Writing Book 8 · Lesson 7

You Begin with a Decision

A paper begins with a decision, and the decision is the writer's.

What you read today

Advanced Academic Writing, pages 1–1 — the chapter You Begin with a Decision.

This lesson's text is the book itself. Your teacher has the pages; read them with the class, then do the work on your sheet.

Remember
Read it as a writer: not only what happens, but what the author did to make it happen that way.

Ask yourself: “What have I decided, and could I say it in one sentence?”

Before you write anything, you decide what you are doing.