In one sentence, describe what the following article is about: Writing is a process and the first part of the writing process is the invention stage. Invention helps you to generate ideas for your paper, book, poem, novel, article or whatever you are writing. Some people tend to skip this step even though it is one of the more important parts of the writing process, but that is a mistake. Not taking the time to explore your ideas can result in a low quality piece of writing. If you are having trouble getting started, then make sure that you complete at least one invention exercise before you begin a draft. However, completing more than one exercise is even more beneficial. Try starting with something to help you generate ideas, such as freewriting or listing and then move to something that will help you explore those ideas in more depth, such as clustering, questioning, or outlining. As you consider possible topics, make sure that you select something that is interesting to you. It is much easier to write about topics that interest you than topics that bore you. Get out a pen and a piece of paper or open a new document on your computer. Set a timer for 15 minutes and start writing! Write about anything that comes to mind and do not censor or correct yourself. Even if your mind is blank, write, "My mind is blank" over and over again until you think of something else to write. The most important thing is to keep writing for 15 minutes. When you are finished, look over what you have written to see what you have written. You can then take the most useful sections and expand on these in another timed freewrite. Keep in mind that a freewriting exercise should not be used as a first draft for a paper. Freewriting is a way to generate ideas and the results are often disorganized and chaotic, so submitting a free write as a first draft may result in a bad grade. Listing can help you to explore possible topics for writing. To use listing, take out a pen and paper or open a new document on your computer and list as many different topic ideas as you can. As with freewriting, do not censor or correct yourself. Add whatever comes to your mind to the list. For example, for a research paper assignment in a composition class, you might write down things like, vertical farming, farm animal welfare, crop rotation, etc. After you have finished your list, identify a few topics that stand out to you and explore these as possible topics for your writing project. Consider how well the topic matches the assignment guidelines, how interested you are in the topic, and how you might refine the topic to suit your needs. When you have chosen a topic, you may also want to do a freewrite on the topic to help you generate ideas and figure out what you already know about the topic. Clustering or mind mapping can help you to explore a topic in more depth, draw connections, and begin to decide how to organize your ideas. Your completed cluster web will look like lots of circles connected by lines. To create a cluster, take out a piece of paper and draw a circle in the center. Then, write your topic in the center of this circle. Next, draw a line extending out from the circle and draw another circle at the end of it. In this circle, write down a sub-topic of your main topic. Continue adding lines extending from your central circle as well as from smaller circles connected to the center circle to build connections among these ideas. Questioning is another good invention strategy that can also help you to test your topic. Try using "Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?" to determine if your topic idea is worth writing about and to develop ideas on your topic. Consider your topic and then respond in writing to the following questions: Who is affected by this topic? What are the key issues associated with this topic? When did this issue start? Where is the issue occurring? Why is this happening? How can we fix the problem? Talking about your topic ideas with someone can also help you to test them out and explore what you already know. Talking about your ideas with a friend or teacher can also help you to come up with perspectives or ways of approaching the topic that you had not considered. If you are writing a paper for a course, schedule an appointment with your teacher or professor. You can say something like, "I have some ideas for the next paper and I was hoping to run them by you and see what you think. Are you available to meet before or after class sometime?" . Once you have some ideas, you can begin organizing them with an outline. For short papers, you can outline each paragraph individually. For longer works, write out short descriptions of events and organize them according to when they will come in your story. Draw character maps that show how people in the story interact with or feel about each other. Keep in mind that an outline can be as detailed or as scant as you want it to be. For example, you can include a bullet point with a topic sentence for every paragraph with sub-bullets for ideas that you will discuss in the paragraphs, or you can just list the ideas you will discuss in the order that you will discuss them.
Summary: Take time for invention exercises. Freewrite for 15 minutes. Make a list. Create a cluster web. Ask questions. Talk to someone about your ideas. Outline your ideas

In order to expedite the contact importing process from within your chosen IM service, you'll need to update your phonebook with your friends' IM names. For efficiency's sake, text your friends this inquiry--you'll be entering their IM names into your contact list later. You'll need to update your current contacts with their IM usernames. On Android, you'll do this from the Google Contacts Manager by default; for iOS platforms, tap the "Contacts" app to access your contacts. This should be a contact whom you wish to add to your IM database. On both iOS and Android platforms, there is a space on each contact's card for IM names; on iPhones, this option is under the "Edit" setting, labelled "add instant message". For Android, you'll need to navigate to your pertinent contact-managing app and go into each contact's settings in order to add IM usernames.
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One-sentence summary -- Ask friends for their IM names. Open your phone's contact list. Open a contact's settings. Add your contact's IM name(s).

Problem: Article: This is a common myth held by students. Particularly if you're a slow reader, you may find it more effective to read the beginning and end of the chapter, along with pull-outs (information placed in a box, graph, or other attention-grabbing area on the page) and anything bolded or italicized in the text. Another common mistake students make is to read their textbook once and then never look at it again. A better strategy is to practice layered reading. On your first read-through, skim the material. Determine what the main idea or goal of the text is (often signaled by the chapter title and subheadings), and mark any places that you didn't feel as though you understood well. Read headings, subheadings, and other organizational elements. Textbook authors often construct their chapters so that it is very clear what the goal of each section is. Use this to your advantage. Read for more detail in later readings. Sometimes, students will just move their eyes along the page again and again and feel like they're not getting anything from their "reading." Reading is an active process: you need to be engaged, paying attention, and thinking about what you read. While it's tempting to break out the rainbow of highlighters when you read through a chapter, avoid this temptation. Research has shown that highlighting actually can hamper your reading because you may feel tempted to highlight every single thing you feel is important without thinking critically about the ideas presented. If you must highlight, wait until you've completed your first read-through, and use the highlighter sparingly to point out only the most important ideas. It can be tempting to just read past words or elements you don't understand in an effort to "just get it done." This actually damages comprehension. If a dense textbook on Marxist economics has terms that you don't initially understand, don't just read on: stop what you're doing, look up the word, and understand it before continuing.
Summary:
Understand that you do not have to read every single word. Plan to read more than once. Understand that reading is not the same as studying. Know that highlighting is not ideal for first-time reading. Understand that you may need to look things up while reading.