Step one: Prewriting

What you need to learn first are strategies for working on a paper. These strategies will help you do the
thinking needed to figure out both the point you want to make and the support you have for that point.
There are several prewriting strategies you use before writing the first draft of your paper:

 Freewriting
 Questioning
 Clustering – mapping or diagramming
 Making a list
 Scratch outline

Activity
Below are examples of how the five prewriting techniques could be used to develop the topic “Problems
of Combining Work and College. “Identify each technique by writing F (for free writing), Q (for
questioning), L (for the list), C (for the cluster), or SO (for the scratch outline) in the answer space.

1.___ Never enough time

Miss campus parties
Have to study (only two free hours a night)
Give up activities with friends
No time to rewrite papers
Can’t stay at school to play video games or talk to friends
Friends don’t call me to go out anymore
Sunday no longer relaxed day-have to study
Missing sleep I should be getting
Grades aren’t as good as they could be
Can’t watch favorite TV shows
Really need the extra money
Tired when I sit down to study at nine o’clock

2.____ Juggling a job and college has created major difficulties in my life.

1. Little time for studying

a. No reading textbooks
b. No writing papers
c. Little studying for tests

2. Little time for enjoying social side of college

a. During school
b. After school

3. No time for personal pleasures

a. Favorite TV shows
b. Sunday football games
c. Sleeping late
3. ___What are some of the problems of School work suffers because I don’t have time
combining work and school? to study or rewrite papers. I’ve had to give up
things I enjoy, like sleep and touch football. I
can’t get into the social life at college, because
I have to work right after class.

How have these problems changed my life?

My grades aren’t as good as they were when I

didn’t work. Some of my friends have stopped
calling me. My relationship with a girl I liked
fell apart because I couldn’t spend much time
with her. I miss TV.

What do I do in a typical day?

I get up at make an 8 A.M. class. I have classes

till 1:30, and then I drive to the supermarket
where I work till 7 P.M, and then I drive home
and eat dinner. After I take a shower and relax
for a half hour, it’s about 9. This gives me only
a couple of hours to study –read textbooks, do
math and exercises, write essays. My eyes start
to close well before I go to bed at 11.
Why do keep up this schedule?

I can’t afford to go to school without working,

and I need degree to get the accounting job I
want. I invest my time now; I’ll have a better
future.
4. ______
No Monday night football

Little personal time

No sleeping late

Work
And No rewriting of papers
college
Little study time
No textbook reading

None during school

Little social time

No outside friends

5.____ It’s hard working and going to school at the same time. I never realized how much I’d have to
give up. I won’t be quitting my job because I need the money. And the people are friendly at the place
where I work. I’ve had to give up a lot more than I thought. We used to play touch football games every
Sunday. They were fun and we’d go out for drinks afterwards. Sundays now are for catch-up work with
my courses. I have to catch up because I don’t get home every day until 7; I have to eat dinner first before
studying. Sometimes I’m so hungry I just eat cookies or chips. Anyway, by the time I take a shower it’s 9
P.M. or later and I’m already feeling tired. I’ve been up since 7 A.M. Sometimes I write an English paper
in twenty minutes and don’t even read it over. I feel that I’m missing out on a lot in college. The other
day some people I like were sitting in the cafeteria listening to music and talking. I would have given
anything to stay and not have to go to work. I almost called in sick. I used to get invited to parties, I don’t
much anymore. My friends know I’m not going to be able to make it, so they don’t bother. I can’t sleep
late on weekends or watch TV during the week.

Step two: Planning – Scratch outline

A scratch outline is a brief plan for a paragraph. It shows at a glance the point of the paragraph
and the main support for that point. This rough outline often follows freewriting, questioning,
clustering, or listing – or all four. The outline lets you see, and work on the bare bones of a paper,
without the distraction of a clutter of words and sentences. It develops your ability to think clearly and
logically. Outlining provides a quick check on whether your paper will be adequately supported. And it
shows you how to plan a paper that is well organized.
The following two exercises will help you develop the outlining skills so important to planning and
writing a solid essay.
Activity 1

One key to effective outlining is the ability to distinguish between major ideas and details that fit under
those ideas. In each of the four lists below, major and supporting items are mixed together. Put the items
into logical order by filling in the outline that follows each list. In items 3 and 4, one of the three major
ideas is missing and must be added.

1. Thesis: My high school had three problem areas.

Involved with drugs a. _____________________

Leaky ceilings (1)_______________
Students (2)_______________
Unwilling to help after class
Formed cliques b. _____________________
Teachers (1)_______________
Buildings (2)_______________
Ill-equipped gym
Much too strict c. ______________________
(1)_______________
(2)_______________

2. Thesis: Working as a dishwasher in a restaurant was my worst job.

Ten hour shift a. ______________________
Heat in kitchen (1)_______________
Working conditions (2)_______________
Minimum wage
Hours changed every week b.______________________
No bonus for overtime (1)_______________
Hours (2) _______________
Pay
Noisy work area c._______________________
(1)________________
(2)________________

3. Thesis: Joining an aerobics class has many benefits.

Make new friends a._______________________

Reduces mental stress (1)________________
Social benefits (2)________________
Strengthens heart
Improves self-image b._______________________
Mental benefits (1)________________
Tones muscles (2)________________
Meet interesting instructors c._______________________
(1)________________
(2)________________
Here is the example of List with comments that Gary did on his problem with returning to school. Gary
had been given the assignment “Write about a problem you are facing at the present time.”
In Gary’s case, as he was working on his details, he suddenly discovered what the plan of his paragraph
could be. He went back to the list, crossed out items that he now realized did not fit, and added the
following comments.

Example of List with Comments

Starting college at twenty-nine isn’t easy – three reasons

parents give me hard time when they see me
Dad hated school
Dad quit school after eighth grade
Dad says I was dumped on enough in high school Parents and friends don’t support me
Dad asks why I want to go back for more
Mom also doesn’t understand
keeps asking how Ill pay for it
friends give me hard time too
friends call me college man
say they have to watch their grammar
my wife has more heavy work around the house X
also high school had been no fun for me
just sat in class after class
couldn’t wait for final bell to ring
wanted to escape Bad memories of school
teachers didn’t help me
teachers didn’t take an interest in me
one called on me, then told me to forget it
I felt like a real loser
I didn’t want to go back to his class
now I’m more sure of myself X
OK not to know an answer X
talk to teachers after class X
job plus schoolwork take all my time
get home late, then rush through dinner Not enough time with family
spend evening studying even have to do homework on weekends

Under the list, Gary was now able to prepare his scratch outline:

Example of Scratch Outline:

Starting college at age twenty-nine isn’t easy.

1. Little support from parents or friends

2. Bad memories of school
3. Not enough time to spend with family

After all his preliminary writing, Gary was now ready to write the first draft of his paper, using his outline
as a guide.