion and what you will include for each of the conclusion elements.

Once you have finished completing the top two levels of your outline, go back to the capital let- ters A, B, C (etc.) and, under each one of these letters in section II, write the statements you will make to support, explain, elaborate, or provide more detail about each of those main points.

2. Outlining only the body of the paper. If you plan to outline only the body of your paper, write each main body point next to Roman numerals I, II, III (etc.). You should have between two and six main points for your paper, regardless of length. Long papers do not have more main points than short papers; longer papers simply have more supporting information and more explanation about each main point.

Outline Template The template below offers a method of organization that writers can use for essentially any thesis- driven paper. Whenever you are unsure about how to outline your ideas, you can refer to the model below:

I. Introduction A. Title of work and authors the paper will discuss B. Information or context that sets the stage for answering the paper prompt C. A tentative thesis statement

II. Body Paragraph (Note: you will likely have several body paragraphs that follow the format suggested here. There is no magical number of paragraphs necessary for papers; just write enough body paragraphs with main ideas to fully respond to the essay prompt.) A. Topic sentence should make an argument or claim and state what you will prove in this

paragraph. It should be directly related to the thesis statement and should only try to prove one small part of the thesis statement.

B. An example with direct citation from the text. Introduce citations before giving the quote and always integrate citations into your own sentences. A citation can never be a sentence by itself—it must include your language in order to function properly within a paper.

C. An explanation that describes how the evidence supports the claim you are making in this paragraph. You should not simply summarize an example or piece of evidence: Instead, you should directly explain how the example offered supports the main claim of that paragraph. Another example that supports your argument.

D. Another explanation. E. (Note: A body paragraph may have several more pieces of evidence and the explanations

and analysis that go along with them). F. Concluding sentences that explain how these pieces of evidence relate to and build on one

another. III. Conclusion

A. Should explain what the evidence ultimately suggests. Reflect on the significance of the evi- dence you have cited and the connections you have made in each paragraph. Try to connect these paragraphs by answering a broader question called the “So what?” question, which asks you to state why this topic is important to discuss.

Writing in Action: Producing a Formal Outline (continued)

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.4 Organizing Ideas

Writing down main ideas following the basic guidance of an outline structure will help you reflect on how your ideas are developing. See Writing Samples: Formal Outline for the Soccer Paper for a more concrete example of how to outline an essay.

Writing Samples: Formal Outline for the Soccer Paper

I. Introduction A. Hook: If you think that physical sports such as soccer are simply about pursing a hobby

or burning calories, this paper should help you to reconsider the ways that playing soc- cer can impact your life.

B. Purpose and Topic: Knowing how sports like soccer can help you grow as a person and enrich your life is very important.

C. Thesis Statement: Competitive soccer can not only help you work out your stress and stay in shape, but it can also teach you key values such as teamwork and time manage- ment that translate to other aspects of your life and work.

D. Preview: This paper will discuss the ways that soccer can influence a person’s character and values.

II. Body A. Working Out Stress

1. Spending time outside, engaged in physical activity, can help clear your mind and ease stress from the day.

2. Through playing soccer, you can train yourself to work out stress and aggression in positive ways.

B. Staying in Shape 1. Playing a sport like soccer regularly will help keep your weight in check. 2. Playing soccer will promote overall lifelong health, such as heart health and blood

pressure. C. Teamwork

1. Soccer can teach you how to be a true team player, with others relying on you to do your part for the team.

2. Keeping a positive attitude is essential to a team’s happiness and success. D. Time Management

1. Workout and game schedules require long-term commitment, in addition to show- ing up on time.

2. Learning to juggle soccer with other obligations—such as school, work, and family— will help you prioritize responsibilities.

III. Conclusion A. Signal: Now that I have shared the various ways that playing competitive soccer can

enrich your life experiences and impact your character, I hope that you look at the value of team sports with new eyes.

B. Summary: Before you dismiss team sports as no more than a simple “hobby,” consider the ways in which a sport like soccer can influence your stress levels, physical fitness, teamwork values, and time management skills.

C. Final Statement: Then you can choose to sign up for a fun-filled activity that will make you focused, fit, and dedicated, and maybe rack up some great wins along the way.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.5 Prewriting: Putting It All Together

Reverse Outlining Another approach is to create what is called a reverse outline, or a type of outline that is written after an essay has been drafted. Free-write your ideas first, brainstorm your connections between pieces of text, draft your essay, and then read the essay and record the outline of the draft. This can be very revealing because it will show you whether or not you had main points, evidence, and warrants, or explanations of how the evidence you have cited supports your claims, in each body paragraph. For more information on developing ideas, see Chapter 7 for a discussion of the Stephen Toulmin method of argu- mentation which offers a method of organizing and developing an argument. Look at your outline and ask yourself whether the main points in the body paragraphs support the thesis statement. Another question to ask is whether the main points develop your thesis sufficiently—does one point build on another? Do they demonstrate the arc of your thesis progressively? If you have a main point that you think is weaker, you likely want to place that toward the beginning of the essay in the first or second body paragraph. The last body paragraph should be the culmination of the preceding paragraphs and should demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the assignment.

