Writing a Smart Objective is challenging. It’s tempting to write whatever comes to mind first – especially if you’re in a rush – but that can lead to problems. A Smart Objective should always be organised, concise and logical. It should also reflect what you’ve learned from the text you’ve been assigned. In this blog post, I’ll discuss some of the things I learned while writing my Smart Objectives for my book Writing for Children. I hope it will be useful for you too.
Be Thorough
When you’re writing a Smart Object, it’s important to be thorough. This means that you should look at the whole book, and think about everything that could possibly be relevant to include as part of your objective. Even if you don’t believe that a particular topic will be relevant to your assignment, you should include it anyway. The more you include, the more you’ll learn. Throwing something in just because it’s there doesn’t mean that you need it, so you shouldn’t just throw it in.
For example, I was writing about crime and punishment in Australia. One of the things I learned from this was that most people aren’t aware that Australia abolished capital punishment, so I decided to include this as part of my objective. It’s not something that necessarily relates to my book, but it is something that I learned while writing it. To me, this was worth including, even if it isn’t directly relevant to my topic. Researching and finding all the relevant information took a lot of time, so I wanted to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything.
Keep To The Point
As I mentioned above, being thorough is important. The same goes for being concise. A lot of books are incredibly wordy, containing a lot of unnecessary information. When you’re writing a Smart Object, you should keep it concise, but don’t beat around the bush either. You should get straight to the point. This is not always easy, especially when you’re in a rush to get your book finished. But think of everything you’ve learned so far, and write to the point. If you find yourself going on at length about something that isn’t relevant to your assignment, you’ll probably go on too long and end up distracting yourself. Cut out the fluff and get to the point straightaway.
Organise Ideas & Remember Important Facts
If you can, try to organise your ideas and remember important facts as you go along. This isn’t always easy, especially when you’re in a creative writing class where you’re allowed to wander off topic or brainstorm as much as you want. But if you can, try to keep organised as you go along. It’ll make things much easier to follow, and you’ll learn more in the process. You can also use the resources available to you to help you remember things. For example, if you’re writing an analysis of a film, you could look at how the director structures the narrative to create a strong theme or mood. Or if you’re writing about historical events, you could look at how people tried to make sense of those events through art and literature. This is not something you’d normally do while you’re writing, but it can help you learn more about the topic, and it’ll make the process easier. Remembering things becomes much more straightforward if you’ve already done the hard work of organising your thoughts.
Think Critically
As you’re writing, it’s important to be critical of your thinking. This means that you should examine your opinions and assumptions, and consider whether they’re valid or not. A lot of people are quick to criticise what they don’t understand, so it’s important to be aware of this. This doesn’t mean that you have to agree with everything in your textbook, or that you have to like every idea, perspective or theory that you come across. It just means you should examine them, and ask yourself whether what you believe to be true is in fact true. If you’re unsure, then you should probably ask someone who does know. The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know, and that’s a good thing.
Learn From The Text
The textbook you’re assigned will be one of the main sources of information for your assignment. This is particularly important if you’ve never done an academic level writing assignment before. Even if you’ve written plenty of letters and articles for your university or college newspaper, this won’t prepare you for something as demanding as a Smart Object. The main thing is to make sure that you understand what is required, and that you do it properly. If there’s something in particular that concerns you, then there’s no need to worry. Just make sure that you get it right, and don’t be afraid to ask for help if you’re stuck. There might also be a specific learning objective that relates to your book, and this too can be useful to know. But just keep in mind that the primary purpose of this assignment is to help you learn about writing, and to develop your skills as a writer. So while it’s valuable to know what is required of you, the main thing is for you to complete the task successfully and learn from it.
There will be a few things that you do that aren’t mentioned in the textbook. For example, if you’re writing an expository essay, you’ll need to do some research on your topic. But you won’t necessarily learn how to do this from the text. Instead, you’ll learn how to write an expository essay, which involves choosing a specific topic, developing & maintaining a coherent line of reasoning, and supporting your ideas with appropriate evidence. Even if you’ve done tons of research for your non-academic writing, you’ll still learn new things from this textbook. Just make sure that you remember that the main purpose of this assignment is to help you develop your skills as a writer.
Learn To Structure An Essay
It’s tempting to write an essay in the order that seems natural to you – especially if you want to get something done quickly. But this is the worst kind of essay writing. When you write in this manner, you tend to write very disjointed and unstructured essays that aren’t easy to follow or understand. Instead, you should write an essay in the order that makes the most sense. This does not necessarily mean that you should do your research first, or that you should write in a linear fashion. It simply means that you should organise your thoughts, and present your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. The only thing that can stop you from doing this is if you’ve already done so much work on your paper that you’ve worn out your welcome at the institution.
As you’re writing, you’ll find that certain ideas or facts will come to mind. You’ll want to include these as part of your essay, but you won’t necessarily know where to start. There’s no need to worry. Just make a list of everything that comes to mind – both those that you want to include, and those that you’d like to leave out. This list will form the skeleton of your essay, and give you a place to start. From here, you can flesh out your ideas, and add further supporting details or examples. Remember that an essay is a form of non-fiction writing, so ensure that everything you include is relevant and supported by appropriate evidence. In a nutshell, structure your ideas and remember to support them with evidence – this will make all the difference in the world.