Transcript Lesson 5 Essentials Video: Prompt

AMANDA: My system for writing college papers is to absorb the prompt, first of all. I'm not just going to quickly scan over it and go to my computer. I'm going to absorb what they want me to write. Read it a few times, throw it around, think about it, so I know where I'm going to start when I need to research.

DEONTA: Some professors are really, really strict about what they want. And they know exactly what they want, how they want it, and it's a lot easier because you know what they expect. But when the professor just gives you a broad topic, you don't really know what to expect or what it is that they're looking for, and that can be a daunting task to college students.

ANSEL: It's always been hard for me to start papers. But one of the things I've noticed is that if I think about the paper prompt or what I'm writing about ahead of time, then sometimes I'll be sitting in the class that the paper's due and during the lecture I'll hear the professor say things and think about my paper, and I'll be able to come up with ideas.

TIMOTHY: In my own experience, I've done this—I've completed an assignment in writing, in a composition course, and maybe didn't catch part of the writing assignment or I missed the point of the writing assignment. So I may have written a great paper, but I missed the whole point. So, in the end, it's not a great paper.

DAN: More than just researching the topic to me, I also think that researching your audience and researching the delivery you're planning on producing, researching the genre that I think I'm going to produce in—all that sort of research is vital to really writing well and writing effectively.

ERRIENE: So once I identify something that really speaks to me personally, I know that it will motivate me throughout the process, and I will want to write this paper.

NANAISSA: [SIGHS HEAVILY] I'm always afraid of assignments, because there are many things to do and I want to make sure I don't miss anything. So I always underline the most important points. Then, I even write those points down to make sure I really get what I have to do. And probably because I'm an artist—I work a lot with art—I try to respect those rules, but do it the way I want it to be. It may sound a little selfish, but when I do something, I want to like what I'm doing.

So I'm going to look for a topic that I really personally like, and that will help me to write it without feeling that I'm struggling or doing something I don't want to. Because when I don't want it, I'm sure the reader's going to feel it and I don't want this to happen.