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PREWRITING STRATEGIES
The term “pre-writing” conjures up a lot of strange activities and practices. You’ve probably tried many different prewriting strategies in the past, and may have a good idea of what works for you and what doesn’t. Keep in mind, that the KIND of writing project you’re working on can impact how effective a particular technique is to use in a given situation.
Some resources for additional prewriting activities are listed here.
FREEWRITING
Setting a goal for a short amount of time (5 minutes or 10 minutes are good options), just write anything that comes to
mind related to your topic. The goal is to not worry about what comes out of your pen, if handwriting, or keyboard, if typing. Instead, just free your mind to associate as it wishes. It’s amazingly productive for rich ideas, and it’s nice not to have to worry about spelling and grammar.
Additional information: About.com’s “How to FreeWrite”
LIST-MAKING
If you’re a list-maker by nature, there’s no reason not to harness that for academic writing purposes. Jot notes about major ideas related to the subject you’re working with. This also works well with a time limit, like 10 minutes. Bonus points–after you’ve had time to reflect on your list, you can rearrange it in hierarchical order, and create a basic outline quite simply.
Additional Information: Higher Awareness’s “List Making – Journaling Tool”
CLUSTERING
Also known as “mapping,” this is a more visual form of brainstorming. It asks you to come up with topic ideas, and draw lines to connect
ideas and figure out sub-categories and related ideas. You can end up with a quite extensive “bubble cloud” as a result. This also works well within a time limit, like 10 minutes.
Additional Information: Edudemic’s 5 Innovative Mind- Mapping Tools for Education
QUESTIONING
Click to enlarge
The way to find answers is to ask questions—seems simple enough. This applies to early-stage writing processes, just like everything else. When you have a topic in mind, asking and answering questions about it is a good way to figure out directions your writing might take.
Additional Information: Paradigm’s The Journalists’ Questions (7 pages) Other prewriting strategies exist. Do you have a favorite method?
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Licensing & Attributions CC licensed content, Shared previously Composition II. Authored by: Alexis McMillan-Clifton. Provided by: Tacoma Community College. Located at: http://www.tacomacc.edu. Project: Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative. License: CC BY: Attribution Image of list. Authored by: sunshinecity. Located at: https://flic.kr/p/2v76ZB. License: CC BY: Attribution Image of clustering. Authored by: Robyn Jay. Located at: https://flic.kr/p/9dZCyh. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike Public domain content Image of timer. Authored by: Pascal. Located at: https://flic.kr/p/6opKb8. License: Public Domain: No Known Copyright Image of questions. Provided by: Office for Emergency Management War Production Board. Located at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Where,_When,_Who,_What,_Why,_How%5E_-_NARA_-_534144.jpg. License: |
ASSESSMENT: 3 RESEARCH TOPIC IDEAS
In the group discussions recently you’ve been chatting about initial topic ideas. You’ve probably gotten a better idea of what you’d actually like to pursue, and perhaps even had new ideas in the meantime.
For this assignment, I’d like you to narrow your options down to 3. For each of these 3 potential research topics, draft a paragraph of exploration including the following:
- what the topic is, and why it appeals to you
- questions you have about the topic you didn’t already know the answers to
- an overview of some initial quick research you’ve done on the topic (Google & Wikipedia are fine for our purposes here), including at least one new discovery for you about the issue
- what you’d hope to be able to prove to your reader about this issue in a research essay about it
This is an informal assignment, though matters of proofreading and grammar are always helpful to check over before submitting.
These 3 topics can come straight from your list of 5 that you submitted to the weekly discussion, OR you can come up with 3 new ideas, or any combination of the two.
If you know for sure what topic you’d like to pursue for your essay, I’d still like to see three different potential sub- topics explored here. For instance, if you know you want to write about scuba diving, divide that into three directions you might then take: how scuba diving affects tourism, how scuba divers help or hurt natural underwater environments, what safety training scuba divers should have to complete for certification.
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A sample paragraph: I’d like to consider writing my essay about Cheezits, because I’m always snacking on them while I work on my online classwork. I didn’t really know who made them or how popular a snack food they were, beyond the fact that they are readily available in grocery stores. A Google search led me to the brand’s website, where I learned they were made by Sunshine, and had a variety called “Scrabble Junior” that I’d never seen before, with letters printed on each cracker. In an essay about Cheezits, I’d like to be able to prove to myself and my readers that these are a better cheese-flavored snack than other options available right now. |
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Licensing & Attributions CC licensed content, Shared previously Composition II. Authored by: Alexis McMillan-Clifton. Provided by: Tacoma Community College. Located at: http://www.tacomacc.edu. Project: Kaleidoscope Open Course Project. License: CC BY: Attribution |