Write to Learn

Writing helps you learn.

Before polluting your mind with the thoughts of others, write what you know.

• With your writing in place, you can explore what other people have to say about the topic. You might change, deepen, or expand your initial writeup.
  • Change: If the other person teaches you a perspective or fact, then you can revise your writeup. This is growth.
  • Deepen: If the other person introduces ideas you didn’t thing of before, then you can start the process again: Write before your read, and then proceed.
  • Expand:
    • If you disagree with other people, then you can write about why.
    • If other people agree with you, then you can cite to them.
• If you don’t know anything about a topic, then write down questions, and come up with answers you think are reasonable. Then, turn

This method emphasizes that writing is communication. You’re having a conversation with people who might have lived hundreds of years ago.