71 Writing the First Draft

Writing the First Draft

Now you are ready to write your first draft. Remember to consistently refer to the following items:

• The assignment guidelines and grading rubric.
• Your thesis or main idea.
• Your outline, including the connections that you have identified between the supporting ideas.
• Any research that you have done for this paper.

How do you start writing? There are many ways. Staring at a blank page can be overwhelming, so it’s best to start with what you know. You will gain momentum just by having something written down as illustrated in Figure 7.2.

Figure 7.2: Gaining momentum in writing

Some writers like to start by writing the introduction, because this sets the scene for the whole paper. Others prefer to write the introduction after they’ve completed a first draft. It doesn’t matter how you start. What is important is that you constantly have in mind your main idea or thesis statement as you write.

More to come on writing introductions and conclusions later in this chapter.