#  The Writing Process: Beginning the Work, Building the Draft, and Presenting the Work 

 





 Semester:   Fall 

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 Year offered:  2023 

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 Link: [Course Website](https://carc.extension.harvard.edu/upcoming-webinars/) 

 

 

 

 This lecture series gives students the basic skills to begin a first draft, build upon your work, and eventually present your academic findings. We will go over writing a precis, finding a model for your paper, gathering and organizing evidence, and shaping a good thesis question. Our goal here is not perfect, just planned out. Further discussions will focus on the task of filling out a paper and employing editing skills. We introduce three skills with the intention of building the early draft to a more finished form: refining the precis into an introduction, writing a “goosebumps” conclusion, and mapping out the order and content of the paragraphs in between. We use writing exercises to bring the draft to a more finished form, with a shift toward presenting one’s piece from an academic paper to a piece that can be presented online or in person. These valuable writing skills can be used to begin any piece of source-based nonfiction, whether in the realm of business, science, social sciences, or humanities. Then, the course will end with a thorough focus on how students can take their finalized paper and present their piece to a crowd, whether in-person or online. Presentation methods such as a planned vs. an impromptu speech, different presenting techniques and strategies, self-confidence in front of an audience, and presenting your paper in multiple mediums (i.e., at a conference or other venue) are discussed in detail.



 

 

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