Writing the Beginning Paragraph

The beginning first needs to grab the reader's attention. Then it introduces the topic and provides background leading up to your opinion statement. To get started with your beginning paragraph, you can experiment with different lead-writing strategies.

1. Present a startling statistic.

   According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 1 in 10 Americans had a mood disorder last year, and 21 percent will experience one during their lifetimes.

2. Open with an engaging quotation.

   “I try not to worry about the future—so I take each day just one anxiety attack at a time.” 
   ― Tom Wilson, American Cartoonist

3. Create an interesting scenario.

   Imagine that your life had a movie soundtrack. Now imagine that it was the nerve-racking soundtrack to a suspenseful movie. That's what anxiety and depression feel like.

4. Focus on causes.

   Adrenaline is great for fight-or-flight situations, when you need to energize muscles and put nerves on high alert. Adrenaline is less great when there's no threat, but you feel jittery and paranoid anyway, all the time.

Prewriting to Think About Problems

Problems are everywhere in life. You can start to think about problems by considering any aspect of life, from food to families to fun, and think about the problems that can come up in those areas. Start by consulting the Basics of Life List. This list contains all of the essentials of life—general subject areas. Pick one or two subjects that interest you. Then list problems that relate to that subject. You can click on any of these subject areas to find more resources related to it.

One student selected the subject "Personality" to write about and created a cluster to explore pain points with personality. Afterward, the student chose to write about his own struggles with anxiety, depression, and seasonal affective disorder, and the solutions he has found to help him manage his mood states.

Warm-Up for Problem-Solution Writing

When you search for a job, you'll see that employers seek "self-starters" who are "goal-oriented" and "collaborative team members," people who thrive in a "dynamic workplace environment" and take on "diverse challenges." Employers seek problem solvers.

That's a secret to success not just on the job but in life itself: Be the solution person instead of the problem person. The world is filled with problems and with people who love to focus on them. Become one of those rare people who loves to devise solutions—fixing problems and improving life for everyone.

In this unit, you will write an essay that closely analyzes a problem in your community, proposes a specific solution, and argues to convince the reader that it will work. As you develop your essay, you will use the problem-solving process.

What Is the Problem-Solving Process?

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The problem-solving process is a series of steps that carries a person from knowing little about a problem to creating a satisfying solution. This process switches back and forth between critical and creative thinking, following steps like these:

1. Analyze the problem, exploring causes and effects (critical thinking).
2. Brainstorm solutions—ways to remove or reduce causes and effects (creative thinking).
3. Evaluate possible solutions and choose the best one (critical thinking).
4. Create a plan for implementing the solution (creative thinking).
5. Apply the plan, evaluating each part (critical thinking).
6. Revise, refine, and perfect the solution (creative thinking).

You'll use the problem-solving process right along with the writing process as you create your essay. In fact, they are related. The writing process is one version of the problem-solving process—the steps that take you from knowing little about your topic to having an effective final essay. The lessons in this unit will guide you through both processes. You can get started by thinking about the problems all around you.

Thinking About Problems

"Problem" is a big word. It can refer to something as simple as a hang-nail and something as complex as the national debt. One way to start thinking about problems, big and small, is to focus on "pain points." A pain point is simply something that causes you discomfort. It could be a squeaky desk in second hour. It could be the fact that your best friend is moving to Tucson. Both are problems that need effective solutions.

Editing to Fix Sentence Shifts

For the most part, you should stick to a specific tense (past or present) and a specific person (first or third) in your essay. Unnecessary shifts can be distracting or even confusing:

Revising to Target the Prompt

First, you need to make sure you have answered the prompt. A brilliant essay that talks about rock climbing will not score well when the prompt asked for a definition of leadership. You can use your PAST analysis of the prompt to check your response. Turn each answer into a question, and use them to analyze your response.

• Purpose: Why am I writing? (Do I introduce myself and tell how I will enrich life on campus?)
• Audience: Who will read my writing? (Do I address admissions officers, providing the information they need to know about me?)
• Subject: What am I writing about? (Do I focus on a particular life experience, talent, commitment, or interest I have?)
• Type: What form should my writing take? (Do I compose my answer as an essay?)

Writing to Analyze the Prompt

Before you can write a college-entrance essay, you need to understand what the college wants you to write about and why. Carefully read and analyze the prompt by asking the PAST questions about it:

• Purpose: Why am I writing? (to introduce myself, telling how I will enrich life on campus)
• Audience: Who will read my writing? (admissions officers)
• Subject: What am I writing about? (a particular life experience, talent, commitment, or interest I have)
• Type: What form should my writing take? (an essay)

College-entrance prompt:

• Purpose: Why am I writing?
• Audience: Who will read my writing?
• Subject: What am I writing about?
• Type: What form should my writing take?

Warm-Up for College-Entrance Writing

Heading from high school to an even higher education can be a daunting prospect. You'll go from being the oldest and most experienced student to the youngest and least experienced. You'll also need to find the right school to help you achieve your goals. Finding that school—and making sure that school finds you—is a process.

One key part of the process is the college application. You'll provide all kinds of information about yourself, including your high school transcripts, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation, and intended field of study. On most applications, you'll be asked to write one or more essays focusing on some aspect of your life or education and how it relates to your goals. Providing an on-target response begins with understanding the college-entrance prompt.

What Is a College-Entrance Prompt?

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A college-entrance prompt is a brief set of instructions telling you what to write about on a college application. To analyze a prompt, you can use the PAST questions:

• Purpose: Why am I writing? (to explain, to define, to narrate, to show?)
• Audience: Who will read this? (admissions officers, fellow freshmen, college community?)
• Subject: What am I writing about? (leadership, community service, education, vision?)
• Type: What form should my writing take? (personal essay, biographical essay, reflection?)

In this unit, you'll learn to use the PAST mnemonic to analyze any college-entrance prompt or any other writing assignment you receive. First, though, you should warm up your thinking by reflecting on your goals after high school.

Thinking About the Past and Future

Before you start applying to schools, you should think about your past and future. A reflection chart can help you track how you are changing over time.

Editing for Subject-Verb Agreement

When you write using the literary present tense, you need to make sure that subjects and verbs agree in number (singular or plural). Note these other tips for ensuring subject-verb agreement.

A singular subject needs a singular verb, and a plural subject needs a plural verb.

Two or more subjects joined by and are always plural.

When two or more subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb should agree with the last subject.

Collective nouns treated as one thing are singular; those treated as a group of individuals are plural.

When words come between the subject and verb, make sure to match the true subject.