{"id":1272,"date":"2017-10-23T14:20:04","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T14:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-styleguide\/?post_type=chapter&p=1272"},"modified":"2017-11-20T15:39:27","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T15:39:27","slug":"tips-for-drafting","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-styleguide\/chapter\/tips-for-drafting\/","title":{"raw":"Tips for Drafting","rendered":"Tips for Drafting"},"content":{"raw":"Since writer\u2019s block and the internal editor can undercut our best efforts, use the following tips to get started in drafting.\u00a0 Of course, you have preferred prewriting techniques that lead up to this point.\u00a0 The OWL Excelsior Writing Lab cover those prewriting approaches<\/a>.\r\n\r\nGet a physical location where you can work without too many distractions.\u00a0 Some writers listen to music.\u00a0 Some cannot write if listening to music with any words.\u00a0 It all depends on what works for you.\u00a0 Be aware of this.\r\n\r\nLike any skill, writing takes some warm-up.\u00a0 The first twenty minutes of one\u2019s writing may produce mostly junk with a few usable sentences or ideas.\u00a0 Save your files rather than overwriting everything so that you can mine the prewriting for later ideas.\u00a0 Often, I have located ideas for future projects in these scrap files.\u00a0 While starting the writing, ignore your internal editor who is telling you where semicolons should appear!\u00a0 Just write.\u00a0 After several minutes, it is likely that you will stop \u201cwriting like one talks,\u201d which is what I am doing here!\r\n\r\nTo avoid writer\u2019s block, make yourself believe you have written a lot.\u00a0 Use 14 point font here to fill the page more easily.\u00a0 (This is a trick I have used successfully in completing 50,000-word novels each November in the National Novel Writing Month<\/a> contest.\r\n\r\nCite as you write so that you never have to go back and, forensically, figure out \u201cWhat was.\u201d\u00a0 Figuring out what you took after the fact is not how we should approach writing.\r\n\r\nUse a prewriting technique like clustering, freewriting, asking reporters\u2019 questions, or listing.\r\n\r\nRead the work aloud.\u00a0 By going back to your work or reading it aloud, you can get a sense of the voice.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see and hear what\u2019s missing or which ideas feature too much coverage (overdwelling).\u00a0 I often use one color of highlighting to indicate where something isn\u2019t well worded and another color for areas where I could add more interpretation or detail.\u00a0 Again, use a system that works for you.\u00a0 Writers don\u2019t want to stop themselves repeatedly while drafting, but a quick right-click and highlight can be useful during editing.\u00a0 Similarly, know the keyboard shortcuts so that the writing process isn\u2019t interrupted.\r\n\r\nEven when drafting, work at the beginnings and endings of paragraphs.\u00a0 Consider adding transitions between ideas and paragraphs.\u00a0 To see an example of drafting in action, look through the following three slides on drafting from OWL Excelsior<\/a>, clicking \"Next\" at the bottom of each page to proceed.\r\n\r\nThe thesis is a provable opinion, so it should be something others could disagree with.\u00a0 It may only occur to you late in the writing process, but one had best have a good idea of the audience and purpose stated on the assignment sheet before even starting.\r\n\r\nIf you find that you draft several paragraphs that don't seem to fit the thesis, what's easier to fix: the thesis or several paragraphs?\r\n\r\nMake sure your major paragraph topics (your major reasons for support) are included in the wording of the thesis.\u00a0 Work out the thesis later on.\u00a0 For now, concentrate on fresh writing, communicating things in new ways.\r\n\r\nIf the assignment sheet requires three full pages for the final copy, draft slightly more than this so that you have flexibility when editing.\u00a0 However, if sources are called for, it is often best to draft one\u2019s ideas first and then fit in the cited material later on.\r\n\r\nThere is no set way to draft.\u00a0 Again, do what works for you.\u00a0 Some writers must have a thesis before writing anything else.\u00a0 For others, the claim is nearly the last thing they create, since they prefer to put together reasoning and see where it leads.\u00a0 Try different prewriting approaches and be aware of what sort of writer you tend to be.\r\n
This last idea is important: Writing, you are a writer.\u00a0 Using others\u2019 ideas as support, you are more important than either the ideas or the other writers, however famous they may be.\u00a0\u00a0 Take oneself seriously as a thinker, then.<\/div>\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\n\u201cBlinders\u201d<\/a> by Sean Hurley<\/a> <\/i> is licensed under CC BY 2.0<\/a>\r\n
Strong topic sentences are a key.\u00a0 Include topic sentences and use these to check that everything else in the paragraph fits the promise of the topic sentence.\u00a0 However, do not get so fixated on the wording of topic sentences that you fail to say anything different from what you though you were supposed to.\u00a0 Then you become like the horse with the blinders above. . .\u00a0 only going where you are led because other sensory input is being denied<\/span>.\u00a0 Drafts. . .\u00a0 horses. . .\u00a0 very punny.\u00a0 This is a key point.\u00a0 Often, the best major ideas appear on their own within a paragraph and become different paragraph reasons.<\/div>","rendered":"

