METHODS: Conducting Research and Organizing Information - Preparing to Write - 2.3, Historical Methodology, saylor.org

I've just started working my way through Saylor.org's HIST104: Historical Methodology - The Art and Craft of the Historian, and I'm now on Unit 2: Basic Historical Research Skills. 

In lieu of me actually being in a class where things are discussed, I'll just write my thoughts about the materials here.

2.3 Conducting Research and Organizing Information

2.3.5 Preparing to Write an Essay

Reading: Purdue University’s Online Writing Labs: Stacy Weida’s and Karl Stolley’s 

“Invention: Starting the Writing Process”

This page discusses the use of rhetorical elements to help orient you as you begin to write. They include the follow questions to ask yourself:

• Who is the audience for your writing?

• Do you think your audience is interested in the topic? Why or why not?

• Why should your audience be interested in this topic?

• What does your audience already know about this topic?

• What does your audience need to know about this topic?

• What experiences has your audience had that would influence them on this topic?

• What do you hope the audience will gain from your text? 

 They also include a list of some of the different purposes writing can have, as it's important to know what you are trying to do before you start to write. One paper can use multiple strategies at different points.

• Summarizing: Presenting the main points or essence of another text in a condensed form

• Arguing/Persuading: Expressing a viewpoint on an issue or topic in an effort to convince others that your viewpoint is correct

• Narrating: Telling a story or giving an account of events

• Evaluating: Examining something in order to determine its value or worth based on a set of criteria.

• Analyzing: Breaking a topic down into its component parts in order to examine the relationships between the parts.

• Responding: Writing that is in a direct dialogue with another text.

• Examining/Investigating: Systematically questioning a topic to discover or uncover facts that are not widely known or accepted, in a way that strives to be as neutral and objective as possible.

• Observing: Helping the reader see and understand a person, place, object, image or event that you have directly watched or experienced through detailed sensory descriptions.

 Once a thesis has been made and the aforementioned things have been taken into consideration, the authors instruct us to "just start writing!", ignoring issues of formatting, grammar, complete sentences-- i.e., brainstorm as much as you can think of that relates to your thesis. Then you can re-read and evaluate, and cut that which doesn't fit. From there you can go on to build an outline structure for your paper.