short free write due in 12 hrs

Use your new prompt (written in class) to begin your RA prewriting this week. Before you begin, prewriting, make sure to look over your completed CR Exercises to decide whether you will choose Option 1, 2, or 3.

The point of prewriting is to generate ideas and start planning your essay; there are several ways to prewrite and different methods have different benefits. ​Try the three prewriting strategies listed below, to see what method you like best; remember to focus your prewriting on the RA prompt you’ve written​​.

● Freewrite for a set period of time (at least 5-10 minutes), in which you brainstorm some answers to the questions you wrote in your prompt.

○ Write nonstop and don’t censor yourself​​—if you hit a wall, type a keyword over and over again until you can generate ideas again.

○ After time is up, go back and identify some key ideas and evidence that you may prioritize in your essay.

○ *Benefit: emphasizes the ideas that are most important to you. ● Discuss your ideas with a friend and take notes on your conversation. “What

do you think?” is not a good way to begin—try to have a sustained, detailed, and nuanced conversation with someone whose ideas you’re curious about.

○ Ask specific questions to encourage your conversation partner. ○ Don’t be afraid to explain context, clarify your position, or even

change your mind, based on the conversation. ○ Afterward, write up some notes and identify key ideas and

evidence that you may prioritize in your essay. ○ *Benefit: opportunity to generate and develop ideas you may not

have had on your own. ● Create an informal outline of your essay—​but don’t start with a thesis!

Instead, begin with the textual evidence that you want to analyze. ○ Separate different types of evidence into different sections based

on your purpose for discussing them. ○ Re-order these sections until you can see relationships between

different types of evidence. ○ Insert relevant quotations/paraphrases from secondary

sources—how would other scholars respond to some of your claims? How would you answer these scholars? Make notes on how the arguments contained in your secondary sources help you make your own argument.

○ THEN—and only then!—write a preliminary thesis statement at the bottom of the outline. Your main thesis should make an arguable claim and should account for all the evidence you’ve cited.

○ *Benefit: emphasizes relationships between different ideas and evidence—crucial for organizing your analysis.