Writing Academic English 4th Edition

266 AppendixA I TheProcessofAcademicWriting

Writingaboutoceanpollutionis stilltoolargebecauseitincludespollution

byoil,chemicals,sewage,andgarbage.Therefore,youmustnarrowyourtopic

further-perhapstooilasa sourceofoceanpollution.Youcouldmakethistopic

evennalTowerbywritingonlyabouttheeffectsofoilspillsonsealife.Thisisan

appropriatetopicfora collegeassignment,perhapsa ten-pagepaper.Foranessay-

lengthpaper,youshouldnarrowthetopicfurther,perhapstojustonekindofsea

life-coralsorseabirdsorshellfish.

ThediagramillustratestheprocessofnalTowinga topic.

School Entertainment Sports Food

l.isting

Listingis a brainstormingtechniqueinwhichyouthinkaboutyourtopicandquickly

makea listofwhateverwordsorphrasescomeintoyourmind.Yourpurposeisto

produceasmanyideasaspossibleina shorttime,andyourgoalistofinda specific

focusforyourtopic.Followthisprocedure:

JournalWriting

Injournalwriting,youcanrecordyourdailyexperiences,oryoucanwritedown

quotationsthataremeaningfultoyou.Youmightwriteabouta dreamyouhad.You

mighthavea conversationwithyourselfonpaperdmingwhichyoudiscussa prob-

lemoranidea.Theadvantageofwritinga journalis thatyouarewritingonlyfor

yourself.Youcanwritedownyourthoughtsandexploreideaswithoutworrying

whatotherpeoplewillthink.Apersonaljournalcanbea veryrichsourceofideas.

Threeotherbrainstormingtechniquesarelisting,!reewriting,andclustering.

Learnhowtodoeachofthemandthendecidewhichisthemostproductiveforyou.

Afteryouhavechosena topicandnarrowedit,thenextprewritingstepis tocollect

informationanddevelopideas.Forsomewritingtasks,youwillneedtogotoout-

sidesources,suchasnewspapers,magazines,librarybooks,ortheInternet.For

otherassignments,youcaninterviewfriends,classmates,andneighborstogettheir

ideasandopinions.Forstillotherwritingtasks,youcansearchyourownbrainand

lifeexperiences.Fourusefultechniquesforexploringwithinyourselfarejournal

writing,listing,freewriting,andclustering.

Individually,ina smallgroup,orwithyourwholeclass,narroweachofthegeneraltop-

icsbelowtoonespecifictopicbelowthatyoucouldwriteaboutin a collegeassignment.

GENERALTOPIC

PRA.CTICE-- ~~~-~ ~ --~I - -

VERYSPECIFICTOPIC

Step1B:

Generating

ldea§

Choosingand

Narrowing

aTopic