Writing a Paper - Students, please use the following steps to help you through the process:

1. Brainstorm topics. If you must come up with a topic to write about, the process should begin with brainstorming. The rules of brainstorming are that any idea is accepted and written down in the first stage - the wilder and crazier, the better, because wild and crazy ideas often lead to good, usable ideas. No criticism is allowed at this point. If you have trouble thinking of ideas on your own, the teacher or maybe a parent can suggest some ideas of his or her own to help you get started. Write down the ideas. When a reasonable number of ideas have been generated, read the list and circle the most promising ones. You may know right away what you want to write about. If not, think about or talk about what you like and dislike about each idea to make it easier to zero in on a good choice.

2. Brainstorm content. Once a topic has been selected, the brainstorming process begins again. Think about everything you know or would like to know about this topic. Again, write down any idea or question, the crazier the better at this point.

3. Organize the content. Now look at all the ideas or questions that have been written down. Then, decide whether the material can be grouped together in any way. If the assignment is to do a report on aardvarks, for instance, the information might cluster into categories such as what they look like, where they live, what they eat, who their enemies are, and how they protect themselves. Create topic headings and then write the details under each topic heading. Sometimes it is helpful to use Post-its for this process. During the brain storming phase, each individual idea or question is written on a separate Post-it. The Post-its can then be organized on a table under topic headings to form an outline of the paper. The paper can then be written from this outline.

Write the opening paragraph.