Strategies for selecting a topic: public school vs. home school

University of Phoenix Material

Strategies for Selecting a Topic

Complete the following table:

Question
Answer
What two objects, people, subjects, or concepts are you going to compare and contrast?
Public school vs. home school education
What are the similarities between the two objects, people, subjects, or concepts? List as many similarities that you can think of.
I cannot come up with any similarities between the two.
What are the differences between the two objects, people, subjects, or concepts? List as many differences that you can think of.
Environment
Curriculum
Attention the child gets
Social setting
Extracurricular activity opportunities
Cost and time
People’s opinion

Are you going to focus on similarities, differences, or both? Explain your rationale.
I am going to focus on the differences between the two methods mainly because I do not know of any similarities. Maybe during my research I can find some and share them as well.
What do you want your readers to learn and understand after reading your essay? What is the purpose of your essay?
I want readers to be able to weigh some of the pros and cons of each topic.
What three parallel points of comparison or contrast will you address in your essay?

For example, if you were going to compare and contrast two teachers, your three parallel points might be the following:

Each teacher’s homework policy
Each teacher’s classroom conduct policy
Each teacher’s demeanor
Environment
Social interactions
Cost and time
Explain why this is an appropriate and workable topic selection for the final assignment.
I feel like this is a good topic for me because I am majoring in elementary education and I support the public education system but I also would love the opportunity to home school my own child. I have positive and negative thoughts about both subjects.

Personal Writing Ritual As I reflect on the video discussing witting rituals, I realize I have different ones for my formal writing and informal writing. When I write informally, I just start writing. Sometimes I do not use punctuation and leave letters out of words on purpose. When I write for formal purposes, I try to brainstorm and gather my ideas first. Then I move on to writing a rough draft. After I write the rough draft, I revise the paper and elaborate on my ideas and thoughts by providing facts or quotes. Some techniques I have learned about effectively using the writing process include, allowing someone to review my paper and revisiting certain steps of the process. When I first began brainstorming my ideas for our final paper I was really just going off of personal experience. Now that I am starting to research my topics, I have additional ideas I want to add to my list of things to discuss. Since we have great tools in the Center for Writing Excellence tool, I will be able to have my paper reviewed. I will also let one of my peers read my paper and give me feedback. I feel like my writing process had greatly improved because now I see how vital each step is to the process and will not skip any for the sake of time.