LESSON 5.7
Prioritize Old Variable Ideas
In the Old Section, you are laying a foundation for reader understanding.
You now have at least five “A” ideas. If you do not have that many, then return to Lesson 5.6 and research more people and ideas.
Let’s say that you have the following ideas. Both variables have “New” ideas.
New Idea? | Possible Idea | Name |
X | White slavery | Florence Baker |
X | The Old West in 1820 | Jim Bridger |
X | Newly discovered ancient cities in the Amazon | Percy Fawcett |
X | Racism against Native American runners | Billy Mills |
X | The creation of Nike shoes | Steve Prefontaine |
X | The history of the marathon | Eliud Kipchoge |
Prioritize the Remaining Ideas
Make a decision tree for the remaining ideas. Once you learn the system, you will be able to do it in your head. But for now, we will do it on paper.
I need criteria that will help me make a decision. Good ones at this point are—
- Which “speech idea” do I like best?
- Which “speech idea” is my audience likely to like best?
- Which person do I like best?
- Which speech idea & person will likely be easiest to research and write about?
There are six ideas left. Therefore—
- There are six ideas. I thus will need seven rows.
- There are four criteria. I thus will need six columns
Since there are six ideas—
- I will prioritize them 1-6, which six being best and 1 being worst.
- I will go from one end of the numbering to the other. Thus, I first will choose the 6, then the 1, then the five, then the 2, then the 4, and the 3 is the last one.
Idea | Which “speech idea” do I like the best | Which “speech idea” does the reader likely like best? | Which person do I like the best? | Which person and “speech idea’ will likely be easiest to research and write about? | Total |
White Slavery/ Florence Baker | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 20 |
The Old West in 1820/Jim Bridger | 5 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 17 |
Amazon cities/ Percy Fawcett | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
Racism against Native American Runners/ Billy Mills | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 17 |
The creation of Nike shoes/ Steve Prefontaine | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 13 |
The history of the marathon/ Eliud Kipchoge | 1 | 1
| 3 | 2 | 7 |
Florence Baker is my winner, with Jim Bridger and Billy Mills tied for second.
