The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

No Draft? No Problem!
19
Kathleen Uttinger
Spring 2011
Writing doesn’t just magically happen. You can’t pop open your laptop or your notebook, think a happy
thought, and have an A+ paper appear. Writing a successful essay takes careful planning. All sorts of
different writers come into the Writing Center, each with an assignment that is in a different place. Some
writers show up with a pretty polished third or fourth draft. Some come with what they think might be
their final draft. And some come empty handed, with nothing but a flurry (or not!) of those happy
thoughts in their heads. It is these writers who need to get those thoughts down on a manageable piece of
paper—and you can help!
Early in the semester, I found that a few of my tutees knew exactly what they wanted to write about.
They came with outlines, notes, and even the beginnings of a first draft. These writers had a clear idea of
how to execute their professors’ prompt—sometimes because the prompt was pretty limiting, and other
times because they had that “perfect” idea they just had to get down onto paper. But other writers…not
so much. They, too, had prompts, but sometimes their prompts were of the open-ended variety, allowing
the student a lot of latitude for choosing the direction of their paper. So it becomes the task of the tutor
and tutee to help get some ideas down on paper for these kinds of assignments. This initial “getting it
down on paper” can often become the foundation of a strong outline, a sturdy thesis, and eventually, that
successful paper. With that in mind, you and the tutee have a few brainstorming tactics at your disposal.
Respect the Prompt
Probably the single most important thing to keep in mind when your tutee comes in without a draft (or
even with a draft) is the professor’s writing prompt. Oftentimes, the prompt sets up specific instructions
that the professor expects the paper to follow. The prompt might say something like, “compare and
contrast such and such.” Or, “discuss and analyze this and that.” And maybe, “define,” “ argue,” or
“give examples.” Determining what the paper requires might help you and your tutee decide on a
brainstorming strategy to use when coming up with ideas. If the paper is a compare/contrast essay, for
example, then that might determine what sorts of things you and your tutee might find pertinent to the
brainstorming session. Sometimes, however, the prompt is just not that easy to work with, so below are
just a few brainstorming ideas you might use with your tutees when they have no idea where to begin.
I’m Free, Free Writin’
Free writing is a simple, yet effective tool for brainstorming. Free writing allows your tutee to just slap
down on paper whatever comes into her head. Just have your tutee spend about five or ten minutes quietly
writing down the words or ideas that relate to the paper topic. For the first few awkward minutes your
tutee might just sit there and stall over what to write. Just remind your tutee that there’s no right or wrong
when it comes to free writing. It might be helpful here to be quiet and give her some space to let her
thoughts roam. There’s no judging or weighing over the “good” and “bad” at this point; it’s all about the
words, associations, and maybe images that come to the tutee’s mind when she considers the topic.
Before your tutee begins, you might look over any notes the tutee has taken in class on the subject in
order to jumpstart the process. It may be that your tutor will be surprised by how much she really knows
about the paper topic. After the five or ten minutes is up, look at what your tutee has come up with.
Together you might find repeating themes or ideas, or a cluster of related ideas that your tutee keeps
coming back to. Circle or highlight those—they could be the beginning of the paper’s outline.