<p>Here is the topic...</p>
<p>what are ways Americans can seek to understand other countries, their customes and ways of life?</p>
<p>I have ideas but I just want another voice.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Well, what are your ideas? I would start with those and then make what I call a brain flowchart. I have no idea what they are actually called, but they work for me. I take a main idea and run with it, writing down anything that comes to mind on that subject. </p>
<p>For example, if I was writing an essay about slavery during the American Civil War, I would start with some big ideas. I would list out everything that even semi-relates to it. Slavery. Bondage. Abuse. Contrary to Northern idea of free-soil/free-labor. Part of King Cotton plantation idea. Source of political conflict. Should slavery expand to western territories? Quaker abolitionists. Lincoln. Garrison. Did the cottin gin give new life to slavery? Fugitive Slave Act. Missouri Compromise.</p>
<p>And so on. That gives me an idea of what I know and what I need to research. It also works as a brainstorming technique and gets me started on organizing my essay.</p>