Name:
__________________________________________
HR _______
Planning (Invention):
Thought Starters
(Asking the Right Questions)
Brought
to you by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab @
As a writer,
you can begin by asking yourself questions and then answering them. Your
answers will
bring your subject
into focus and provide you with the material to develop your topic.
Here are
twenty questions or "thought starters" that present ways of observing
or thinking about your topic.
Each question
generates the type of essay listed in parentheses after the question.
1. What does X
mean? (Definition)
2. What are
the various features of X? (Description)
3. What are the
component parts of X? (Simple Analysis)
4. How is X
made or done? (Process Analysis)
5. How should
X be made or done? (Directional Analysis)
6. What is the essential function of X?
(Functional Analysis)
7. What are
the causes of X? (Causal Analysis)
8. What are
the consequences of X? (Causal Analysis)
9. What are
the types of X? (Classification)
10. How is X
like or unlike Y? (Comparison)
11. What is
the present status of X? (Comparison)
12. What is
the significance of X? (Interpretation)
13. What are
the facts about X? (Reportage)
14. How did X
happen? (Narration)
15. What kind
of person is X? (Characterization/Profile)
16. What is my
personal response to X? (Reflection)
17. What is my
memory of X? (Reminiscence)
18. What is
the value of X? (Evaluation)
19. What are
the essential major points or features of X? (Summary)
20. What case
can be made for or against X? (Persuasion)
(Adapted from Jacqueline Berke's Twenty Questions for the Writer)
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