Get a title/topic. Through observations, we get what to write. The environment we live in is full of what to write.
As you live you must have an idea. It may be an idea of improving situations. It may also be an idea of correcting situations. We all feel concerned in some instances. Any caring person like you won’t be quiet without addressing what has gone wrong or right. We normally think to change things. The suggestion you have on how things can go the way you see is what you should actually write. Our surroundings provide us with what to communicate. Get it.
After having your topic/title ready, then now Brainstorm. Brainstorming is placing your mind into the great world of critical thinking. We all live to think. We have the world in our heads. We can bring the world in our heads out if we are able to think.
It is very simple to challenge our mind to think. It is simply asking yourself what you intend to communicate to your readers. If your topic is about corruption in South Sudan, what specific thing (s) do you intend to communicate about it? What do you want your readers to focus on? All those possible ideas to support your topic are surely in your head. You just need to allow your mind to bring them out. In my English class, I teach my students to draw a spider with legs. I challenge them to write the topic inside the drawn spider. After putting the topic, I ask them to provide an idea for each leg. They perfectly find it very easy to brainstorm ideas like that. Now my students love writing. The writing they perceived to be hard is now just very easy.
You can do the same. Be creative to paint a picture that will present your ideas. Don’t fear to think. Thinking is part of life. People who are able to think provide answers for challenging situations. They don’t panic when asked to give an answer to any question. Brainstorming will help you focus. You will perfectly find a way to defend or support ideas. Get there!
The brainstormed ideas must be planned. To plan means to put your ideas into logical sequence. The logical flow of your ideas matters a lot. If I want you to come and buy foods in my restaurant, I cannot begin listing the foods starting with the foods I obviously know you do not like. If I am in South Sudan and a south Sudanese comes to my restaurant, I must begin by saying, “I have fried chicken, fried meat, fried fish, and then finally I have rice and beans.” With that I will be able to catch the interest of my customers.
Writing is communication. In communication, your intention as a speaker or writer is to catch the interest of your listeners or readers. If you begin with the least important idea, you will automatically bore your listeners or readers. The flow of your ideas must be sequential. We can logically sequence our ideas by ordering the ideas from the most important idea to the least important idea. We can also order them chronologically. This means we can order them according to their times of occurrence. The first event is presented first. The last event comes after. Finally, we can order our ideas spatially. Spatial order means ordering according to locations. If someone lived in South Sudan and later went to live in India and Kenya. You must first write about when the person was in South Sudan. It should be followed by his/her life in Indian and then his/her life in Kenya. Have a logical arrangement of your ideas.
Before getting into actual writing, understand what a paragraph is. A paragraph is a group of sentences that expresses an idea or a single point. It must have three groups of sentences. The first group is a topical sentence. A topical sentence is a sentence that states the main idea of the paragraph. It can be stated as declarative, interrogative, imperative or exclamatory sentence. This sentence must be simple. It must be to the point. It determines the beauty of the paragraph.
The next group of sentences are supportive sentences and a concluding sentence. Supportive sentences provide details about the stated idea. You convince your reader by giving enough examples and evident about the stated idea. Supportive sentences for high school children must be only simple sentences. Long, long sentences are not encouraged. Students can easily avoid writing long sentences by eliminating conjunctions and relative pronouns in their writing. A concluding sentence in addition is a sentence that restates the main idea of the sentence. It satisfies your reader about the stated and supported idea.
With knowledge of a paragraph, you can write your introductory paragraph. In this paragraph, you can tell a story that leads to your topic. You can define your topic. You can also ask provocative questions. Lastly, you can write an exclamatory sentence. Introductory paragraph is meant to arouse the interest of your reader. It does not give what the topic will be about, but it helps your reader to find interest in what you write. It wakes up your reader from sleep. Be creative to have a brilliant introductory paragraph.
After writing your introductory paragraph, dive into writing your planned ideas. We call this level the body of your writing. Remember you have brainstormed and planned your ideas. You can now present them in paragraphs. Each idea is a paragraph. The idea must be stated, supported and concluded. Finishing with the first idea, you must transition to the next idea. Make use of transitional words to transition easily to the next idea. Transitional words bring unity in your writing. All the ideas in the essay must relate to one another. Transitional words or phrases will create such relationship. Don’t forget secondary school essay must be indented.
Completing your body, it is time to write your concluding paragraph. This paragraph is short and brief. It simply sums up your argument. It is written to satisfy your idea. In the story writing, it is sometimes left for the reader to conclude. But in essay writing, you need to do it. One must creatively conclude.
You have completed your essay or article; don’t forget to think about its brevity. Brevity refers to the length of your paragraphs and the length of your sentences. There is no specific rule of how the length of your paragraphs should be. It entirely depends on you, the writer. But for school children, secondary school children in particular, the length of the essay must be about 300 words only. The length of a paragraph must be about eight simple sentences. The sentences written must be simple sentences mainly for school children. The shorter the length, the easier will be the comprehension.
Still talking about the brevity, avoid complex language. People think they will be praised because of their big terms. It is a lie. Your language is praised because of its simplicity. Be simple in your writing. Use simple English. Don’t abbreviate words. Don’t use too much idioms. Don’t use slangs. Choose your words wisely.
You should not only think about the brevity, think also about variety. Vary your paragraphs and sentences. Don’t be monotonous. Repeating yourself so many times will bore your reader. Make use of many different verbs and subjects. Vary your transitional phrases or words. You can only repeat for emphasis if you plan it.
The last thing you must not forget is thinking about the personal touch in your writing. Writing must reveal your true thinking. It must contain you in it. It must be your true identity. Don’t write like other people. Don’t copy other people’s styles. You must always have your unique style. Life is about being you. Be natural. Be original. People use AI to write for them essays or articles and they publish them as theirs. Let me tell this, your originality will never be seen in that AI’s work. Writing is about revealing to people how we think. We must express our original views on things. In writing, don’t fear to write alone. Don’t fear to have your own style. Your style is the best for you. Have a personal touch in your writing.
I hope you are convinced that writing is very simple. We can perfectly do it. What you need to do is to just try. Don’t worry about your grammar. Don’t worry about putting your ideas right. Your editor will help you in that. Just bring out the idea you have in mind. Someone asked me whether it is still necessary to write with AI which can do everything for us. I answered; AI will not write what you think. It will not write our uniqueness. AI is not also contextual. We must address our own issues. Challenge yourself to write something today. Contact me for more help. Be kind to the nation.