when writing an essay what's the first task in prewriting

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Prewriting Strategies

Five useful strategies.

Pre-writing strategies use writing to generate and clarify ideas. While many writers have traditionally created outlines before beginning writing, there are several other effective prewriting activities. We often call these prewriting strategies “brainstorming techniques.” Five useful strategies are listing, clustering, freewriting, looping, and asking the six journalists' questions. These strategies help you with both your invention and organization of ideas, and they can aid you in developing topics for your writing.

Listing is a process of producing a lot of information within a short time by generating some broad ideas and then building on those associations for more detail with a bullet point list. Listing is particularly useful if your starting topic is very broad, and you need to narrow it down.

• Jot down all the possible terms that emerge from the general topic you are working on. This procedure works especially well if you work in a team. All team members can generate ideas, with one member acting as scribe. Do not worry about editing or throwing out what might not be a good idea. Simply write down as many possibilities as you can.
• Group the items that you have listed according to arrangements that make sense to you. Are things thematically related?
• Give each group a label. Now you have a narrower topic with possible points of development.
• Write a sentence about the label you have given the group of ideas. Now you have a topic sentence or possibly a  thesis statement .

Clustering, also called mind mapping or idea mapping, is a strategy that allows you to explore the relationships between ideas.

• Put the subject in the center of a page. Circle or underline it.
• As you think of other ideas, write them on the page surrounding the central idea. Link the new ideas to the central circle with lines.
• As you think of ideas that relate to the new ideas, add to those in the same way.

The result will look like a web on your page. Locate clusters of interest to you, and use the terms you attached to the key ideas as departure points for your paper.

Clustering is especially useful in determining the relationship between ideas. You will be able to distinguish how the ideas fit together, especially where there is an abundance of ideas. Clustering your ideas lets you see them visually in a different way, so that you can more readily understand possible directions your paper may take.

Freewriting

Freewriting is a process of generating a lot of information by writing non-stop in full sentences for a predetermined amount of time. It allows you to focus on a specific topic but forces you to write so quickly that you are unable to edit any of your ideas.

• Freewrite on the assignment or general topic for five to ten minutes non-stop. Force yourself to continue writing even if nothing specific comes to mind (so you could end up writing “I don’t know what to write about” over and over until an idea pops into your head. This is okay; the important thing is that you do not stop writing). This freewriting will include many ideas; at this point, generating ideas is what is important, not the grammar or the spelling.
• After you have finished freewriting, look back over what you have written and highlight the most prominent and interesting ideas; then you can begin all over again, with a tighter focus (see looping). You will narrow your topic and, in the process, you will generate several relevant points about the topic.

Looping is a freewriting technique that allows you to focus your ideas continually while trying to discover a writing topic. After you freewrite for the first time, identify a key thought or idea in your writing, and begin to freewrite again, with that idea as your starting point. You will loop one 5-10 minute freewriting after another, so you have a sequence of freewritings, each more specific than the last. The same rules that apply to freewriting apply to looping: write quickly, do not edit, and do not stop.

Loop your freewriting as many times as necessary, circling another interesting topic, idea, phrase, or sentence each time. When you have finished four or five rounds of looping, you will begin to have specific information that indicates what you are thinking about a particular topic. You may even have the basis for a tentative thesis or an improved idea for an approach to your assignment when you have finished.

The Journalists' Questions

Journalists traditionally ask six questions when they are writing assignments that are broken down into five W's and one H:  Who? ,  What? ,  Where? ,  When? ,  Why? , and  How?  You can use these questions to explore the topic you are writing about for an assignment. A key to using the journalists' questions is to make them flexible enough to account for the specific details of your topic. For instance, if your topic is the rise and fall of the Puget Sound tides and its effect on salmon spawning, you may have very little to say about  Who  if your focus does not account for human involvement. On the other hand, some topics may be heavy on the  Who , especially if human involvement is a crucial part of the topic.

The journalists' questions are a powerful way to develop a great deal of information about a topic very quickly. Learning to ask the appropriate questions about a topic takes practice, however. At times during writing an assignment, you may wish to go back and ask the journalists' questions again to clarify important points that may be getting lost in your planning and drafting.