Since writer\u2019s block and the internal editor can undercut our best efforts, use the following tips to get started in drafting.\u00a0 Of course, you have preferred prewriting techniques that lead up to this point.\u00a0 The OWL Excelsior Writing Lab cover those prewriting approaches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Get a physical location where you can work without too many distractions.\u00a0 Some writers listen to music.\u00a0 Some cannot write if listening to music with any words.\u00a0 It all depends on what works for you.\u00a0 Be aware of this.<\/p>\n

Like any skill, writing takes some warm-up.\u00a0 The first twenty minutes of one\u2019s writing may produce mostly junk with a few usable sentences or ideas.\u00a0 Save your files rather than overwriting everything so that you can mine the prewriting for later ideas.\u00a0 Often, I have located ideas for future projects in these scrap files.\u00a0 While starting the writing, ignore your internal editor who is telling you where semicolons should appear!\u00a0 Just write.\u00a0 After several minutes, it is likely that you will stop \u201cwriting like one talks,\u201d which is what I am doing here!<\/p>\n

To avoid writer\u2019s block, make yourself believe you have written a lot.\u00a0 Use 14 point font here to fill the page more easily.\u00a0 (This is a trick I have used successfully in completing 50,000-word novels each November in the National Novel Writing Month<\/a> contest.<\/p>\n

Cite as you write so that you never have to go back and, forensically, figure out \u201cWhat was.\u201d\u00a0 Figuring out what you took after the fact is not how we should approach writing.<\/p>\n

Use a prewriting technique like clustering, freewriting, asking reporters\u2019 questions, or listing.<\/p>\n

Read the work aloud.\u00a0 By going back to your work or reading it aloud, you can get a sense of the voice.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see and hear what\u2019s missing or which ideas feature too much coverage (overdwelling).\u00a0 I often use one color of highlighting to indicate where something isn\u2019t well worded and another color for areas where I could add more interpretation or detail.\u00a0 Again, use a system that works for you.\u00a0 Writers don\u2019t want to stop themselves repeatedly while drafting, but a quick right-click and highlight can be useful during editing.\u00a0 Similarly, know the keyboard shortcuts so that the writing process isn\u2019t interrupted.<\/p>\n

Even when drafting, work at the beginnings and endings of paragraphs.\u00a0 Consider adding transitions between ideas and paragraphs.\u00a0 To see an example of drafting in action, look through the following three slides on drafting from OWL Excelsior<\/a>, clicking “Next” at the bottom of each page to proceed.<\/p>\n

The thesis is a provable opinion, so it should be something others could disagree with.\u00a0 It may only occur to you late in the writing process, but one had best have a good idea of the audience and purpose stated on the assignment sheet before even starting.<\/p>\n

If you find that you draft several paragraphs that don’t seem to fit the thesis, what’s easier to fix: the thesis or several paragraphs?<\/p>\n

Make sure your major paragraph topics (your major reasons for support) are included in the wording of the thesis.\u00a0 Work out the thesis later on.\u00a0 For now, concentrate on fresh writing, communicating things in new ways.<\/p>\n

If the assignment sheet requires three full pages for the final copy, draft slightly more than this so that you have flexibility when editing.\u00a0 However, if sources are called for, it is often best to draft one\u2019s ideas first and then fit in the cited material later on.<\/p>\n

There is no set way to draft.\u00a0 Again, do what works for you.\u00a0 Some writers must have a thesis before writing anything else.\u00a0 For others, the claim is nearly the last thing they create, since they prefer to put together reasoning and see where it leads.\u00a0 Try different prewriting approaches and be aware of what sort of writer you tend to be.<\/p>\n

This last idea is important: Writing, you are a writer.\u00a0 Using others\u2019 ideas as support, you are more important than either the ideas or the other writers, however famous they may be.\u00a0\u00a0 Take oneself seriously as a thinker, then.<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cBlinders\u201d<\/a> by Sean Hurley<\/a> <\/i> is licensed under CC BY 2.0<\/a><\/p>\n

Strong topic sentences are a key.\u00a0 Include topic sentences and use these to check that everything else in the paragraph fits the promise of the topic sentence.\u00a0 However, do not get so fixated on the wording of topic sentences that you fail to say anything different from what you though you were supposed to.\u00a0 Then you become like the horse with the blinders above. . .\u00a0 only going where you are led because other sensory input is being denied<\/span>.\u00a0 Drafts. . .\u00a0 horses. . .\u00a0 very punny.\u00a0 This is a key point.\u00a0 Often, the best major ideas appear on their own within a paragraph and become different paragraph reasons.<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t
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Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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CC licensed content, Original<\/div>