Prewriting STARTING YOUR PAPER COPYRIGHT LISA MCNEILLEY, 2010

Value of Prewriting Only takes a little time Allows you to approach your paper with the confidence that you have enough to say Helps avoid problems Writing a paper without enough information, Writing a paper without a plan, Writing a paper and realizing too late that it won’t suit the assignment.

Techniques Eventually choose your favorite, but try as many as possible, including Brainstorming Clustering Free writing Asking Questions Creating a Sensory Image

Brainstorming Generate a list of ideas. Turn off your internal critic. List ideas in any order. There are no bad ideas. Sometimes one not-so-good idea will lead your mind to a great idea.

After Brainstorming Select what works, and omit what doesn’t. Group related ideas. A strategy that works well is to color code ideas, so that one group of related ideas is green, another blue, etc. Write a topic sentence for each group of ideas. Put that topic sentence at the top of a page Do additional brainstorming on each subtopic until you have generated enough to offer substance in your paper.

Clustering Clustering is a way of listing ideas and keeping related ideas together. Start with a core idea—the topic of your paper—at the center of the page and branch out into groups of related ideas. Take the central idea of each branch and start a new cluster to develop each idea in more depth.

After Clustering Review your clusters and eliminate those that don’t work. Decide on an order for the clusters. Each cluster will become a subtopic for your paper, so write a topic sentence for each.

Free writing Write down any ideas you have about your topic as they come to you for a designated time (about minutes). If you come to a point where you don’t have more to say, keep repeating a word or phrase until a new idea occurs to you. Just keep writing.

After Free Writing Review your text and highlight key ideas. Take each of those ideas and put them at the top of a new page and free write for 10 minutes on each. Then use color coding to highlight related ideas. Group the related ideas and develop topic sentences that will correspond to the points in your outline.

Asking Questions Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? These make a good starting point for any writing. Generate a list of questions you would like to know about your topic. Then write a list of questions that a reader will need answered.

After Asking Questions Remember, though, it is not enough to ask the questions; you have to do the research and thinking to answer them in your paper. Choose what answers you will incorporate into your paper. Organize the answers to fit your outline.

Creating a Sensory Image Your goal is to show your topic to make it more true for a reader and to get your reader emotionally involved. Imagine yourself in the situation you are describing. Take an inventory of your senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch— and your sixth sense, emotion.

After Creating a Sensory Image You will probably generate more detail than you need. Once you have generated as much material as possible, you can select what you will actually use. Look for patterns and determine a purpose or overall effect that you want to achieve.

After Creating a Sensory Image You should select details that enhance your purpose and eliminate those that detract or distract from them. Organize your points to fit your outline.

Tips as You Finish Generate more ideas than you need to have a lot to choose from. Use your prewriting to direct you to a thesis. Use this as an opportunity to look at your topic from different angles and to make new connections.

Tips as You Finish Group related ideas into subtopics that you can use in your outline. Return to prewriting activities if you run out of ideas as you are drafting.