Possible generic questions you can ask using the six journalists' questions follow:

• Who? Who are the participants? Who is affected? Who are the primary actors? Who are the secondary actors?
• What? What is the topic? What is the significance of the topic? What is the basic problem? What are the issues related to that problem?
• Where? Where does the activity take place? Where does the problem or issue have its source? At what place is the cause or effect of the problem most visible?
• When? When is the issue most apparent? (in the past? present? future?) When did the issue or problem develop? What historical forces helped shape the problem or issue and at what point in time will the problem or issue culminate in a crisis? When is action needed to address the issue or problem?
• Why? Why did the issue or problem arise? Why is it (your topic) an issue or problem at all? Why did the issue or problem develop in the way that it did?
• How? How is the issue or problem significant? How can it be addressed? How does it affect the participants? How can the issue or problem be resolved?

The Prewriting Stage of the Writing Process

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The writing process consists of different stages: prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. Prewriting is the most important of these steps. Prewriting is the "generating ideas" part of the writing process when the student works to determine the topic and the position or point-of-view for a target audience. Pre-writing should be offered with the time necessary for a student to create a plan or develop an outline to organize materials for the final product.

Why Prewrite?

The pre-writing stage could also be dubbed the "talking stage" of writing. Researchers have determined that talking plays an important role in literacy. Andrew Wilkinson (1965) coined the phrase oracy, defining it as "the ability to express oneself coherently and to communicate freely with others by word of mouth." Wilkinson explained how oracy leads to increased skill in reading and writing. In other words, talking about a topic will improve the writing. This connection between talk and writing is best expressed by the author James Britton (1970) who stated: "talk is the sea upon which all else floats.”

Prewriting Methods

There are a number of ways that students can tackle the prewriting stage of the writing process. Following are a few of the most common methods and strategies that students can use. 

• Brainstorming - Brainstorming is the process of coming up with as many ideas as possible about a topic without being worried about the feasibility or whether an idea is realistic or not. A list format is often the easiest to organize. This can be done individually and then shared with the class or done as a group. Access to this list during the writing process can help students make connections they may want to use later in their writing.
• Freewriting - The free write strategy is when your students write whatever comes into their mind about the topic at hand for a specific amount of time, like 10 or 15 minutes. In a free write, students should not worry about grammar, punctuation, or spelling. Instead, they should try and come up with as many ideas as they possibly can to help them when they get to the writing process. 
• Mind Maps - Concept maps or mind-mapping are great strategies to use during the pre-writing stage. Both are visual ways to outline information. There are many varieties of mind maps that can be quite useful as students work in the prewriting stage. Webbing is a great tool that has students write a word in the middle of a sheet of paper. Related words or phrases are then connected by lines to this original word in the center. They build on the idea so that, in the end, the student has a wealth of ideas that are connected to this central idea. For example, if the topic for a paper were the role of the US President , the student would write this in the center of the paper. Then as they thought of each role that the president fulfills, they could write this down in a circle connected by a line to this original idea. From these terms, the student could then add supporting details. In the end, they would have a nice roadmap for an essay on this topic. 
• Drawing/Doodling - Some students respond well to the idea of being able to combine words with drawings as they think about what they want to write in the prewriting stage. This can open up creative lines of thought. 
• Asking Questions - Students often come up with more creative ideas through the use of questioning. For example, if the student has to write about Heathcliff's role in Wuthering Heights , they might begin by asking themselves some questions about him and the causes of his hatred. They might ask how a 'normal' person might react to better understand the depths of Heathcliff's malevolence. The point is that these questions can help the student uncover a deeper understanding of the topic before they begin writing the essay.
• Outlining - Students can employ traditional outlines to help them organize their thoughts in a logical manner. The student would start with the overall topic and then list out their ideas with supporting details. It is helpful to point out to students that the more detailed their outline is from the beginning, the easier it will be for them write their paper. 

Teachers should recognize that prewriting that begins in a "sea of talk" will engage students. Many students will find that combining a couple of these strategies may work well to provide them with a great basis for their final product. They may find that if they ask questions as they brainstorm, free write, mind-map, or doodle, they will organize their ideas for the topic. In short, the time put in up front in the pre-writing stage will make the writing stage much easier.

