2: Strategies and Modes

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You’re ready to write. You’ve fired up your laptop, created a new page, and are ready to roll. But, after staring at the blinking cursor for a few minutes, you have no idea where to begin. No need to panic. Now is the time to consider the rhetorical situation – the purpose, audience, author, context, and text – and select a writing strategy to help develop and organize your work. Maybe you want to use narration to tell a story or description to use details in explaining how something works. This next set of chapters will explore how these strategies and others can help make your writing clear and effective.

As you read, ask yourself what sort of structure you’ve seen these strategies (or modes) used in. What kinds of content have you see when it comes to these strategies (or modes)? Do you see a strict or flexible structure used? Do you see creative content or technical content used?

Note: Strategies are fluid guidelines that can change or combine according to the goals of your writing.