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Throughout this workshop, we’ll be referring to the moves that DeRay Mckesson makes
in “The Bully and the Pulpit” (p. 40) as a model for your own essay, highlighting how he
connects his childhood experience of being bullied to the larger issues of social justice
he took up as an adult. writing workshop

Step 1: Gathering Ideas

This step gives you a chance to slow down a bit and think about the topic you might want
to write about and the personal connections you might have to it — before you write.

Finding a Topic
One of the first challenges we face with argumentative writing assignments is finding
something to write about. DeRay Mckesson wasn’t assigned to write a persuasive
essay; he had important ideas about race and power that he wanted to communicate to
others. These ideas are deeply rooted in his personal experiences as an African
American male in the United States. As you explore topics, be sure to choose one that
you are genuinely interested in and with which you have some kind of personal
experience. This will make your writing authentic and meaningful not only in the
classroom but also in the real world.
It is also important to think about questions you have, rather than topics you might
write about. Although you might be tempted to jump right to the point you want to
make, it is better to take some time and ask as many questions as you can about the
topic first. For instance, if you are interested in sports and you regularly play and watch
sports, you might ask questions such as these:
• Why are professional sports players paid so much?
• What are the ethical considerations of watching football, considering the risk of
brain injury for the players?
• What are acceptable uses of performance-enhancing drugs in sports?
• What are the differences between the support that female athletes receive and the
support received by male athletes?
Try to pose questions that will take you beyond “yes” or “no” answers, and remember
that no issue is black and white. Your job will be to investigate the nuances of the
issue. Focusing on questions such as these will allow you to begin narrowing down
your broad topic (sports, for example) into more specific ones (such as safety, or
salaries), while at the same time keeping your options open to argumentative
possibilities within your topic. Because you will also be including personal experience
in your argument, you’ll want to make sure that the topic is somehow relevant to you
personally.

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