Whether you are writing an essay for the SAT, your college application, or a graduation requirement, forget about the mythic vision. Even many professional writers find their craft to be a challenge. Journalist and biographer Gene Fowler noted that "writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead "Essay writing is rarely that tortuous. | SECTION 1 Planning the Essay While creativity and inspiration can play an important role in good essay writing planning drafting and revision are critical. Whether you have to write an essay in class during a test or at home getting down to the business of writing means focusing on these three things. In this section you ll learn planning strategies that will not only improve the effectiveness and quality of your writing but will also help eliminate many of the frustrations writers face. In addition they ll benefit your reader by showing him or her how the various points you make in your essay work together and how they support your thesis. When you begin your essay with planning you will have guidance and direction through the writing process especially if you are in a timed situation. Planning lets you see how your many developing ideas fit within a framework and clearly maps out any type of essay you are required to write. 17 LESSON 1 Thinking about Audience and Purpose LESSON SUMMARY The first step toward effective essay writing is to know why and for whom you re writing. This lesson explains how to understand your audience and purpose and how these two factors affect your writing. Imagine you ve just had an amazing experience You were able to save someone s life by performing CPR. You want to share the experience with three people your father your best friend and the admissions officer at your first-choice college. How will you describe what happened Will that description be the same for each person Probably not. Although the subject remains a constant each person is a different audience requiring different word choices levels of formality and tone. Because you are sharing the experience with these three people for different reasons the purpose of your description changes too. You might tell your father to let him know that his advice about taking a CPR course was invaluable. To your friend you might stress the emotions the experience evoked. In your college .
