The Secrets of Thinking of Brilliant Ideas?

The Secrets of Thinking of Brilliant Ideas? Or Selecting an A+ Topic for an Assignment

You Have an Assignment • Suppose you are asked by an instructor in Rhetoric to write an essay on Race and Class, due in two weeks. • You are free to choose any one topic you wish.

Storm the Brain If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it. Albert Einstein • Look at the topic and mull it over, roll it over your tongue, inhale it, let it bounce around the neural pathways of your brain for a second or two. • Now ready? set? write! and don't stop! Keep your fingers typing or your pen moving on paper for the entire duration. Numair

Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun. George Scialabba Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!Ted Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!

How to Narrow Your Topic • However, students often begin to write essays with nothing more in mind than a general concept. • This result in a vague and generalized essay, of little interest to the student and less to the instructor.

STEP 1: Select a Subject- Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. William Wordsworth • Am I interested in the subject? • Find something which SPARKS your interest. • Interest stimulates commitment to write a more convincing essay

Step 2: Your Idea - It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all. Edward Bono • First decide whether you are going to write about a race or class issue. • Suppose you choose race – which race are you going to deal with? You narrow your topic further to include Blacks. • Before thinking that the teacher is forcing you to write on a topic that has been done to death or you have no interest in, consider your own interests. • Since you are an athlete, how can you write a topic about Blacks that would tie in sports. • Blacks are not discriminated in sports because their acceptance is based on ability. What about Blacks in upper management positions?

STEP 3: NARROW THE SUBJECT INTO A TOPIC - Intelligence is something we are born with. Thinking is a skill that must be learned. Edward de Bono • You have now decided to write on Blacks in Upper Management. • Now it’s time to begin preliminary research on the issue to further define your topic and the position that you want to argue.

Step 4: Research • You begin with some websites and articles. You discover that Kareem Abdul Jabaar has been unable to attain a coaching position beyond the high school level. To you, it seems logical that a successful athlete who was responsible as a team captain should have no trouble being hired. • After further research you find out that there are only 5 Black coaches in the NFL, 2 in the MBL, and 10 in the NBA. Yet, the majority of these athletes are Black. Outraged by these numbers you now have a stance to present in your argument.

Step 5: Choosing your topic • You have decided that you want to address the discrimination of Blacks in coaching positions for professional athletic teams.

Step 6: Ask Yourself these Key Questions • Does this topic fit within the assignment? • Is this topic interesting? • Can this topic be argued? • Can this topic be effectively developed within the assigned number of pages? • Are there sufficient research materials to provide evidence? • If you answered “yes” to all of these, you are ready to write.

Five Questions - The University of Michigan OWL • What am I writing about? (topic) • What am I trying to say about my topic? (controlling idea) • Why am I writing about my topic? (purpose) • Why should my reader(s) be interested in my controlling idea? (audience) • What knowledge do I have that makes me the right person to write about this topic?

How to Broaden Your Topic-Numair • Hint 1: Look for parallels and opportunities for broader associations: • Could you examine other bioengineered foods, in addition to soybeans? • Could you think broadly about safety concerns and issues -- what might these be? • Who are the key players in this controversy? Consumer activists? The FDA? Scientists? • What other issues are involved in this topic? Such as, how should be foods be labeled?

How to Broaden Your TopicNumair • Example: I'm thinking of doing a paper on "whether genetically altered soybeans are safe for consumers." • This topic as stated is seeking to answer a question for which there may be no answer yet -- more scientific and long-term research may need to be done. How can this be turned into a more manageable topic?

In conclusion….. • Some people never have anything except ideals. ~E.W. Howe • Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted. Jules Renard, Journal, 10 April 1895 • A conclusion is simply the place where someone got tired of thinking. Arthur Block

i never think at all when i writenobody can do two things at thesame time and do them both well. Don Marquis, Archy's Life of Mehitabel, 1933 • I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top. English Professor (Name Unknown), Ohio University

Writing Inspirational Quote • To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. - Joseph Chilton Pearce

Now to the Writing. • "The glow of inspiration warms us; it is a holy rapture."Ovid

Credits • Excellent Site • Steps for Selecting Topics • Narrowing Topic • More about Narrowing Topic • Steps to Selecting Topics • OWL • http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/ • http://www.quotegarden.com/

The Secrets of Thinking of Brilliant Ideas?