Before composing a first draft, spend time asking questions about your writing situation. The key elements include your subject, purpose, audience, and genre.
Frequently your subject will be given to you. When you are free to choose what to write about, select subjects that interest or puzzle you. Writing about a subject that you care about enables you to write with more authority and confidence.
All writing has a purpose or reason—to inform, to analyze, to persuade, to call readers to action, and so on. The wording of an assignment may suggest its purpose. You may need to ask yourself “What do I want to accomplish?” and “What do I want to communicate to my audience?”
Take time to consider the interests and expectations of your readers. What do they know or believe about your subject? What information do they need to be able to understand your ideas? What kind of response do you want from your audience? Make choices that show respect for your readers’ values and perspectives.
Pay attention to the genre, or type of writing, assigned. Each genre is a category of writing meant for a specific purpose and audience, with its own set of agreed-upon expectations and conventions for style, structure, and format. Genres include essays, lab reports, business memos, research proposals, and position papers.
Narrow the following subjects into topics that would be manageable for an essay of two to five pages. For each of the five narrowed topics, suggest a purpose and an audience.
The minimum wage
Immigration
Cyberbullying
The cost of a college education
Internet privacy