Outline and Brainstorm

Beginning the Personal Essay: Brainstorm/Outline (10 points)

Last week, we watched a video on writing an essay. If you recall, one of the ten steps to writing a better essay is to begin by brainstorming ideas and to create an outline of your essay. We have also read several essays. Some, like “Aria” by Richard Rodriguez, are examples of personal essays and others, like Anne Lamott’s essays were suggestions for starting the writing process. Let’s begin by taking Lamott’s advice and just get it all down on paper!

Part One: The Brainstorm

Choosing your own topic can be overwhelming because you have such a wealth of experiences and ideas to tap into. A good place to begin is to think about the issues that are important to you. Below, list three issues or ideas that are important to you. (For example, an issue that is important to me is education. For you, it might be the same or it might be something entirely different like music or freedom.) Then, for each issue, briefly explain why it is important to you and what you know about the issue or idea.

Issue or Idea                                           Why is it important?      What do I know about it?

Example: Education	Education is the foundation for everything in life.	I know that not everyone gets the same education, or even the same quality of education. I also know that without an education, it is very hard to move forward in life, no matter what you want to do.

Great work! Now, the next step is to figure which issue you want to explore further. A good way to do this is to think about how you have been personally affected by each issue or idea. For each of the issues or ideas you listed above, write down an example of how this issue or idea has played a role in your life.

Issue or Idea                                                                                        The role it has played in my life

Example: Education	Without the excellent education that I received, I would not be able to pursue my dream of working for the government. But, I can also see that not everyone has had the same excellent education that I have had.

Generally, the issue or idea that you choose will be the one that seems to be easiest for you, in terms of being able to explain what you know about it. So, this is your next step: choose one of the three issues or ideas from above.

Part Two: The Outline

The last step is to write your outline. Using the model below, write your outline on a separate sheet of paper and attach it to this one.

I.                    Introduction

a.       Describe the issue or idea that you have chosen and what role it has played in your life.

b.       Explain why this issue is important (This is your thesis statement!)

c.        List three topics related to the issue or idea.

II.                  Body #1

a.       Subtopic 1

b.       Supporting Details

III.               Body #2

a.       Subtopic 2

b.       Supporting Details

IV.                Body #3

a.       Subtopic 3

b.       Supporting Details

V.                  Conclusion

a.       Restate your thesis

b.       Explain why readers should care about this issue or idea.