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20 Questions

Below is a list of 20 questions you can ask yourself while you are planning and writing your essays to help you imagine your audience. You can ask yourself these questions at any stage of the clustering or brainstorming process, or have a friend ask you. (Sometimes it helps to think your ideas out when you have to explain them to another person.) If you respond fully to these questions as you fill in each bubble on your map or in freewriting, you stand a much better chance of writing an essay that is rich and clear. Not all of these questions are going to apply, but try to answer all questions that might help your reader.

  1. What happened?
  2. When did it occur?
  3. Why did it happen, or why do I think it happened?
  4. Why do I believe this?
  5. If it hasn't happened, why should/shouldn't it?
  6. How did/does this happen (facts)?
  7. Who is involved?
  8. How were they affected by events (or will they be)?
  9. Why is this important to tell, to know?
  10. What are all the facts that I know?
  11. What facts are missing or in dispute?
  12. What other details, examples, and description could I include to make this clearer?
  13. What background/context/history would help to make this clearer or more interesting?
  14. Why is this important to me?
  15. Why is this important to my reader?
  16. What do I want my reader to do with the information?
  17. What other opinions or options are out there that conflict with mine?
  18. What other opinions or options are out there that support mine?
  19. What is the local impact?
  20. What is the broader impact?

This list is also great to use when you are asked to evaluate other students' essays. As you read, keep this list nearby and run through it whenever you come across a passage that seems underdeveloped or unclear.

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