Thoughts on Drafting

In the following post I will analyze the most and least important aspects of writing a QRG, after reading A Student's Guide to First-Year Writing's tips on drafting.

Akerman, Scott, "Studying." 12/10/2008 via Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic

The book's advice on thesis statements appeared to be very detailed and well thought out. I feel like there are a lot of good tips for composing an effective and interesting thesis within these pages. However, I don't think that the book's discussion of a thesis will be too beneficial to my QRG because I want to present the information that I am addressing in my QRG in an unbiased and informational way. I feel like, for my own QRG, a well-written conclusion will be more critical than a good thesis.

Writing Paragraphs in PIE format is a great topic that the book addresses. Although this isn't the first time that I have been exposed to the recommendation to write my paragraphs in this organized way, this part of the guide reminded me how crucial it is to have brief and detailed paragraphs in my QRG. This format will force me explain every idea and piece of evidence that I present to my readers, before moving onto my next thought.

The book's advice on writing introductions and conclusions will definitely come in handy for my QRG. The intro portion of the guide reminded me that I need to grab my readers attention, maybe through a quote or question, and provide a forecast for what my writing will be about, without giving too many details away. A good conclusion if imperative, especially for my QRG, because in the body of my wiring I am just going to try to present facts and arguments. My conclusion is where I will bring all of my thoughts together and try to asses why this debate is important and where it is heading.

Organization is key in any form of writing. Thus, this portion of the guide will benefit my QRG. I was reminded, from the book, that everything, no matter how minor, must have importance to my writing. Also, reading my draft out loud is definitely something that I will do so that I can make sure my QRG has the right tone and flow.

Reflection:

After reading the Thoughts on Drafting posts by Lauren and Addie I can know see what is essential to include in a QRG.

1. After reading the description of the PIE format, I now realize that I definitely need to break up my lengthy paragraphs and go into more detail about the claims that I am making about both sides of the issue. As Addie mentioned in her post, we are writing QRGs, not research papers, so I should definitely separate my big chunks of text and support my reasoning more.

2. I definitely need to go back to my QRG and read it aloud to myself. This will enable me to see if my QRG has the informative essence that it needs to encompass, as  Lauren  mentions, and allow me to change any wordy parts.

3. One more thing that I need to work on is my conclusion. A conclusion allows the readers of you QRG to see the meaning and importance of everything that they just read on your topic. Therefore in my QRG, I really want to have an effective conclusion to bring my writing full circle and bring together all of the arguments addressed by varying parties.