selecting a topic and narrowing it down

One of the most challenging prewriting step is choosing a topic. If you don't like a topic, you are not likely to want to write about it. If you like a topic but don't know much about it, you may want to know more about it but you may later be overwhelmed by the many new ideas you have learned or discovered about the topic that you might not be able to thread all these information into a coherent whole. Thus, the safest thing to do for a novice writer is to choose a topic that is not only interesting but also one he or she knows fairly much about. 

It may be not possible of course to know everything about a topic but choosing a topic that one already is well acquainted with will make the writing task more manageable. For example, if the writer needs to read further about the chosen topic, he or she will not have to start from scratch nor will he or she be looking for just about anything under the chosen topic. 

Deciding on a focus for a chosen topic is called narrowing it down. It makes the writing task realizable. 

 

In class, I have shown you how we try to narrow down a broad topic by asking you questions such as: What do you want to write or talk about global warming?  Do you want to talk about its effects or its causes?  Then we did some clustering and concept mapping to help you see how we can come up with a more specific topic and with lots of ideas for writing about it later.

Here is a helpful link on narrowing topics.

After narrowing your topic, I asked you to make a thesis statement - a sentence that encapsulates your view, stand or conclusion on the chosen topic. For instance,  if you chose for a topic - the major cause of global warming, you may need to answer the question -  What is the major cause for global warming? The answer to it should be phrased in a sentence to make up a thesis statement. Clearly, a statement is not a fragment but a sentence.

 

Here is a helpful link on writing a thesis statement.

 

Now, think of another topic - one that will be easy for you to write about. Narrow it down by clustering ideas or mapping concepts. Write your specific topic and the thesis statement for the topic. Write this down on a one whole sheet of paper and submit on the second meeting this week (Thurs or Friday). 

 

You may find helpful ideas on clustering and  concept mapping here.

 

That's all for now.