Author: D. Sader

Real Estate Speculation

Today many people speculate in real estate, especially around large cities like Toronto and Vancouver, or Fort Lauderdale homes for sale if you’re my retired parents. But how is it done?

First consult a real estate agent or someone you know who has profited from real estate.

Focus, then write a brief outline to establish the order of your process. Now do the first draft, leaving whitespace.

Perhaps the act of writing has uncovered steps you had forgotten; add them.

In your next draft make sure to define technical words your audience may not know, and add any missing transitions between steps.

Does a point lack a good example? Add it. Is a passage off-topic or a phrase or word unnecessary? Delete it.

Finally, test your prose aloud before publishing the final copy.

Canadian Military Spending

Politicians often state that one letter received from a citizen is worth a thousand votes.

Decide whether you think Canada is spending too little or too much on the military.

Now write a letter to the Minister of Defence, arguing your point deductively.

Apply your premise to a specific example or examples, such as tanks, fighter planes, destroyers, submarines, etc.

As you look over your “discovery draft,” see whether you have specialized in either argumentation or persuasion. If your treatment seems too extreme, modify it in your next draft with a dose of the other approach, to produce a more combined approach.

In your final draft, edit for conciseness (the best letters to politicians are short).

Finally, submit your letter to your member of parliament.

Canadian Forces “Combat Camera”
Cabinet
Members of Parliament
Leon Benoit
Hon. Peter Gordon MacKay

Third-World Children

For one week read the international news feed from your favorite news site, paying special attention to reports that have implications for Third-World children.

Choose one event or issue that arouses either your approval or your indignation, then respond to it in an essay.

Using evidence from the article, make an inductive argument for your point. Use argumentation and persuasion in the proportion you think most effective.

A Job You Have Had

Think of a job you have had.

Write a page of rough notes about it, then, looking these over, decide how socially useful or useless the job was.

Now write an inductive argument showing the evidence for your conclusion.

After a rapid first draft, examine what you have said: Do the examples support your thesis? If not, change your thesis to reflect what you have discovered while writing.

Are your examples fully enough explained to make sense to the reader? If not, elaborate. Or is there deadwood? Trim it out.

Read your second-to-last version aloud to help fine-tune its style.

Read the final version aloud to the class.

High-Tech Invention

Choose one high-tech invention that you have used, and write an inductive essay that praises or condemns it.

First freewrite on your subject for at least five minutes – automatically, never letting your pencil or keyboard stop – then look over what you have produced in order to learn your point of view.

Now, take more notes, gathering examples. Arrange these in order from least to most important, and from this rough outline write a draft.

In the second draft adjust your tone: Is your whole argument serious or objective? Is it argumentative? Or is it more humorous, subjective, and therefore persuasive? Whichever it is, be consistent.

Now read your argument aloud to family members or classmates, revise any part that fails to work on your audience, then write the final version.

Government Cutbacks

Choose one example of governmental spending which has been or soon will be “cut back.”

Produce a page of notes, then conclude from them whether you favour or oppose the cutback. Now write an inductive essay to support your opinion.

Apply at least three techniques of persuasion.

After a quick “discovery draft,” check to see if you have left out any good points from your notes. Has writing led you to discover new points? If they are good, add them.

In further drafts, revise for conciseness, concrete language, and consistent tone.

Test your prose aloud before publishing the final version.