When it is rainy outside we all get stuck indoors, waiting for the sun to come out s owe can then go about our day without the fear of getting wet and catching a cold. When the power goes out because of an errant lightning bolt, and the television goes out we have all pulled out a board game to pass the time. One of my family’s favorites was Risk, and I believe there are many ideas in Risk that can be carried over into reading.
Firstly we have the board and the pieces. The board in this case represents the area or environment in which we are playing. Just like when writing a paper, we need to understand what type of paper we are writing. We need an environment based on what our paper is trying to convey. If it is a piece of fiction, this may be an environment created solely in our heads, but in a piece of nonfiction the environment can be found through research. When we write papers for classes, the environment nearly always ends up being the topic of the said class, whether that is Psychology or Music History.
Once we know our environment, we can begin writing the actual paper. This is where the pieces come in. Without the pieces there would be no game and the same could be carried over into writing. In Risk, there are cards you can acquire, that you match in order to get extra army members. These cards can be thought about as if this is the information you already know. These are the freebies that are not difficult to come by, just like information you have already learned before the prospect of writing a paper on the subject was even a possibility.
Now we come to the little miniature army members. These can be thought of as the words which we use as we actually write our paper. As we attack other players in the game, just as we use words in order to get our ideas down on paper for others, we steadily work our way toward our goal. In this case it is towards writing our paper.
Anyone can tell you in a game of Risk that the game has a lot of strategy, and there is also definitely a lot of strategy in writing. Am I going to stick my whole army in one spot and attack the opposing players from there? Doing this may be a sound strategy, now let’s look at how this translates to writing. If we research an idea or topic, there are many ways to approach it. If we choose to focus on one fact, to dump all of our research into that single area, we miss out on surrounding ideas that may be integral to our topic. In the case of risk, when you dump all your army into one area, you risk the possibility of getting flanked and overrun.
Conversely, what happens when we evenly distribute our army across all of our controlled areas? We may in fact create a better defensive barrier, or in this case have a better general idea of what is going on in what we write about, but we lack the strength of knowledge one may have had in the previous example. Our arguments may not be as strong and as such our region may be weak to someone who dumps all there army into one area and attacks us, but we ourselves are better defended on all fronts. We have done our research, though we may still be weak to attacks.
The main skill in Risk is balancing these two ideas. We need to defend all fronts of attack, and at the same time make sure we do not leave the back door open, lest in lead to our defeat. When we write, we need to understand the fronts which we are going to tackle the subject that we are writing about. We need to fortify our arguments with facts in order to build their strength. If we do not accomplish this, it may just be game over.
When I write I think of it as a game of Risk, and follow a style as follows:
1. Understand or find my environment. If writing fiction create my environment.
2. Do all necessary research for the topic I have chosen. Scout the board.
3. Write a list of ideas/arguments. Find the areas to attack and defend.
4. Pick the most important ones, and do more research in just those areas. Fortify fronts of attack, and areas that need defending.
5. Finally begin writing my paper. Begin the attack.
Following this rubric allows us to choose the arguments which matter to us, thus allowing us greater opportunities to inject ourselves into our paper. When we write a research paper or term paper we need to remember not to get caught up in the facts. The facts are all great, but a list of facts can be read by anyone. Turning those facts into an entertaining piece of writing requires more preparation. Hopefully using the ideas above will allow you to be better prepared and as such instead of only focusing on the facts of your paper we can then use our own words in a way that is the most entertaining for the reader.
The analogy that you used between the Risk board game and the writing process was interesting and very workable. As a reader, I was intrigued by how you would accomplish explaining a game to fit the consecutive steps of the writing process and the end result was clever and creative. I was interested in the steps of sequence that you used to explain what is was like to prepare for battle in the game of Risk and its comparison to preparing research for a writing assignment. Your statement on “creating a better defense barrier” is completely legitimate for the reason that when writing a paper, there has to be enough research given into all possible areas that are to be concentrated on in order to create a well thought out end product that holds distributed evenly weight throughout the essay. In doing so, the reader will have a better understanding of the topic and they will subconsciously respond to the writer as credible in presenting enough evidence to support all areas of the paper instead of just one. Overall, I really enjoyed your explanation. As you described that “turning facts into our own words” does add depth and appeal for the reader when looking at a new perspective through the facts given.
ReplyDeleteYour analogy was absolutely fantastic. I have never played Risk before, but they way you took the time to thoroughly explain your writing process was admirable. I would have never realized that writing is indeed an intricate board game. Aside from the grand analogy you make, your list can actually be helpful to anyone. As I read that list I realized that despite not ever playing Risk (or even hearing about it, for that matter) I understood the process you set out.
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed very important to know what you are going to write about in your papers and some people don’t understand that this is a vital part to writing any type of paper. If people took the time to think about their writing process then, instantly their writing would improve. Because the writer took the time to ‘understand their environment,’ they now know what to research and what points to cover. Simple brainstorming can evoke great ideas and ultimately better writing.
Again, your blog this week was so precise and thought-evoking. I’m glad I came across it this week. In fact, your writing process is pretty nifty, and who knows, maybe I will use it on future papers! Keep up the great blogging.
I love your analogy. I never really thought of it that way I always just laid it out and planned it out. Writing and reading I would plan both. I totally agree that just as the game risk you have to have a strategy when writing an essay. If you do not then your paper will be all over the place. I feel like that if I just dive into typing an essay without any planning, because maybe I procrastinated or something, I feel that it is not complete. I become scatter brained and it is not one hundred percent my writing. I think that by reading your post I can apply it to my own writing and strategy and make my strategy better. I feel like yes I have my own strategy for writing an essay but I definitely have room for improvement and I love your ideas. I enjoyed reading your little five-step program. I find that one of my problems would be that I would lay it all out and get into it but I would not fully understand the environment. Which would lead me to a few problems along the way of writing my paper.
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