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Interpreting the question: Developing a plan

ReSTExL@DCU
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Concluding remarks

Many students are unsure where to begin when they receive their first university writing assignment.  The aim of the five units in this resource (of which this is the second) is to assist students who struggle with writing.  A suggested step-by-step breakdown is presented to take you through the written assignment from preparation to completion.  This unit has introduced a number of ways to approach the initial phase in a writing assignment. The importance of the preparation and planning stages can not be over-emphasised.  Strategies were suggested to enable a full interrogation of the assignment title or question.   Brainstorming was advocated as a useful strategy for sorting out ideas.  The benefits of building a clear and focused core statement from which an outline plan can be developed were highlighted.  Finally, some ideas with regard to the development of the introduction were discussed.    To sum up, the following are the suggested stages in STEP 1 (which is the focus of this unit in the writing resource).
  1. Interrogate the title.
  2. Gather together material needed.  (Readings, research notes, etc.) (See units: ‘Active listening: note-taking in lectures’, ‘Active and critical reading’, and ‘Information literacy’).
  3. Brainstorm ideas.
  4. Develop core statement, or topic sentence.
  5. Draw up provisional outline plan (open to revision).
  6. Develop initial introduction (you will come back to this).
Remember that the approaches outlined in this unit are suggestions: in time you will develop your own personal approach to writing assignments.  As you become familiar with your discipline-specific discourse you will master an appropriate approach to accommodate its particular conventions. 

End of Unit: Action

Write!  Try putting the suggestions in this unit into practice.  You could also reflect on the ideas presented here in your reflective learning journal.  (See unit, ‘Reflective learning: keeping a reflective learning journal’).  You are now ready to move on to the next unit in the writing resource, which covers STEP 2, ‘Answering the question: structure, argument and analysis.’