Writer's Blog: Chapter 1

Chapter 1 in this book was all about the beginnings of what will be our final paper for English 102. Not specifically what the paper is about, but how to get started on any paper in general. The first thing that you must do, according to the chapter, is be confident with your writing. You can do this by doing simple tasks such as making sure you understand the steps to writing a paper, understanding genre and design, managing your time, and by being aware of who your reader will be. It is also suggested that you create a research log to keep track of all the information that you find out. After me, the writer, grasps the basic concepts of how to get started writing a paper, I must choose an appropriate topic for my paper. This is always the hardest part of the paper for me because I never know where to even begin choosing a topic. Then, once I think that I've found a topic I like, I change it two or three time. Anyways, in order to pick an appropriate topic, I first need know what my purpose for the paper is, who my audience will be and how I will target them, and what contexts will affect my work on the paper. Then, I will need to start expanding my topics by brainstorming ideas about each. The end of this chapter ends by showing us how we can brainstorm using clusters, free-writes, and looping. Chapter 1 is a key chapter to read and understand before starting a paper. It will also be a great chapter to come back to and re-read when I am stuck contemplating topics for my paper.