Helping writers find their focus: "What is the raison d'etré?"

By Kyle Cushman, Vermont College of Union Institute and University

What is focus in writing?

Writing that lacks a clear focus is easy to recognize. It circles around and around, zigzags, or hops vigorously from topic to topic, leaving the reader confused and asking, "What is this really about?"

Donald Murray, in Write to Learn says,

The most obvious difference between the amateur and professional writer is a matter of focus. The amateur rides off in all directions at once, including this fact, developing that point, tossing in a fascinating but irrelevant anecdote, luring the reader off the track of meaning with unnecessary facts or quotations, repeating what had been said, or making the reader circle back again and again to try to figure out what it all means. (92)

He goes on to define focus as "the feeling of riding a clear flowing river toward a certain destination" (92). Focus centers around the main point, the heart of the message, what academics refer to as a thesis. Focus is the paper's raison d'etré (reason for being) and answers the reader's question: "So what?" Focus is finding the center of what one wants to say. When a writer has a clear focus, all parts of the paper revolve around and support that focus. Unfortunately, many students are not even aware that their papers lack focus and it is often the role of learning center coaches to point out that there is no coherent focus and to help guide students to find one.

The keys to finding focus:

1. Plenty of examples. The first key is for students to be aware that good writing requires a clear focus and for students to have an idea of what clear focus actually looks like in writing. Both faculty and learning support coaches can help by raising this issue regularly and by providing examples of focused writing for discussion.
   
   
2. Plenty of time. The second key is for students to make sure they have ample time to play with their ideas. Writing is thinking on paper; thus, we rarely know what we want to say until we say it and see what comes out. Good writing usually requires more than one draft because each time we rewrite we are sharpening our focus. Sometimes we find our focus right away, and sometimes it eludes us for several drafts until we may even need the feedback of an objective reader to help us spot it. The problem is that students often don't leave themselves enough time to play around with their ideas through multiple drafts and may even view multiple drafts as a sign of failure. The result of this can be writing where the focus has not yet been defined.

Helping students find their focus.

1. Encourage students to leave enough time before a deadline to play with their ideas.
   
   
2. Reinforce the perception that multiple drafts are necessary for finding focus and not a failure.
   
   
3. Ask guiding questions such as, "Why did you want to write this paper?" or "What was the most important thing that you learned?" or "What excites you about this topic?" or "What is the connection that you see between all of these ideas?" Sometimes simply processing one's ideas out loud with an objective listener helps a writer to discover focus.
   
   
4. Encourage students to identify goals for the piece of writing. Have them write down a list of goals for the paper with this lead: "In this paper I want to…"
   
   
5. Help students look for the hidden focus within the draft. Often the focus ends up hidden somewhere in the text well after the introduction. Ask students if there is a point where the paper really seems to come together. Help them to see where the writing comes to life on the page. Ask them to show where they find themselves getting interested. Or, share your feelings as a reader. Where do you find yourself getting interested? Usually, the focus will be lurking at the point where the paper comes to life.
   
   
6. Ask students to try brainstorming a list of words and short phrases that summarize the main point they want to share. Then have them highlight the most electrically charged words or phrases.
   
   
7. Have students draw a picture. If they could capture the focus in a snapshot, what would it look like?
   
   
8. Newspaper headlines are meant to capture the focus of a news story in a small amount of words. Look at some newspaper headlines and talk about what the article might be about. Have students brainstorm a list of "newspaper headlines" and show how these point to possible areas for focus.

References

Murray, Donald (1990). Write to Learn. Philadelphia: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston.

Questions or comments? Contact the author at kyle.cushman@tui.edu