2. The Prewriting: Exploring and Planning

3. Step One of The Writing Process: Exploring and Planning

4. THERE ARE SIX PREWRITING STRATEGIES  Freewriting  Brainstorming  Clustering  Cubing  Using Journalist’s Questions  Outlining

5. We will be discussing...

6. BRAINSTORMING To help discover ideas and the relationships among them, many writers find it useful to brainstorm. Brainstorming is making a list of everything that comes to mind about a subject.

7. GUIDELINES FOR BRAINSTORMING

8. GUIDELINE #1 (random list)  Write a list of everything you can think of related to a particular topic: ä ideas ä experiences ä examples ä associations

9. DON’T be concerned about the order of ideas or how important they seem.

10. GUIDELINE #2 (grouped list)  Read through your random list and look for patterns.  Try to make connections among items by grouping them into categories.  Then put an asterisk (*) next to the ideas that seem the most interesting or important.

11. EXAMPLES  Following is an example of someone’s brainstorming the topic of culture shock.

12. EXAMPLE #1  Culture Shock (random list) ä homesick, lonely ä symptoms: physical (upset stomach) and emotional (boredom, depression) ä language difficulty ä different values ä criticizing the new culture

13. EXAMPLE #2  Culture Shock (grouped list) ä CAUSES OF CULTURE SHOCK –homesick, lonely –*different values ä EFFECTS OF CULTURE SHOCK –symptoms: physical (upset stomach) and emotional (boredom, depression) –*criticizing the new culture

14. NOW YOU TRY IT! Write your own “Random List” Review Example #1

15. EXAMPLE #1  Culture Shock (random list) ä homesick, lonely ä symptoms: physical (upset stomach) and emotional (boredom, depression) ä language difficulty ä different values ä criticizing the new culture

16. NOW YOU TRY IT! Write your own “Grouped List” Review Example #2

17. EXAMPLE #2  Culture Shock (grouped list) ä CAUSES OF CULTURE SHOCK –homesick, lonely –*different values ä EFFECTS OF CULTURE SHOCK –symptoms: physical (upset stomach) and emotional (boredom, depression) –*criticizing the new culture

18. GUIDELINE #3 (Final Thought)  After brainstorming your topic, you might want to explore a particular aspect of it further by using one of the other five prewriting strategies:

19. PREWRITING STRATEGIES 1 FREEWRITING 2 CLUSTERING 3 CUBING 4 JOURNALIST’S QUESTIONS 5 OUTLINING

20. THE WRITING PROCESS: EXPLORING AND PLANNING  Good job!  You are well on your way to writing an excellent essay.  Keep up the good work as you continue your journey through the writing process.

21. THE END Information for this fabulous presentation was taken from: New Directions:An Integrated Approach to Reading, Writing, and Critical Thinking Peter S. Gardner