One way to organize your thoughts, ideas, or arguments when writing is through the POWER or TOWER writing strategy. This strategy provides a guide on how you can approach your writing in smaller chunks. The POWER writing strategy works well for students who have challenges organizing their writing processes or who feel overwhelmed with writing in general.
Advantages
- Provides a step-by-step process for writing
- Can help get ideas out on to the page and help overcome writers' block
- Breaks down the writing process into smaller parts
Disadvantages
- The steps may not be applicable to all types of writing assignments to and all types of writing styles
Steps
Plan or Think
- Identify a topic you would like to write about
- Consider the audience you are writing for
- Brainstorm ideas you would like to focus on and/or research
- You can use strategies like mind mapping to get your thoughts and ideas out on to the page
Organize
- You can use an outline to organize the main ideas/arguments of your paper
- Identify how your research might support the main ideas/arguments of your paper
- Plot out the skeleton for your paper including the introduction, body, and conclusion
Write
- Use your outline to guide your writing
- Expand upon any of your ideas or research from your outline
- Focus on getting the content onto the page and remember that you will have an opportunity to edit later
Edit
- Review your work for any errors related to spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc.
- Ensure that your paper flows clearly and that your argument makes sense
Revise itÂ
- Make any necessary changes you have identified from the previous step
- Refine your paper and re-read it one more time before handing it in