Thinking Before You Write

By: Kangsen Feka Wakai, a 2^nd year MFA student  

At the Writing Center, part of our role is to guide writers along the way as they make the choices and moves that will lend meaning to their papers.  Part of our role is to help writers think.

Thinking about the writing process is as fundamental to the process as the writing itself; it is a way of teasing out ideas, and creating that bridge between the Professor’s expectations for an assignment, and the moves you are supposed to make to meet those expectations. 

Therefore, thinking before you write is essential because it helps to assemble your thoughts, while ridding your mind of some of the clutter that can get in the way of writing.

Imagine the mental clutter that governs the freshman college writing student’s mind as he or she juggles academic expectations, acclimatizing to a new environment, and the social pressures that come with both!

Thinking enables strategizing, which in turn provides the kind of distance that can facilitate not only a seamless entry way into an otherwise confusing assignment, but can also guide the writer as he or she engages a particular subject.

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/673/01/

For the freshman college writing student, thinking about the assignment can make the difference between understanding and misunderstanding the task at hand.

Brainstorming, I say, is a virtue.

Spring Semester Has Started

By: Emma Lister

Wait a second, where did my winter break go!?  I was so happy and cozy on my couch binging on Netflix and napping at my leisure. 

It ended, along with the four Netflix series you crushed.

Now I have these classes… with homework? 

Yep, every day.

Whatever, no need to worry, it’s syllabus week, there’s plenty of time to dip my toes in these academic waters… 

Syllabus week is over.

Wait, we’re going into our third week of classes?  I have a paper due next week?  What is going on here?!?

If you’ve had a similar internal monologue/panic attack… you’re not alone.  The start of Spring Semester is always a rough transition and brutal drop back into reality in a post-holiday-freezing-rain-it-gets-dark-too-early kind of way.  I’ve found what is helpful in dragging yourself out of this lazy and self-pitying hole is to get ORGANIZED - simple baby steps to make your schedule much more manageable and to keep your anxiety at bay.

First, get a calendar… Then, yes, USE this calendar (some sort of assignment book works too).  Mark down when assignments are due and cross those bad boys off when you have finished them.  Nothing is more rewarding that crossing things off your To Do list.  More importantly though, you must mark when you are going to START bigger assignments projects, papers, etc.  If you have a paper due in two weeks… choose a book by Monday.  Make an outline by Friday… If you get stuck, come and brainstorm with someone in the Writing Center… If you’ve written and rewritten your draft and can’t look at it anymore?  Not sure if your thesis makes sense?  We’re happy to help you at that point, too!  We love to organize at the Writing Center (seriously ask anyone there… we get a strange high from helping you get your thoughts down in a sequential and logical way)! 

BUT, we can’t help you if you’ve waited to start eight hours before the assignment is due and you’re sitting in the library at 2:00am ripping your hair out and hating the start of your semester… So, take a baby step, figure out what’s coming up, and come see us in the WRITING CENTER!  Where our obsessions are strangely helpful!

For Your Consideration: Sounds for the Writing Environment

by Hannah Williams


As we get to work on brainstorming, writing, and revising essay drafts, I want to ask: does your work environment ever seem all wrong? Perhaps you live in a dorm with a lot of distractions, or the coffee shop is too crowded, or your favorite spot in the library is taken--the variables are endless! It can be hard to find the right amount of quiet--or the right amount of noise--to feel relaxed and ready to take on an assignment. For some, your mindset correlates directly with the ability to actually get some writing accomplished, so the writing environment can be very important.

There are several great online resources with which you can generate the kind of atmosphere that suits you on that particular day. Below, I've shared some links to some of my favorite resources. I believe these resources offer realistic, soothing, and focus-generating sounds. 

So whenever you don't have the time or means to get that setting just right, maybe these can help! 

1) Coffitivity

With Coffitivity, you can choose between "Morning Murmur," "Lunchtime Lounge," and "University Undertones" so that the coffee shop atmosphere becomes customizable! And if you sign up for a premium account, there are even more atmospheres at your fingertips. 

