Prewriting 1: Understanding the Task
Sometimes, you define the writing task, but in college, it’s more likely that a professor gives you a writing assignment. Either way, if you do not understand the project’s parameters, you will almost certainly struggle with it. When I use the word “parameters,” I am referring to the guidelines of the assignment. Mostly, these will be determined by your professor, but sometimes you have a say in those guidelines.
For your writing assignments, you want to make sure you understand the following:
- The purpose(s) of the assignment
- The audience(s) for the final project
- Technical information, such as sources and length
- Your topic
We’ll talk about all of these in this chapter.
Understanding Purpose
What are you supposed to do? And why? These questions are central to any writing task.
Too often, students think about the first question in technical terms: “I’m supposed to write a four-page paper on a significant issue in my life.” While the number of pages does matter (and we’ll talk about this kind of technical requirement shortly), there are more significant questions that this kind of simplification doesn’t answer. What are you supposed to say about that issue?
- Are you explaining the issue?
- Arguing for a solution?
- Trying to identify points of compromise?
- Providing a historical overview?
- Something else?
If you don’t understand what you are trying to accomplish in the assignment, you are unlikely to be successful.
Identify the primary purpose
Specific assignments differ, but at the core, we can identify three primary purposes for writing:
- To inform: Informative writing provides information and explanations to the reader.
- To persuade: Persuasive writing works to convince the reader.
- To entertain: Entertaining writing provides the reader with enjoyment.
These aren’t mutually exclusive. Can you imagine a successful argument, for example, without good information to back up the claims? Similarly, information can be persuasive, even if the writer isn’t actively trying to convince the reader of anything. Finally, think about how many novels have been written to make a case for something.
But one of these purposes will be primary. That is, the professor will be most interested in seeing you focus on one of these things. It may be fine for you to do more than one (check with your professor), but one will be more important than the others.
For most college writing assignments, the primary purpose will probably be either to inform or to persuade. Be sure you know what you are being asked to do, and if you aren’t sure, ask your professor.
Find the Verbs
Remember the whole “-ing” discussion at the beginning of this section? Writing is an action, and verbs are action words. Examining the verbs in an assignment can help you understand their purpose. What, exactly, is your professor asking you to do?
One way to get started is to locate the verbs—and sometimes the verb-like words—in your assignment. It can be h