English 101
Problem/Solution Worksheet
Due Thursday, 10/30
10 points
Instructions: Answer the following questions. You can fill out this sheet of paper by hand, or
access the online version and type in it, printing it out to bring to turn in.
1. What is the problem and your proposed solution?
2. How do you know about this problem? What is your connection to it? (This should be a
problem that you know well, that involves a community or group that you are personally
part of.)
3. What makes you a trustworthy resource? Why should your audience trust what you say
about this problem and about your proposed solution?
4. Describe the group of people you are writing for: Who is this group of people? What
values do these readers/people hold? What do these readers/people know about the
problem? What kind of personal or emotional responses might the readers/ people have to
this problem and proposed solution?
5. What objections might the audience have to this proposed solution?
(over)
6. Describe the publication (newspaper, magazine, newsletter, website, etc) that you are
writing for. For example, maybe it’s a community newsletter and you are writing an
article for it. Describe the requirements of the form you have chosen, if any, and explain
how this publication is distributed or displayed.
7. How will you have to adjust your writing style—your sentences, your tone, your
vocabulary—to suit this audience and this publication?
8. How might this problem and the solution you provide be relevant to people outside this
community? How might others outside the community learn from this? Can the method
of solving the problem be applied to other situations?