Students will utilize the "cubing" strategy to think about the paper topic from different perspectives, which should help generate some new ideas about the topic.
Students will be instructed to imagine the six sides of a cube as each being one way of looking at their topic (no more than 3 minutes each). They will then write down their responses to these six sets of questions/prompts in order. It might help to number their responses so they can keep track of them as they go:
1. Describe: Think about your topic in terms of the five senses. What does it look like? What color is it? What does it smell, taste, sound, or feel like?
2. Compare: What is your topic similar to? What is its exact opposite?
3. Associate: What does your topic remind you of? When you close your eyes and think about your topic, what pops into your head?
4. Analyze: Think about the parts of your topic and how they work together. Tell what causes your topic, how it emerges/emerged, what causes or influences it, and how it can be categorized or grouped.
5. Apply: What can you do with your topic? How can your subject be used productively? What good does your subject do anyone?
6. Argue: Take a stand for or against your subject - or both! Think of as many reasons, logical or silly, that you might have for favoring or opposing your subject.
Don't pause between each set of questions -- just keep writing until you have responded to all six sides of the cube.
(Borrowed from the Ohio State Center for the Study of Teaching and Writing website: http://www.cstw.ohio-state.edu/)
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