Helpful Pre-Writing Tips to College Papers

Choosing the Topic, Questions, and Thesis

Sep 6, 2009 Elisabeth Sharber

The pre-writing process for papers makes the writing process worlds easier, and it requires examination of the topic, questioning, researching, and forming a thesis.

Before you even start researching for a paper, make sure to give your paper guidance and direction by starting from the prompt, and getting narrower with each step.

Topic and Questions

Find the topic within the prompt that interests you. For example, if the prompt has to deal with Shakespeare plays, decide whether you're interested in a certain kind of criticism (Marxism, feminism, modernism), historical or biographical context, the way the plays have been studied in high school classrooms, films that have been made after Shakespeare plays, etc. Put the prompt into a context of your choosing.

Once you have the topic down, ask yourself questions about it. Ask questions you actually want to know so that you'll be interested in the information you receive. It helps if the questions are somehow related to your experience, like the way your own public school studied Shakespeare or the way you portrayed a certain character in a play.

Question Narrowing and Researching

Hopefully the questions begin to lead the questioner into a pool of related information. The biggest challenge is to find a "question at issue," as Dr. Pete Powers of Messiah College would call it. The "question at issue" is the relevant, specific, pressing question that itself calls for research. The question is what changes the dull, chore-like nature of "research paper" into a desire for a statement and a need for further information. Examples of effective, paper-worthy questions are "Is it more effective to read footnotes before, during, or after the reading of a Shakespeare comedy?", and "Is Shakespeare making a statement about sexual identity in Twelfth Night?" Examples of ineffective questions that need further exploration are "What are the themes in Romeo and Juliet?" or "How should Hamlet be portrayed on the stage?"

Once you've committed to a question-at-issue (approved by the professor, of course) the major research can begin. Minor research might be helpful in the question-narrowing process to see what kind of information is available and what the existing opinions are. Remember all the resources described during the library orientation process--online databases, academic journals, j-store, ebsco, reference books, subject books--and try to use a variety. Each kind has its own advantage. Seek librarian council if the research is daunting or if you can't find the information you seek.

Committing to a Thesis

If you have sufficient evidence to prove the answer to your question, your paper is ready to be planned and outlined. If all the evidence you have gathered leads you into a gray area and you have spent ample time gathering and searching for information, your paper is still ready to be planned and outlined.

Providing a black-and-white answer isn't what makes a paper worth reading; making a statement is what makes a paper worth reading. And that statement, if clearly written, can open the reader's eyes to the complexities and layers of the issue. Thus, a cohesive and fully explained non-answer is quite preferable to a statement of certainty that seems to go off-topic or leave obvious questions unanswered. An example of a desired thesis in the case of a gray area would be, simply, "The question of . . . appears to be explored, but unanswered," or "There seem to be strong cases for both . . . and . . . , such that one's leaning might depend upon one's preference or experience."

The pre-writing process maps the route that the paper will take, and a paper without direction is insignificant and impotent. So make sure to use this process effectively. The more you pre-write, the easier it will be to actually write the paper.

The copyright of the article Helpful Pre-Writing Tips to College Papers in Academic Writing is owned by Elisabeth Sharber. Permission to republish Helpful Pre-Writing Tips to College Papers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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