Why They Can't Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities

by John Warner

What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? What do you take pride in? 2. Select your subject. What one thing do you think best lends itself to this particular writing-related problem? Why have you chosen that? 3. Plan. A good way of preparing to write the solution to this writing-related problem is to do the action itself while taking careful notes along the way. 4. Audience analysis. Who is your audience? We know their need (to do what you already know how to do), but what might be their attitudes toward the task? Excitement? Trepidation? Something else? Additionally, what about their knowledge? What will they need to know or be able to do prior to engaging with your solution to this writing-related problem in order to successfully execute the mission? 5. Find and analyze models. Look for models that solve this kind of writing-related problem. Stay away from ones too closely related to your own task. You don’t want to risk copying, and also, remember that you’re the expert here. You don’t want to be unduly influenced by someone else’s approach that may actually be inferior to yours. Look at how these models are formatted and structured. How do they begin? How is the information conveyed? What techniques and choices will you use in your own instructions? 6. Execute. Write your solution to this writing-related problem. Do any necessary revising and editing as you see fit.