How Do I Write It?
You don’t need to start from scratch when you face something new. Begin with what you know to prepare for what you don’t know. When you face a difficult, unfamiliar, or downright mysterious assignment, apply or adapt your past writing processes and experience to that challenge.
Underline or annotate your assignment to identify requirements.
Add notes to yourself, especially to distinguish what you know how to do and what you don’t.
Sort your models to find examples of unfamiliar features or sections.
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Return to the processes used in your writing class so that you generate ideas and plan instead of simply jumping into drafting.
Turn to the campus writing center, your class study group, or your friends to identify a peer reader who can respond to your draft.
Get a second opinion from another reader if useful.
Meet with your instructor, or submit your draft for a preliminary reading (if possible). Use your instructor’s advice, especially about the big issues, to help you look critically at your own work.
Revise first to conform to the unfamiliar assignment. Use your analysis of it to generate your own self-assessment questions.
Revise again to improve format, organization, clarity, or other matters.
Edit to improve conventions and genre features as well as to correct errors.
Learning by Doing Reflecting on New Assignments
Learning by Doing
Reflecting on New Assignments
Reflect on your writing experience. When you face a new assignment, how do you get started? What are your most reliable strategies? What adjustments have you made or are you making as a college writer? When you face a challenging assignment, how would you apply what you already know and do as a writer?