Invention: Understnding Your Assignment BBS 1st Year Patterns for College Writing

 

Invention

Invention (Previewing) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dunCm5TcugM

We find out the most interesting subject for us in this stage. We also consider what ideas to develop in the essay. This stage is the most neglected part of the writing process. Before starting writing, we must be sure of understanding the assignment with its limits.

Understanding Your Assignment

Understanding Your Assignment https://youtu.be/ezR7hMs9Fsk

We need to understand what is to be written in a given assignment. We must read it several times and underline its main keywords. In case of confusion, we must ask the instructor for clarification. How well it is written, it will fall short if it does not address the assignment.

Setting Limits

After understanding the assignment, its length, purpose, audience, occasion, and our knowledge of the subject must be considered.

Length: The instructor will specify the length or page limit of the paper. If the instructor sets no page limit, we should consider the nature of the assignment. Suppose, a summary of an article is much shorter than its original. But the analysis part of a poem is likely to be longer than the poem itself. In case of confusion on the length of the paper, we must consult to Instructor.

Purpose: The purpose of paper also limits our writing because writing from one field (application writing) to another (email writing) differs from each other. Purpose helps to determine what information to include to evoke the responses of the audience. Purpose can be classified based on the audience: Expressive writing– we express our personal feelings to readers through diaries, personal emails, and journals. Informative writing– we inform our readers about something through essay exams, lab reports, and personal web pages. Persuasive writing- we try to convince our readers through editorials, argumentative essays, electronic documents like blogs, and web pages.

Audience: Essay could be written effectively keeping the audience in mind. Audiences could be instructors, classmates, medical personnel, a layman like newspaper readers. In terms of diversified audiences, we could identify a denominator- a role that characterizes entire audiences. Determining the background knowledge of the audiences to our subject helps how much information should be offered to the audiences. Experts in one field will need background information in other fields. Historian instructors could be unknown with current literary issues

Occasion: A situation that leads to writing about a topic. The occasion also refers to specific assignments in academic writing. It suggests a specific audience such as a history instructor and a specific purpose such as to discuss the cause of Covid 19. It also suggests how much information the piece of writing includes.

Knowledge: What you know or do not know about a particular subject is your knowledge. Before writing about any subject, what we know and what needs to find out. Different writing situations require different kinds of knowledge. A personal essay draws on personal experience and observations but a term paper will require gaining new knowledge through research.

Moving from Subject to Topic https://youtu.be/xM7sAD_oEDk

Moving from Subject to Topic

Some essays begin as broad areas of interest whereas some may begin as specific assignments.  General subjects need to be narrowed to specific topics that can be discussed within the limits of the assignment. We need to limit such a subject to a topic that can be covered within the time and space available. Let’s see the example below:

General Subject	Specific Topic
Stem-cell research	Using stem-cell research to cure multiple sclerosis
Herman Melville’s Billy Budd	Billy Budd as a Christ Figure
Constitutional law	One Unforeseen result of the Miranda ruling
The Internet	The use of Chat rooms in composition Classes

We can use two strategies to narrow a general subject to a specific topic: questions for probing and freewriting

a.      Questions for Probing: We can examine the subject by asking a series of questions about it. These series of questions reflect how our mind operates. By asking questions, we can explore the subject systematically. Any single question may elicit many different answers which is a possible topic for the essay.

b.     Freewriting: Freewriting helps to generate supporting information or to find a thesis. While doing free writing, we do not care about grammatical rules and stop unless we put down our ideas on paper. The objective of free writing is to flow the ideas. After completing freewriting, we read what is written and underline the ideas.

Finding Something to Say: After narrowing the subject, we have to find something to say about a topic. Brainstorming and journal writing are useful tools for generating ideas.

Brainstorming and Journal Writing

Brainstorming (https://youtu.be/EmS61qHyuaA )

Brainstorming is a way of discovering ideas about a topic discussed in a group. We note down the most useful ideas shared in the group. The notes might include words, phrases, statements, questions, and even drawings. We jot down the ideas that may be inspired by the class, got by reading. We may get other ideas by talking with friends. It can be of every fact, and detail that is related to the topic

Journal Writing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut0_fbWrLEo&t=117s )

Journal writing is the process of recording individual perceptions, reflections and questions on assigned or personal topics. It can be a source of gathering ideas at any stage of writing. Many writers routinely keep a journal, jotting down experiences or exploring ideas. Sometimes journal is a written as a response to a specific question.

Group Ideas: After generating writing materials, we group ideas that belong together. Clustering and Outlining can help to group ideas. Clustering (https://youtu.be/kbAAAkeOqk0) is a way of visually arranging ideas to glance where ideas belong. If the cluster diagram is too detailed, one branch of a cluster can be taken for writing. In clustering, the words or phrases that identify major points have circled the topic. The outline is mostly useful for seeing how the ideas fit together. Informal outlines do not include all the major divisions and sub-divisions of the paper the way formal outlines do.

Making an Informal Outline (https://youtu.be/hwzfnDbZCRQ )

Making an Informal Outline

The ideas collected through brainstorming or invention technique are organized into an informal outline. This outline does not include all major divisions and sub-divisions of your paper. It can be said as a list of the major points presented in a tentative order. This outline simply suggests the shape of the writing.

Understanding Thesis and Support (https://youtu.be/sfSWTnCHIgo )

Understanding Thesis and Support: A thesis is the main idea of the essay that is a central point. The essay may consist of several paragraphs of introduction that presents the thesis statement, body paragraphs that develop and support the thesis and a conclusion that reinforces the thesis and provides closure. 

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