II. Getting Started
Introduction
Terri Pantuso
Congratulations! You’re now on your way towards a college degree! But first, you must master the art of writing for a given purpose. How do you start an essay? What matters most, the topic or the sources? What if you don’t understand exactly what you’re being asked to write about or you can’t find a topic? If you’re feeling stress from questions such as these, relax. You’re not alone. Even the most accomplished writers need some sort of guidance to begin a new project. In this section, we introduce you to the writing process used most commonly in composition courses and provide strategies for tackling your assignment(s). Additionally, we discuss genre and prewriting strategies to guide you through the process.
Pantuso, Terri, Sarah LeMire, and Kathy Anders, eds. Informed Arguments: A Guide to Writing and Research. Rev. 2nd ed. College Station: Texas A&M University, 2022. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
