Prewriting
When you receive your writing assignment from your teacher,
the first step is to make sure you understand
the assignment and what your teacher wants you
to do with it. To do this, review the requirements
of the assignment. These may be in the form of an assignment sheet or a description
of the assignment, or they may be given to you verbally during class. In any
case, to understand what to do, you should ask
yourself and answer the following kinds of questions.
(click on the drawings below)
To help you understand your assignment and decide what approach to take to write it, also look for keywords that reveal your teachers expectations. These words are often associated with essay questions, as well as informal and formal papers.