Rules for Writers Chapter 1

In Chapter 1 from “Rules for Writers” by Diana Hacker, she talks about ways to generate ideas and lists important points to consider while writing a paper such as purpose, length, format, etc., as well as, she goes over ways to analyze the writing situation of the paper, how to analyze your subject, and narrow if necessary, how to come up with a thesis, and lastly, she explains when are outlines useful during the writing process. There are some important components of an essay and Hacker provides a list of these whether is and analytical essay or a research paper. The components that need to be identified are such as the subject, the sources that would be use, a purpose to the writing, and the audience to whom the writing is direct to, also the format, the length of the paper, the reviewers, and the deadline, among others. Sometimes, the subject for a writing might be to broad, which would make it harder to cover all the important points to it, in this case breaking down the subject would make it easier to narrow it; it could also be helpful to focus your attention on a smaller audience instead of a more general audience. Hacker explains that personal experiences, readings, interviews and questionnaires could be very helpful to get information about your subject. There are many purposes for writing; the purpose could be informing, persuading or even entertaining, follow by many more. If a purpose has not been given, asking questions about the subject could be useful. In most academic essays you would have a general audience, unless specify; Hacker mentions that it’s good to keep in mind how some teachers would play different roles while reading a paper. The thesis of a paper is its central idea resume in one to two sentences. A good way to come up with a thesis is to ask yourself questions about your subject, Hacker gives a series of questions that could help polish the “tentative thesis” (9) that you have create. It is very important to keep in mind deadlines to have a better management of time so that you can cover all the key elements of a “good” paper. In the process of generating ideas; freewriting, clustering, listing, and making outlines are of great use, Hacker explains how informal outlines can be very useful during the early stage of you writing since there quick, and easy to make, also a formal outline could help you see if your more fully develop ideas work well together, if not, it is easier to see what you don’t need and where you might need farther explanation and details.




I’ve always have trouble coming up with a strong thesis so I will be using some of the questions and advices that Hacker provides to get a clear and strong thesis. The first draft of our first essay is due next Thursday, so this chapter would be in general very useful. I’m still not sure of my subject for the essay, therefore, I will also be using brainstorming and freewriting to come up with one or to decide for one of the ideas that I’ve have already in mind.