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PREVIEW

Part Two helps you, first of all, to consider your own attitude about writing, You will leam that while writing is hard work for almost everyone, it is a skill that most people can master with practice. Part Two then encourages you to choose writing topics you know about, or to research a topie until you have enough information to write about it effectively. Next, you leam four prewriting techniąues to help you get started with an assignment. The techniąues are brainstorming, freewriting, making a list, and preparihg a scratch outline. The following section offers extensive practice in outlining skills important to elear thinking and writing. Part Two concludes by asking you to view your own writing as a process—a series of drafts which move toward the finał version of a paper. To illustrate the point that rewriting is essential, a student paper is shown in several of the stages it goes through while being written.

KEY FACTORS IN WRITING

This part of the book will discuss the importance of

*    Having the right attitude

*    Knowing your subject

*    Prewriting

*    Outlining

*    Revising and proofreading

In addłtion to the four principles of effective writing, there aft several other factors that will help you tum out good papers. These¹ factors, which will be discussed on the following pages, include (1) having the right attitude about writing; (2) knowing your subject; (3) prewriting, or having ways of getting started in writing; (4) outlining; and (5) revising and proofreading.

Having the Right Attitude

One surę way to wreck your chances of learning how to write competently is to believe that writing is a natural gift. People with this attitude think that they are the only ones for whom writing is an unbearably difficult activity. They feel that everyone else finds writing easy or at least tolerable. Such people typically say, ‘Tm not any good at writing” or “English was not one of my good subjects.” They imply that they simply do not have a talent for writing, while othersjdo. The result of this attitude is that people don’t do their best when they write, or, even worse, tńey hardly try at all. Their self-defeating attitude becomes a reality; their writing fails chiefly because they have brainwashed themselves into thinking that they don’t have the natural talent needed to write. Until their attitude is thanged, they probably will not learn how to write effectively.

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