If you don't have enough main ideas, you may want to do some rethinking. Here are five suggestions for how to think of more ideas about your subject.

Ask yourself these questions to get you started again:

Ø Who?

Who in my life has influenced me to consider becoming a teacher?

Ø What?

What do teachers do?

Ø When?

When did I start thinking about becoming a teacher?

Ø Where?

Where are teachers needed the most?

Ø Why?

Why would a person want to become a teacher? Why do I want to become a teacher?

Ø How? How much?

How does a teacher learn how to teach?

How has my idea of becoming a teacher changed over the years?

How much does a teacher influence her students? How much time does a teacher have to work outside of school?

Ø What if? Why not?

What if teachers do not have all of the materials they need?

Why teach in the classroom and not just over the Internet?

Talk to others about your topic

Lots of people are happy to share what they know. Take good notes because you may want to quote them in your essay.

Ø Other students in your school probably have opinions.

Ø A teacher who knows about the issue or subject could give you some opinions.

Ø Other people who are experts may have valuable information or opinions.

Ø Research your subject on the Internet or in a library.

Ø Send an e-mail to someone who may be an expert.

Think about the kind of writing that you are doing.

Consider the questions below to help you figure out which ideas you need to add or how you should arrange those ideas.

Ø Are you explaining how things are alike (comparison) and different (contrast)? You can use this purpose when you are describing something (such as how to teach primary school students compared to how to teach high school students) or when you are analyzing different viewpoints (such as whether or not children should go to school year-round).

Ø Are you putting your ideas in categories? You might be able to describe something in general and then describe its particular qualities. For example, you might want to talk about what it takes to be a good teacher and then talk about the unique qualities of a particular teacher you've had.

Ø Are you giving reasons to show how a problem developed and what the effects of the problem are? For example, if you were discussing how students' attitudes are affected by their environment, you might want first to describe what has caused a particular attitude to develop. Then you might want to discuss the effects of that attitude.

Ø Are you trying to convince someone to think like you or to do something that will improve a situation in the way that you want it to be improved? For example, if you are trying to persuade a friend to think about an issue the way you think about it, you might want to start by saying what the issue is and why your ideas are the best.

Start all over and see where you go this time in your writing!

Don't be afraid to start over. Lots of writers get new and better ideas when they write about something more than once.

Reread your draft.

Look at your previous draft and start where the writing is the most interesting or at the point that you think is your best statement.

Ø Try to write three more sentences to explain your best sentence.

Ø Look at the three new sentences, pick the best one, and write three more sentences that explain the most important idea in that best sentence.