Discussion 1 – Prewriting

First post due by Wednesday, 11:59p.m. (MT), and at least two additional posts or responses by Saturday, 11:59 p.m. (MT) (60 points).

Due Dates and Participation Requirements

LEARNING OBJECTIVES COVERED

• Practice and use the first step of the writing process, specifically prewriting methods (brainstorming, outlining, mapping, and free writing), to generate ideas for the paper.

MEDIA

Please make sure you review the media for Week One before beginning your work.

BACKGROUND

This course is designed to teach the process of writing. There are a variety of processes that work for different individuals–or even the same individual using different processes depending on the writing needs. The topic of this discussion forum is Prewriting. Prewriting is the writing done before you actually start to write your paper. The objective with this discussion forum is to explore the different ways of prewriting to find an activity that works well for you. Prewriting exercises explored in this forum include free-writing, brainstorming, mapping, and questioning. These exercises will also help you decide on a topic for your final paper.

Before you get started, review the reading on Prewriting or see examples of prewriting activities here.

Prompt

Like any writing project, a discussion post requires some preparation as you figure out what to write about and how you will write about it. Your primary post requires two preparation steps before you actually start writing. Step 3 below is what you will put in your post.

STEP 1: PREPARE TO WRITE YOUR POST BY CHOOSING A TOPIC ANGLE.

For any paper, there are several steps in the writing process: prewriting, writing, revising, and editing. During this course, you will write one short research paper. We will take one step each week and, in Week 4, submit the final draft of the paper you begin this week.

For this week’s assignment, you will work on the first step of the writing process: Prewriting. You will need to select one of three assigned topics, but you will choose an angle that is unique to you. The topic you select this week will be what you write about for the remainder of the course.

CHOOSE ONE OF THE THREE TOPICS BELOW FOR THIS DISCUSSION. IT WILL ALSO BE THE TOPIC FOR THE PAPER YOU BUILD IN THIS COURSE.

• Topic 1: Is it more important to have soft skills or hard skills? Support your claim with research, including how either soft skills or hard skills are used in your career. **Please note, you must decided if either soft skills or hard skills are more important in this paper. Do NOT reuse assignments or material from previous courses.**
• Topic 2: How do the skills you’re learning in General Education courses apply to your future career? Support your paper with research (ex. communication, soft skills, importance of time management, etc.).
• Topic 3: Convince a friend, family member, or coworker to consider earning a college degree. Identify 3-5 reasons why someone should be a college graduate.

There are many ways to approach each topic, so find an angle that interests you. Using a prewriting activity, or activities, can help you determine which is the best topic for you.

Remember that part of the discussion grade is submitting on time and using proper grammar, spelling, etc. You’re training to be a professional—write like it.

Click here for info on the Institution Writing Guidelines (IWG) if you have questions.

STEP 2: PREWRITE ABOUT THE TOPIC YOU CHOSE.

Choose a prewriting activity – free-writing, brainstorming, mapping or questioning. Perform the activity using the topic you chose in Step 1. Some questions to consider as you prewrite:

• What do you already know about the topic? What interests you about the topic?
• Where might you learn more about the topic? (Friends? Family?)
• What sources would be helpful in learning about this topic?***For your research paper, you will need three reasons to support your topic. You should start thinking about these reasons now as you prewrite. These reasons will be the supporting points in your thesis statement and the body of your paper. For the outline portion of your assignment this week, you will need to list these reasons as well.***

STEP 3: POST IN THE FORUM.

Once you finish the prewriting activity, post in the discussion forum about your efforts.

• What prewriting activity or activities did you do?
• Why did you select the prewriting activity or activities that you did?
• What was hard about the activity?
• What was easy about the activity?
• Explain your reasons for selecting your topic, and how the prewriting process helped you in exploring the topic.

In your responses to other students’ posts, push the discussion further. Remember to be respectful to each other, but also challenge the discussion–in other words, work with each other and the instructor here to explore this topic and figure it out for yourselves as a group.