conversation2e

Build on Your Experiences Writing Academic Essays

The processes writers typically use to compose a multimodal essay are similar to those used to compose academic essays. You need to do the following:

Choose a written conversation by reading widely and looking for a match with your interests, knowledge, and experiences.
Listen in on the conversation by locating sources — including multimodal sources as well as those that are primarily textual — and reading them critically.
Reflect on the conversation by taking notes and evaluating information, ideas, and arguments.
Decide how you’ll contribute to the conversation by focusing on a particular role and choosing a main point.
Support your main point with reasons and evidence.
Organize your argument.
Draft, revise, and edit your document with your purpose, readers, and context in mind.

You can read more about the processes involved in choosing, listening in on, and reflecting on a written conversation in Part One. You can read more about the processes associated with particular roles — observing, reporting, analyzing, evaluating, problem solving, and advocating — in the relevant chapters in Part Two.