Developing Ideas:

1. Developing Ideas: Mine the Depths of Your Own Thinking

2. In this workshop, we’ll look at ways to plumb the depths of your ideas and move beyond the obvious.

3. Choosing a Topic • Start broad. • Narrow your topic to fit your assignment.

4. Examples:General subjectSpecific topicNutrition in medicine Using nutritional supplements to cut cancer recurrenceE-mail The impact of e-mail on developing writing skills

5. So how do we whittle down a broad subject area into a manageable working thesis?

6. Questions! • Who? • What? • When? • Where? • How? • Why?

7. Examples of probing questions: • Who might benefit from nutritional therapy? • What impact do specific nutrients have on cancer cells? • When will the government invest more funds into this type of research?

8. More examples: Where has nutritional therapy shown benefit against cancers? How do certain nutrients disarm cancer cells?

9. Another example: Why do we need to investigate nutritional therapy as an adjunct to conventional cancer treatments?

10. Another technique? Brainstorming!

11. To brainstorm, just jot down whatever fragments of ideas come to mind. How do you do it?

12. Example of brain-storming Subject: Movies Christmas movies War movies Romantic movies Western movies Science fiction movies

13. Let’s look at science fiction • Cocoon • ET • Third Encounter • Signs • War of the Worlds • Independence Day

14. What do we see? In the earlier science fiction movies, aliens were friendly.

15. What about more recent movies? In Independence Day, War of the Worlds, and Signs, aliens are seen as hostile and dangerous.

16. What does this say about our culture? • Were we more open to foreigners, or “aliens,” back in the ’70s and ’80s? • Are we more suspicious of outsiders today? • If so, is this a realistic fear? • What other movie genres reflect this cultural anxiety?

17. Aha! We now have a topic, direction, and provocative questions to start our essay.

18. Another strategy?Free-writing!

19. Exercise 1: Choose one of the following general subjects and generate three or four specific topics: 1. Identity theft 2. Affirmative action 3. TV reality shows 4. Private education 5. Dating in the 21st century

20. To free-write: • Focus on your topic, but don’t worry if your mind wanders. • Keep writing, without interruption, for at least five or ten minutes. • When you’re done, underline ideas you can further explore.

21. Exercise 2:Take one of the specific topics you narrowed down for exercise 1, and write about it for at least five minutes straight.

22. Let’s focus on paragraphs How do we add depth and interest?

23. Developing paragraphs Try the RENNS formula: • Give reasons • Use examples • Give names • Use numbers • Appeal to the senses

24. Topic sentence: “Nutritional supplements can provide therapeutic levels of healing nutrients.”

25. Nutrients, such as vitamins C and E, may help repair cell damage. • Diet alone cannot provide therapeutic levels of these nutrients. Reasons:

26. Example:High-dose, intravenous vitamin C prolonged life in at least three cases of advanced cancer (Padayatty, et al.).

27. Give names: “…nutrition therapy makes chemo and radiation more of a ‘selective toxin’ against the tumor rather than a general toxin against the cancer patient,” says author and nutritionist Patrick Quillin, Ph.D., C.N.C., R.D.

28. Use numbers: In one study, 32 patients got antioxidant supplements, other vitamins and trace minerals, essential fatty acids, and coenzyme Q10, in addition to standard therapy. The 18-month survival rate was 100%, and six patients showed some remission. (Lockwood, et al.).

29. Appeal to the senses: Because cancer often dulls the senses of smell and taste, cancer sufferers frequently neglect their diet.

30. Try something new! What do we mean by “writing with depth,” “going beyond the obvious,” and “risk-taking”?

31. First, let’s define the oppositeof writing with depth: Writing stale, boring clichés.

32. Stale and boring:My high school graduation was the most important day of my life because I was finally joining the “real world.”

33. Your teachers don’t want to read the same trite ideas they’ve read a thousand times before!

34. Example of writing with more depth: When I graduated from high school, all my excitement was mixed with uncertainty: about my future, about my friendships, and about the world that awaited us all.

35. Ask yourself: What makes this experience unique? Why should it matter to the reader? What can the reader identify with?

36. For example: Even those who never graduated from high school have faced a similar milestone and have faced the unknown.

37. Dinner was fun. The food was great. It was good to be with the family again. Another undeveloped paragraph:

38. Developed paragraph: Scott gazed intently at his plate, pulling long slices of onion onto its far side. Mom was passing rolls, her soft underarms swaying as she moved. Bill argued with Tom about the Democrats. “They’re Republican Lites,” he shouted, as Tom silently shook his head.

39. Developed paragraph (cont.): In the background, Pop had put on the soundtrack to Carmen, and his first two fingers tapped the linen tablecloth as he listened. But it didn’t matter what we were doing—picking at our food, passing rolls, arguing, or listening to music—it mattered only that we were all facing each other at the table, together again.

40. Working with others Collaborating is a great way to develop your ideas, write with more depth, and discover the untapped wealth of insights you have to offer. Come to the Writing Center and work with us!

41. Remember: Come to the Writing Center at ANY stage of the writing process:* brain-storming, * planning, * developing, or * finishing. Our professionally trained tutors will be happy to help!

42. WorkshopsMadonna’s Writing Center offers the following workshops:● APA● MLA● CMS● Using Sources Correctly● Introductions and Conclusions● Invention Techniques● Developing ideas● Revision● Evaluation● Test-taking● Writing Concisely