Contextualizing Ideas
. Sometimes students don't have a good sense of
where their argument fits in the ongoing academic conversation, and so they can't
determine the point (or the structure) of their paper. Doing some research can help.
Show your students how to contextualize their ideas. In a writing workshop or in a
conference, select one of their ideas, and then ask: What is the history of this idea?
What else has been said on this topic that is relevant to our discussion? How does
it relate to other ideas that we've been discussing? What do the dissenting voices
have to say? How might we answer them? Asking these kinds of questions not
only moves students into the ongoing academic conversation, it also gives them a
sense of how to craft an introduction, when it comes time to write one.
Coming Up With A Working Thesis.
The last step in the invention process
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(and the first formal step of the composing process) is coming up with a working
thesis (or thesis question). Advise students to post the thesis where they can see it
as they write: this sentence, if well crafted, will help the writer to stay focused on
the argument she is trying to make. Do let the student know that, at this stage, they
have only a working thesis—most writers revise their theses as they go, in order to
accommodate shifts in perspectives and new ideas. For materials on invention and
thesis development that you can share with your students see Coming Up With
Your Topic and Developing Your Thesis.
To compose
a text is a difficult task. A writer sits at the keyboard, facing a
blank screen, and must make the decisive first step that will begin the writing
process. Some young writers get blocked: either they are perfectionists who keep
writing the same first sentence again and again, trying to get it right, or they are
terrified of making a decision and so continue to stare at the page as the clock ticks
on. Other young writers have no trouble with writer's block, but they have trouble
shaping their thoughts into a coherent essay. These writers see writing simply as
the process of getting what's in their head onto the page - once they've done a
"brain dump" they think that the paper is finished. They don't yet recognize the
need to revisit their paper, to re-envision it, and to revise it.
Students need better strategies. Experienced writers understand composing
as a recursive process. As experienced writers draft, they discover new ideas and
unexpected problems. At these junctures, they return to earlier processes: they
brainstorm, re-sketch their ideas, re-write their outlines. They inevitably revise or
refine their theses. Some young writers will find this process discouraging. By
modeling it as typical—or even as necessary—you can support your students as
they struggle through the writing process.
For materials on composing that you can share with your students, see
Writing: Considering Structure and Organization. As we noted above, revising a
paper is, for some students, even more difficult than writing it. Substantive revision
requires that students re-envision their papers, trying to understand how readers are
understanding (or misunderstanding) them.
For first-year writers, successful revision requires a solid understanding of
the academic audience. The problem is, they have only recently joined this
community and don't quite understand how knowledge is created and
communicated here. Talk with your students about the expectations of the
academic audience and the practices of scholarship—including the particular
expectations and conventions of your discipline.
Most first-year students could also benefit from a discussion of general
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