Lesson 17 — Activity 2: Getting Started
Completion requirements
Lesson 17 — Activity 2: Getting Started
You now have a pattern for developing an essay.
What is your essay going to be about?
Sometimes you will be given a topic to write an essay about and other times the topic will be left up to you.
Even when you are given a topic, though, you might sometimes find that the choices are very general and you might need to take some time to come up with ideas for writing.
What is your essay going to be about?
Sometimes you will be given a topic to write an essay about and other times the topic will be left up to you.
Even when you are given a topic, though, you might sometimes find that the choices are very general and you might need to take some time to come up with ideas for writing.
How to get ideas for writing:
Talk about it:
- Discuss your ideas with classmates, friends, your teacher, or family members, and listen to their suggestions and ideas.
- You might want to write down notes or points so that you can look back at the ideas people came up with.
Do some brainstorming:
- Think of as many ideas as you can before you settle on a specific topic.
- You can use a similar organizer like you used when you were brainstorming ideas for paragraph topics.
Do some reading, listening, or viewing:
- Look for magazine or newspaper articles, blogs, documentaries, news programs, etc. that deal with the topic you want to write about.
- Think about what you are reading, hearing, and seeing, and do some more brainstorming using your additional knowledge of the topic.
Once you have come up with a lot of interesting ideas, take some time to go through them and decide which ones you could use to write your essay and which ideas could be set aside for the time being.
You might find as you get farther along in the writing process that you will want to make some changes to your essay, so keep track of the many ideas you no doubt will come up with through discussion, brainstorming, and preparation.
Once you have your main idea, you can begin to focus your essay by
thinking about the three things you always have to think about when
communicating:
What is your purpose?
- Why are you writing about this particular topic?
- What is the main point you want to get across to your reader?
Who is your audience?
- Who will be reading your essay?
- How can you organize and write your essay so that the audience will understand your main point very clearly?
You know that your format is an essay, but what type of essay will best communicate your message?
Will your essay be an informative, a persuasive, or a personal essay?