4.5 Prewriting: Putting It All Together

Below is an outline used by the writer to organize her thoughts before drafting the essay as well as a sample portion of the soccer paper. The outline should indicate the main ideas the writer wants to convey. Good outlines use descriptive words and phrases and indicate a level of detailed thought. Keep in mind that before the student could write an outline, the student had to go through the stage of ideas generation first, either with free-writing or brainstorming, or both. And prior to outlining, the student may have also used mind mapping and idea clustering (grouping ideas together and branch- ing them off into separate bubbles) as a first step in the organization process after the ideas generation stage.

Writing Sample: Soccer Paper Outline

I. What is the most fulfilling part about playing competitive soccer? A. Bonding with teammates B. Learning how to be a team player

II. What things do you remember about playing soccer as a child? A. Learning the rules B. Learning to work with others to accomplish goals

III. What things do you remember about playing soccer later in life? A. Learning what it means to work hard B. Learning what it means to work as a team C. Making a commitment to playing on a team

IV. What are your greatest achievements so far? A. Applying what I learned playing soccer to being a parent B. A lifelong path to fitness and wellness C. Making new friends through soccer D. Staying disciplined and focused

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CHAPTER 4Chapter Summary

After creating this outline, the student likely was able to move to the drafting stage. As you read the excerpt below (consisting of the introduction and first body paragraph), note how it is has followed the first part of the outline and how its ideas are consistently organized.

Writing Sample: Excerpt from Sample Soccer Essay

What is the most fulfilling part about playing competitive soccer? Perhaps you guessed winning tro- phies, adrenaline highs, or staying in great shape. But in my experience, bonding with teammates and learning how to be a true team player top the list. Thinking back on my many years as a soccer player, I have realized how important the game of soccer has been in developing my greatest friend- ships, along with a positive attitude toward teamwork that has in turn influenced other aspects of my life. Playing soccer has caused me to grow as a person, influencing my values and the outlook on life I have today.

For one thing, soccer has helped me to make friendships that have lasted throughout the stages of my life. I remember loving soccer from day one, even if I barely understood the concept of the game. When I was just 6 years old, my mother signed me up for a local AYSO team (American Youth Soccer Organization) that played around the corner from our church. I had always been a spunky and ener- getic little girl, preferring to climb trees rather than play with Barbie dolls, but soccer brought out something new in me. Suddenly, I had to learn the rules of the game, and to learn how to work with a bunch of other girls that I just met. In that first year or two, it was all about being together with my teammates, kicking around the small black-and-white ball, wondering what we would eat for snack time, and pulling up grass with our fingers. Luckily, a couple of those girls grew into two of my best friends. Now that we are starting our own families, we can think back on those days and get excited about signing up our own children for soccer one day.

Although the essay is a personal narrative, regardless of the writing assignment, as a writer you want to create interest in your subject and you usually will want to convey some form of a thesis or argument about the subject.

Chapter Summary This chapter has discussed the process of selecting a suitable topic to pursue over the course of a paper, including how to narrow your topic and establish a focus for your paper. Recall that, when starting an assignment, it is important to choose a subject that is appropriate for you, the writer. You will be better able to create interest in your paper for the reader if you are interested in the subject while writing. Once you have selected your subject, you should choose a topic from within that subject area on which to focus your paper. When choosing a topic, it is a good idea to choose one that is narrow so you can address it thoroughly in your paper.

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CHAPTER 4Key Terms

After narrowing your topic and developing a focus, the next step in prewriting is to gen- erate ideas. There are methods of generating ideas that include brainstorming and free- writing. After the ideas generation stage, a writer’s ideas need organization, and that can be done through mind mapping, clustering, outlining, and reverse outlining. You may not use each one of these methods for an essay, but you will likely benefit from using a com- bination of them. These steps should help you feel prepared to take on the next step of the writing process, structuring and developing a paper, which will be covered in Chapter 5. Remember, a polished final draft of an essay does not simply fall from the sky—it takes prewriting, thinking, and revision stages to arrive at the strongest representation of your response to a writing prompt.

Key Terms claim A statement that asserts an argu- ment about a subject, text, or topic.

clustering A method of brainstorming that involves grouping ideas together and branching them off into separate bubbles that contain different ideas.

formal outline A type of outline that may contain numbers or letters to order an essay’s main points. It usually also includes the evidence or quotes the paper will use for each body paragraph.

free-writing An informal method of writing out ideas to get some thoughts on paper without worrying about issues of grammar, mechanics, and structure.

mind map A visual map of ideas for a paper.

outlining A process of arranging ideas into an intended organization for a paper. It usually contains a formal letter and number style, and specific information such as a tentative thesis statement.

reverse outline A type of outline that is written after an essay has been drafted.

scratch outline A list of ideas that will be covered in an essay. A scratch outline is usually written prior to a formal outline, but in some cases a writer may feel ready to skip the scratch outline.

subject The general area of interest from which the topic of a paper is selected.

thesis statement A sentence that makes an arguable claim that the paper will support and develop over the course of the paper.

topic A specific area of focus taken from a broader subject.

warrants Explanations of how the evi- dence cited in a paper supports the paper’s claims; in essence, it analyzes the evidence and interprets it.

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