My name is Sara and I am here to guide you to write your Ford Driving Dreams Essay and to make sure you put your best foot forward when writing your piece. Watching my videos will help you put your ambitions, thoughts and dreams on paper, which will also place you in the FDD scholarship contest. Keep in mind that the essay you prepare cannot exceed 500 words.

To start writing your piece, you need to brainstorm your thoughts, then organize them accordingly, with respect to the most important and realistic ambitions. Following this step-by-step process, you will be on your way to prepare a clear, well-structured outline for your essay’s contents.

Before you start, here is what to pay attention to when writing your essay:

• Tell us about your dream

• How will your dream positively impact others?

• What inspires your dream?

• Is there something you hope to achieve this school year to get you closer to your dream?

Going back to preparing the outline, here are the 3 steps to help you prepare:

1. Brainstorming: Brainstorming is the shortcut to good writing. The main concept behind brainstorming is to think loudly, so grab a piece of paper and start jotting down your main idea. Next, branch out from your preliminary idea and write down all the things that resulted in this dream. Maybe a problem in the world you wanted to solve, a role model you look up to and want to imitate, or any other inspirations or inklings that come to mind. Having all your thoughts in front of you will enable you to clear your mind and organize your thoughts.

2. Organizing your dreams: Once you have completed your brainstorming session, you will begin the process of elimination (POE). Cross out those ideas you wrote in step 1 that might be superfluous or perhaps unnecessary details. When considering which points you should include in your essay, put yourself in an outsider’s shoes: what seems interesting and original, versus what seems irrelevant or confusing? What makes your dream, your path, and your inspirations stand out from the crowd? This will give you a better idea of what should be used. There are also several other methods you can use to organize your ideas, such as Associative Brainstorming Techniques, Mind Maps and Word Association. Let us take a look at these techniques and how to apply them:

   • Associative Brainstorming: Once you brainstorm your ideas, you can apply associative brainstorming techniques to develop new solutions and ideas for your concept (and/or points, problems, etc.). This process of gaining and expanding your perspective entails simply adding adjectives to the defined concept— by incorporating different descriptors, you discover new inspirations and possibilities you may not have identified before.

   • Mind Maps: A mind map is a diagram used to help organize your ideas in a visual way. The mind map is helpful when drawing connections between different parts and ideas and tying them to the whole concept.

   • Random Word Association/Brainstorming: This method requires you to choose a random word that is totally unrelated to your concept. Next, write down as many different things that are associated with your random word, particularly noting characteristics like appearance and functionality, even synonyms. This process helps you “think outside of the box” by prompting you to expand upon your original ideas by eliminating any mental constraints.

3. Outlining your essay: Taking the time to create an outline in the beginning of your writing process will significantly improve your efficiency when it comes time to put your final piece together. Think of it as a critical piece of the puzzle. An outline builds the structure of your paper; thus, preparing an outline is very important before you start writing. Your essay outline should include an introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Your outline should follow this format, so let’s get started:

• Introduction to the general idea of your dream/ambition:

  • State your dream, describe how it became your dream, describe the reasons and motives behind this dream, etc.

• Body Paragraphs:

  • Body Paragraph 1:

    • Explain how this became your dream

  • Body Paragraph 2:

    • Explain the reasons and motives behind this dream

  • Body Paragraph 3:

    • Explain how your dreams will positively impact others

• Conclusion

  • Explain your ideas and how you plan on pursuing (and achieving) your dream

Brainstorming and outlining skills can easily be enhanced if the steps mentioned earlier are followed and then modified accordingly to fit your needs.

After watching this video, to complete this unit please include the information requested below then advance to the next unit.