S'Up for Writing
* Students Ultimate Place
Understand the Assignment
If you are writing in response to an assignment, make sure you understand the requirements of assignment. If guidelines were provided, review them now and use them to direct you throughout the process.
Audience
Knowing who you are writing for is essential - it affects everything about the assignment. For example, if you were writing your career goal(s) to Tweet, you would use extremely casual wording and keep it under 140 characters. If you were writing your career goals in a letter to a prospective employer your language should be more formal and you would go intro a lot more detail. Know your audience!
Research
Google can be the writer's best friend (and worst enemy - but that's for another time). Once you think you have your topic, Google it, what are others saying about it? How does that influence your thoughts on the topic? What do the experts say? Reading what others think of an issue can help us solidify our own stance.
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Talk it Out
The image of the writer working in isolation is a lie. Don't buy it! Writing is best done with others. Talk about your writing with friends and fellow students. Go to the Writing Center and talk about your ideas. You don't need to have a draft with you, just go and talk through the assignment if that would help.
Get Some Space
As you prepare to write, get your space comfortable and free from distractions (maybe go to the library if roommates are an issue). More on this in the Writing section of this site.
Getting in
The Zone
Before You Write
What do you have to
Say?
Before you start to write, you must have something to say. If you are working on an assignment, think about the requirements. Not only the what, but the why and to whom is important to undertand. If you need help coming up with an idea, check out some TED talks - short talks on an enormous variety of ideas all designed to get you thinking.
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