long_harris_scw_2|Instructor Resources|Setting Goals and Generating Ideas|Quickstart

Home > Instructor Resources > Setting Goals and Generating Ideas > Quickstart >

Setting Goals and Generating Ideas
Quickstart

Chapter 3 is a difficult chapter for those students who may not have had the need to practice strategies of invention prior to college. This chapter looks “easy” initially because considering which strategy of invention to use may seem unnecessary to some students.

Talk to students about your own experiences as a writer and the invention strategies that you use. Explain how the invention process can help at any point in the process, not just during the planning stage.

Discuss how invention:

Leads to ideas for writing
Helps organize a research plan
Helps overcome writer’s block or helps work through a single paragraph

Computer Classroom
Discuss some ways computers assist with invention. Ask students to consider how word processing software, such as Microsoft Word, can be used to cluster or map ideas.