2) Rainy days

Rainy days mean that you're probably stuck indoors, so you might as well try to get some homework done, right? Here's a way to make that happen any time you want. 

3) Morning in the forest

YouTube is a great place to look up atmospheric sounds and pick the right one for you. Here's a great example of simple, pleasant sounds. 

Happy writing! 

Write the Worst First Draft You’ve Ever Written

by Nate Shelter

“The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is that you really want to say.”

– Mark Twain

My writing process begins with what I call thinking and what others might call procrastinating. So sue me. It may take me awhile to put pen to paper, but thinking about an assignment before you start writing is always a good idea. Admittedly, so is setting a deadline for when those thoughts need to be put down on paper.

But now what? You’ve done some thinking; you’ve done some research. Your thoughts have had some time to marinate, and you’ve got a vague idea of where this paper is heading. Now, it’s time to free-write.

The problem with free-writing is that almost nobody does it, because nobody sounds smart when they free-write. You’re rambling. You disregard grammar, sentence order, structure, and everything else you’ve learned about writing. That’s fine, though – just get those thoughts down on paper. Style can come later.

The benefits are twofold: 1) You won’t have to worry about remembering your genius ideas. 2) Chances are, just by writing, you’ll come across even more genius ideas – ones you couldn’t have articulated before.

Disclaimer: I have recently overcome a terrible, unjustifiable fear of free-writing, made even worse by knowing its value. Terrified of sentences that were less than perfect, my first drafts were always more polished than they should have been. This might sound like a great problem to have, but I was missing out on ideas and connections that writing without constraint could have helped me realize.

Here’s a rule of thumb: your first draft should go in the trash. It should be an ice cream scoop taken from your brain and plopped down on a piece of paper. Sure, most of it will melt, but a few sprinkles will remain. One of those may end up being the heart of your piece.

Brainstorming

by Griffin Moar

Some of the best sessions here at the Writing Center occur when a student brings in nothing but their assignment sheet, some rough ideas, and a week or two of slack before the paper’s due date. In these cases we can take our time and focus on brainstorming techniques that can make your writing process infinitely more efficient. 

Brainstorming is something new college writers tend to ignore, choosing instead to start their writing process with the heading on their final draft.  The fact is that sitting down with a pen and some blank sheets of paper to brainstorm will sharpen your focus and bring out your paper’s potential, all while fleshing out what the bulk of your paper will need to address. Here are some techniques that can get you started on your paper and reduce your stress level along the way:

Freewriting: Get rid of your self-consciousness! Just jot down whatever comes to mind when you’re thinking about the topic. It’s easy.  Most of the stuff on the page won’t make it into your paper draft, but as your brain is firing off free associations you will find at least a few moments of insight that can get you going in the right direction. 

Listing/Bulleting: Get down on paper all the names, dates, events, themes, words, or phrases that might play a role in your paper. As you see the breadth of your paper topic in front of you, and as you’re thinking about how all that you’ve listed is interrelated, you might be able to identify the things that will be most vital to your paper, or what you can probably do without mentioning. It might help to have your notes from class in front of you so you don’t miss anything you may not have retained from a lecture.

Clustering/Mapping: Once you’ve identified the important pieces of your topic, give each a space on paper branching off from the original, main topic. Fill in the open space on the page by jotting down many related concepts or terms, constantly expanding on what you’ve already got down. Now that your page(s) is littered with potential material, start circling concepts and connecting related ones. A circle with a lot of spokes means that you may have found a good idea on which to focus a significant portion of your paper.  

Outlining: By now you should be starting to see how your paper might play out: What will you argue? How will you go about staging your argument? What concepts will you need to spend your paragraphs on? Now you can start to put the pieces in order by outlining the direction of your paper. Remember that your thesis, and its defense, should make itself evident throughout the paper, not just by the end.