INTRODUCTION: THINKING ABOUT WRITING
you generate ideas and connect these ideas in systematic ways. By combining words into phrases and sentences with conjunctions, you create complex new ideas: for example, and brings out similarities, but emphasizes differences, and because supports general ideas with specific reasons, facts, and examples.
By writing essays for different purposes as you work through The St. Martin’s Guide, you will develop your thinking in different ways. For example, writing about a remembered event will inspire you to reflect on what happened and why it is memorable; finding common ground will deepen your ability to analyze and syn- thesize different points of view; arguing for a position on a controversial issue will hone your reasoning skills; and making evaluations will help you examine under- lying assumptions about what you value and why.
The mere process of writing is one of the most powerful tools we have for clarifying our own thinking. I am never as clear about any matter as when I have just finished writing about it. — JAMES VAN ALLEN