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The Essay as an Academic and Literary Form
Writing Essay Exams
Linear composing strategies
Non-linear composing strategies
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Drafting: Non-linear Composing Strategies
Some composing strategies are non-linear--you draft the pieces in random
order and then figure out how you want to put them together. Non-linear
strategies work especially well for web-sites and research papers.
Reading to Create Meaning
View the PowerPoint presentation,"The
Reading Process:Creating Meaning."
Exercise
As you read an assigned piece, try taking notes in a map or web format
rather than highlighting or outlining. Place the topic in the center of
the map. As you discover the central assertion your source is making, write
the thesis in the center, directly below the topic. Create branches for
each of the main ideas and note important details. Connect the branches
with lines to show the connections the author makes. Using a different
color ink or pencil, draw in branches of your own ideas and connections
that come to you as you read. How does the map help you create meaning
for this reading?
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Thinking Creatively
Often, when we begin drafting a paper, we face the blank page or blank
screen and try to begin writing with the title or the first sentence of
the introduction and work straight through to the conclusion. You may have
found that it's difficult to force yourself to sit down and face the blank
page; it's even harder to start writing. The reason is that you are trying
to produce the perfect paper in a single draft. That means you are expecting
yourself to compose the piece and edit it in your head before you put a
single word down on the page. This is impossible for even the most brilliant
writers. And the longer the piece, the more difficult it is to write a
good paper in a single draft. Spending time doing some discovery writing
and planning will usually save time in frustration and self-defeating behavior.
Another strategy for using writing time more effectively is by using
maps to explore a topic, make discoveries and generate writing. Where composing
a linear outline may help you limit the scope of a paper, it also may limit
your thought process to a pre-established pattern or logical chain. In
contrast, maps encourage you to expand your thinking and explore a topic
in greater depth while putting far fewer words on a single page. A map
also gives you the advantage of an overview of your topic at a single glance.Working
from a map, you can compose various parts of a paper in random order--before
you are even sure what your pattern of organization for the paper is going
to be.It's very much like assembling a lot of raw material before you begin
to build something. The shapes and content of the material will influence
the your vision of what you are building. When you work with maps instead
of linear outlines, you are more likely to discover surprising insights
by making new connections that no one has ever thought of before. The logic
becomes apparent after the connection is made intuitively. Maps enrourage
creative thinking as well as critical thinking.
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Using the Modes of Development for
Paragraphs as Branches for a Map
As we see in Discovery Grove, exploring what
we know about a topic often leads us to questions we have or our readers
have. One of the ways to think about a topic is to use these questions
as branches on a Discovery Map. Each of the questions suggests a mode of
development that answers the question, as you can see in the table below.
Narration
tells the story about what is happening or has happened. The details
or data are arranged in chronolocal order. One popular variation, however,
is the flashback, where the story begins in the present and then flashes
back to relate the events in the past that lead back to the present at
the end.
Return to the list of modes of development.
Definition
explains a word or concept by explaining what it means. There are three
main steps to writing a good definition:
(1) name the term or concept;
(2) place it in a general category;
(3) explain how it differs from other members of the same category.
Often a good definition is further explained by an example, illustration,
or case study.
Return to the list of modes of development.
Description
uses sensory images to give the reader a mental experience of the topic.
In a description, visual details are presented in a spatial sequence:
(1) top to bottom;
(2) bottom to top;
(3) left to right, etc.
Strong descriptions will include more than visual details; they will
also include sounds, textures, odors, and tastes. The more senses addressed,
the more vivid the description will be.
Return to the list of modes of development.
Example, illustration, or case study
shows the reader the topic in specific detail. Examples or case studies
dramatize the topic for the reader.
If more than one example is given, they are arranged from least important
or least dramatic to most important or most dramatic.
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Analogy
compares objects or ideas that are not usually associated with each
other. Often the writer uses familiar terms to explain an unfamiliar topic
or details that may be unfamiliar. For example, when we describe cancer
in terms of battle (invasion, treatment strategy, counterattack, victory)
we are making an analogy.
Return to the list of modes of development.
Comparison and contrast
focus on similarities and differences respectively.
There are two common methods of organizing a comparison or a contrast
paper.
(1) The block pattern presents all the information about subject A
first
and then all the information about subject B.
(2) The alternating pattern sets up a list of points for comparison
or contrast and then moves down this list:
point 1 about A; point 1 about B
point 2 about A; point 2 about B
point 3 about A; point 3 about B, and so on.
Return to the list of modes of development.
Analysis
divides a topic into its component parts. There are several types of
analyses. Because this is such an important mode of development for academic
essays, a PowerPoint presentation is included here to explain "Analytical
Writing" in more detail.
Return to the list of modes of development.
Process analysis
explains how to do something. The details are the steps of the process
presented in the order in which they must be done. A process analysis can
also explain how something works by taking the topic apart into its separate
components. When we analyze the elements of an argument, we are doing this
kind of process analysis.
Return to the list of modes of development.
Causal analysis
examines the factors or forces that bring about an event or a situation.
It answers the question, "Why?" or "How?" by explaining
the reasons. These reasons are often organized in a pattern called a "causal
chain."
Return to the list of modes of development.
Effects analysis
examines outcomes or consequences that result from the causes. Here
the details are presented in the order in which these effects will occur
(like a chain reaction) or, if the effects may occur simultaneously or
randomly, they may be organized from most signifcant to least significant.
Return to the list of modes of development.
Classification analysis
divides a large subject into smaller groups that have similar characteristics.
These groupings make the topic easier to study and discuss by organizing
the details in a systematic way. The classified ads in the newspaper organize
a large number of ads into categories of similar items. The Myers-Briggs
Personality Type Indicators are another system of classification.So is
this list of modes of development.
Return to the list of modes of development.
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Composing from a Map
Now you can follow these steps to use your discovery map as a guide
for drafting.
Write what you want to say about each branch on your map. Be sure to
use a separate page for each branch and write on only one side of the page.
If you are composing on a computer, insert a page break after each branch
of writing and print when you are finished.
After you have drafted all the branches of your map, spread your pages
out on your desk, table, or the floor.
Review your PLACE. Draft your thesis
or claim.
With purpose, thesis and audience in mind, play with a variety of patterns
of organization for the branches you have written. Arrange and rearrange
the pages. You may choose to leave some out and develop others more fully.
If you are writing a researched argument, you may want to view the
PowerPoint presentation, "Using Maps
to Compose Researched Arguments."
Whether you are writing an essay or a research paper, now you
might want to draft an introduction. Then draft
a conclusion. Use the title
exercise to create an interesting title. From this loose arrangement
of pieces, you may want to draft an informal outline of your paper. Another
strategy is to simply pile up the pages in the order you have chosen or
use glue or tape to literally paste up a working draft. You can also use
the cut and paste features and "insert file" applications on
your word processor to assemble your draft. In the revision process you
can rethink the organization of your paper and improve the flow by adding
effective transitions.
If you are creating a web page rather than an essay, you may want to
arrange your branches in a circle, with the piece that will be your "homepage"
or default page in the center. Consider where you want to put links. You
can use pieces of yarn or string to make these links apparent on the pages
you have spread out in front of you. From this layout you may want to make
a site plan. The site plan for just this Drafting branch of the Writer's
PLACE looks like this:
When you are creating a web page, you have to think about your
purpose and audience just as you do when you are writing a paper. Here,
in addition to tone and word choices, you also have to think about the
visual impact of your page and ease of navigation for the reader to follow
your links and move through your site without getting lost. Draft the pieces
of your site plan; then link them together.
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