Thoughts on Drafting

Quick Reference Guides

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In this blog post, I will be assessing how helpful the Student's Guide is for writing in the Quick Reference Guide genre. I will illustrate ways in which the Guide's advice is helpful and not in creating a thesis, paragraph formatting, introductions, organizing the information being presented, and conclusions.

Drafting a Thesis Statement

• Yay! The questioning process is extremely helpful in the QRG genre because creating a thesis to insert in your QRG gives it a direction. While the thesis isn't a large part of a QRG, I decided to create one to offer my own perspective on the controversy at hand. Specifically, the questions for the writer to follow while writing their thesis really helped me to focus on an angle for my Quick Reference Guide.
• Is it interesting?
• Is it precise and specific?
• Is it manageable?
• Does it adequately reflect your reading and the expected shape of your paper?

PIE paragraphs

• Yay! When interpreted loosely, the PIE paragraph format has been a big help for me to insert quoted evidence into some sections of my QRG. The formatting allows me to definitely place some information in front of my audience for their consumption.
• Point
• Illustration
• Explanation
• No... One thing that the book strongly recommends is the use of in-text citations whenever another person's opinion or research is brought up. Plus, a good variety of paragraph structures is normal and desired in QRGs. While PIE formatting is occasionally helpful, it shouldn't be the format of every paragraph in a QRG - the reader would immediately lose interest and click away.
• Formatted citations
• All PIE, all the time

Introductions

• Yay! The general tips for introductions were very helpful while I was drafting my QRG. All I had to do was follow a checklist of items! I included a general introduction to my QRG to immediately give some broad context to the issue, which I plan to narrow down and describe in detail in my QRG.
• Grab the reader's attention
• Focus the direction your essay will take
• Include a thesis statement
• Avoid certain traps
• No... However, the last bullet, labeled Avoid Certain Traps included elements that are usually the norm for a QRG.
• Avoid introducing evidence
• Avoid referencing used texts

Organizing Information

• Yay! The book provides pretty useful tips about how to consider the flow of a QRG, and gave me even more handy questions to ask myself as I drafted. QRGs should be organized and easy for the reader to follow.
• Consider ways to create "flow" or connect ideas
• Why is this idea, sentence, or paragraph in this particular position?
• How does each idea relate to the content before and after it?
• What happens to the argument or the momentum if this idea, sentence, or paragraph is moved?
• What will the audience expect to see here? Should I meet their expectations, or is there a reason for not doing so?
• No... While most QRGs have a flow based on logical steps and questions of the reader, they are also meant to be accessible; the reader should be able to jump in at any section that they desire. Flow shouldn't dominate the QRG format - it's meant to help readers along in to the next section, but readers should also be able to pick up that flow in any section, so it can't be too limiting.
• Sentences and sections should build upon each other by following a strict flow

Writing Conclusions

• Yay! The tips for conclusions were pretty awesome, considering that the only conclusions I've ever written simply restated the thesis statement. QRGs are basically containers for vats of context that all have to be summed up in the end. Conclusions are crucial to any QRG, because they will help to summarize the issue the QRG is addressing.
• Answer the "So What?"
• Circle back
• Look forward
• Paint a picture
• Summarize claims

 Reflection: As I read through my peers' posts about drafting, I realized that while we all know the conventions of the QRG, we will still interpret which tips are helpful or not differently. This difference is most likely due to the differences in writing processes. Looking over the tips Addie and Breanna valued made me consider ways I should change my draft:
1. I need to refine the content of my sections and subsections to make them more straightforward for the reader. When Breanna suggested that each section be an expanded PIE, it made a lot of sense.
2.  My Quick Reference Guide may have an awkward flow / organization of sections. Once I get some comments on my draft, then I'll be able to potentially address that issue.
3. I may have to back off on my thesis statement. I don't want to influence the opinions of my audience too much, and both Breanna and Addie pointed out that the QRG should try its best to not directly imprint opinions onto its readers.