I face many problems when dealing with english language as my fundamentals are weak. As a result, i have difficulty writing in University Classes. The problems I have during the writing process occur during the planning stage which involves generating ideas.
Planning stage is an important process in writing as this directly tells the reader the content about your essay. During the planning stage, I tend to have problems generating ideas. I spend quite a considerable amount of time trying to list down the points that is relevant to the essay question. Even after I have listed down all the points, I need to spend some time linking and organising the points together to ensure that I do not stray away from the essay question. But usually my ideas are weak and it does not have alot to write on. This pre-writing process worries me because in the examinations, I cannot afford to waste too much time in planning my essay.
In order to overcome these problems, I will probably need to underline relevant keywords in the essay question. The underlining of the keywords allows me to understand better and keep in mind of what the essay question is asking. This would also allow me to generate ideas related to the topic of the essay question without getting out of point. Perhaps during the planning process, I should change the method in which I plan my essay. The most preferred method for me is listing. However, I discovered that listing has a major disadvantage. It is not an effective method in helping me visualising the order or sequence of my essay. Listing is merely just writing down whatever ideas that I can think of at that point of time. As a result, after I have sufficient points for my essay, these points listed are all disorganised and extra time is needed to sort out the points in a logical sequence. Therefore, I should switch to mind mapping instead as it is a much more organised way of planning essays. Mind mapping is a more efficient method in helping me plan my essay in the shortest time possible.
I have to say that I am facing the same problem myself. Organization is really a complecated part of essay writing, especially for university level. However, I find that actually you have found a pretty effective way to figure it out. I prefer your way of drawing a mind map because it clear and systemic presenting. Nevertheless, listing can also be used when brainstorming, because it can help a lot with quickly finding your initial ideas.
ReplyDeleteBTY, highlighting the keywords is an very good measure. I also hope to process with it.
Good job! I agree with you that in order to solve the problems well, we have to understand the question well enough. Otherwise, the answer will be irrelavent and that is painful. haha~~ i like you point, underlying the keyword!!
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