More Cheap Pre-writing Tricks

 　　When I work with students in conferences I spend most of my time helping¹ them unearth² and add details, helping them identify areas needing further development. While we are struggling to make sentences and structure our paragraphs, it's easy to forget that when we finish writing, we are going to give the product to a reader. We are inside of our essays. Our readers are standing³ outside of our essays trying to get in. What this means is that as writers we lived the events we are describing and felt the emotions we are trying to relate, but that our readers aren't PRIVY⁴ to the full contexts our writing springs from. They weren't there and they didn't feel the emotions. It is our job as writers to find a way to draw them in and help them see, feel and ultimately understand what we experienced or believe.

　　When we aren't mindful of our reader, our writing tends to be under cooked and STERILE⁵ because we are then only operating out of our own private spheres. We don't need the details because we already have them living in our heads.

　　Writing for yourself is fine and wonderful, but this is not the kind of writing our college courses and our jobs require. In college, and in the work place, we will usually be writing for an outside reader, and as soon as I write for a reader who is unfamiliar⁶ with me or my subject matter I have new responsibilities. When I write for an audience I must work very hard to ensure that everything I write has a clearly recognizable point of REFERENCE and is ADORNED⁷ with enough details and examples to be clear.

　　One of the truly important writing skills is the ability to anticipate what this outside reader is going to need from you in order to understand you. You need to learn how to write from a reader's PERSPECTIVE. Try to EMPATHIZE a little with the readers and visualize⁸ the difficult task you have set for them. Try to recall how difficult it was for you the last time you had to decode⁹ a text that confused you. On these occasions, what did you need from the writer that you didn't receive?

　　When I write, I often attempt to create a reader in my head who doesn't know me well and who doesn't know anything about the subject matter of my text. If I am trying to write about very complicated material, I will actually cut a photograph of a strange, pleasant face out of a magazine, pin it on the wall above my desk, and try to help this person clearly understand everything I am trying to say in my writing. (I have 24 nephews and nieces. For years, until they were all grown up, I used to receive their grade school photographs in the mail from their parents. If I was having a particularly difficult time imagining my reader, I would pull one of these photographs off my refrigerator, tack¹⁰ it over my desk, and write for this young and NEEDY¹¹ audience.)

　　But what exactly does my audience need?

　　This is a tough question to answer because we are usually so deeply IMMERSED in the process of our writing that it is difficult to keep our readers in focus. Over time, you will learn to deftly¹² insert just the right detail at just the right moment to help your reader. While you're gaining this experience, here is a list of 20 questions you can ask yourself while you are developing and writing your essays which might help you help your audience. You can ask yourself these questions at any stage of the clustering or brainstorming¹³ process. If you respond fully¹⁴ to these questions as you fill in each bubble on your map, you stand a much better chance of writing an essay which is rich and clear. Not all of these questions are going to apply, but attempt to ask and answer all those which might help your reader. (For fun and exercise, pick any bubble on the clusters we discussed earlier and try to imagine how these questions might lead to even more bubbles!)

　　What does this mean?

　　What happened? When did it occur?

　　Why did it happen, or why did I want it to happen?

　　Why do I believe or want this?

　　How does this work?

　　How did/does this happen?

　　Who am I talking about?

　　Why am I talking about it/her/him/them?

　　Why is this important to tell, to know?

　　What else is important about this idea/detail/point?

　　How could I help my audience see this more clearly?

　　What details could I include to make this clearer?

　　What background/context/history would help to make this clearer or more interesting?

　　Why am I saying this?

　　Why am I interested in talking about this, about telling this to my reader?

　　What?

　　Why?

　　How?

　　When?

　　What are the details?

　　This list is also great to use when you are asked by colleagues to evaluate their essays. As you read their essays, keep this list nearby and run through the list whenever you come across a passage which seems underdeveloped or unclear. Don't just moan that something is unclear, try to help them find details, examples or alternative wording which would solve the problem or SHORE up the weakness.

　　You should receive a hard copy of this list from your tutor. If that hasn't happened yet, ask for it or print the list off this page. If you don't know how to do this...

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 unearth   

v.发掘，掘出，从洞中赶出

参考例句：

• Most of the unearth relics remain intact.大多数出土文物仍保持完整无损。
• More human remains have been unearthed in the north.北部又挖掘出了更多的人体遗骸。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 privy   

adj.私用的；隐密的

参考例句：

• Only three people,including a policeman,will be privy to the facts.只会允许3个人，其中包括一名警察，了解这些内情。
• Very few of them were privy to the details of the conspiracy.他们中很少有人知道这一阴谋的详情。

5 sterile   

adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的

参考例句：

• This top fits over the bottle and keeps the teat sterile.这个盖子严实地盖在奶瓶上，保持奶嘴无菌。
• The farmers turned the sterile land into high fields.农民们把不毛之地变成了高产田。

6 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。

7 adorned   

[计]被修饰的

参考例句：

• The walls were adorned with paintings. 墙上装饰了绘画。
• And his coat was adorned with a flamboyant bunch of flowers. 他的外套上面装饰着一束艳丽刺目的鲜花。

8 visualize   

vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想

参考例句：

• I remember meeting the man before but I can't visualize him.我记得以前见过那个人，但他的样子我想不起来了。
• She couldn't visualize flying through space.她无法想像在太空中飞行的景象。

9 decode   

vt.译（码），解（码）

参考例句：

• All he had to do was decode it and pass it over.他需要做的就是将它破译然后转给他人。
• The secret documents were intercepted and decoded.机密文件遭截获并被破译。

10 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

11 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

12 deftly   

adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He deftly folded the typed sheets and replaced them in the envelope. 他灵巧地将打有字的纸折好重新放回信封。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At last he had a clew to her interest, and followed it deftly. 这一下终于让他发现了她的兴趣所在，于是他熟练地继续谈这个话题。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

13 brainstorming   

献计献策,合力攻关

参考例句：

• With Brainstorming, treat the view on how to solve the problem rightly. 利用脑激励法(Brainstorming)，正确对待学生实验中的问题解决观。
• We are going to do some brainstorming soon. 我们很快就要做些脑力激荡。

14 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。