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Ai, ethics & human agency, collaboration, information literacy, writing process, prewriting – laying the foundation for successful writing.

Prewriting refers to all of the work you do before beginning to write. This article explores the dispositions and prewriting strategies writers employ to write more efficiently and with greater clarity and impact. Case studies, interviews, and observations of writers at work have found that prewriting involves balancing both intuitive, creative activities with critical, analytical strategies. For instance, during prewriting you are wise to listen your 'felt sense' - your embodied awareness of what you want to say. And, during prewriting, you are also wise to engage in more straightforward, cognitive processes such as engaging in outlining, drafting a document planner, or engaging in rhetorical analysis.

What is Prewriting?

Prewriting refers to

• a ll of the work a writer engages in BEFORE BEGINNING TO WRITE
• the first stage of the writing process
• a liminal space — the space between thinking about working on a project and actually beginning to write.

Writers have many ways of engaging in prewriting , based on their individual preferences and the discourse conventions of their audience . Interviews and case studies of writers @ work have found that during prewriting writers engage in a variety of dispositions and strategies :

Dispositions

• During prewriting, writers embrace intellectual openness . They interview stakeholders, consider counterarguments , and review the peer-reviewed literature on the topic
• During prewriting, writers adopt a growth mindset . They privilege the believing game over the doubting game .
• Some writers believe the subconscious is a source of ideas, creativity and inspiration. Some believe dreams are a window into the subconscious.
• “When writers are given a topic , the topic itself evokes a felt sense in them. This topic calls forth images, words, ideas, and vague fuzzy feelings that are anchored in the writer’s body. What is elicited, then, is not solely the product of a mind but of a mind alive in a living, sensing body…..When writers pause, when they go back and repeat key words, what they seem to be doing is waiting, paying attention to what is still vague and unclear. They are looking to their felt experience, and waiting for an image, a word, a phrase to emerge that captures the sense they embody….Usually, when they make the decision to write, it is after they have a dawning awareness that something has clicked, that they have enough of a sense that if they begin with a few words heading in a certain direction, words will continue to come which will allow them to flesh out the sense they have” (Perl 1980, p. 365).
• Writers like to talk over an exigency , a problem , a call to write with trusted friends, peers, and mentors. In college, students like to brainstorm with one another to better understand a writing assignment or the needs of the audience, such as a manager or a client, before deciding to take it on as a writing project
• In interviews and memoirs, writers and artists report insatiable inquiry. They engage in informal research . They engage in strategic research in order to learn what is known about the topic creative play.
• Writers may engage in meditation to help slow down. They may need to turn off their phones and computers to reach the state of calmness and focus necessary to begin thinking about a writing project.
• Writers like to procrastinate. Sometimes writers need to set a call to write aside. They need to let an idea simmer on the back burner. They may sleep on it.
• Some creative people track and interpret their dreams. They say this helps them interpret their dreams for insights, reoccurring narratives, and solutions to problems they face during waking hours.
• Writers may engage in extensive strategic searching in order to identify the status “ conversation ” on a particular topic . Writers may freewrite to see where their thoughts lead them.

The terms planning , prewriting , and invention are sometimes used interchangeably, yet they each carry distinct meanings:

• Prewriting is a subset of planning, focusing more on the initial stages of idea generation, brainstorming, and exploration of thoughts before formal writing begins
• Planning typically refers to the overall process of organizing ideas and structuring a writing piece, encompassing the selection of topics, determination of purpose, and arrangement of content 
• Invention is often associated specifically with the creative aspect of prewriting , where writers devise innovative ideas, concepts, and arguments. 

Related Concepts: Document Planner ; Intellectual Openness ; Mindset ; Resilience ; Rhetorical Analysis ; Self-Regulation & Metacognition

Why Does Prewriting Matter?

• Prewriting helps clarify and refine the central theme or argument of the piece.
• During prewriting, writers have the freedom to explore different angles and perspectives . This creative exploration can lead to more original and engaging content.
• By outlining the main ideas during prewriting, writers can determine what additional research or information is needed, making their research efforts more focused and efficient.
• Engaging in prewriting activities like brainstorming or free writing can help overcome writer’s block by getting ideas flowing and reducing the pressure of creating perfect content from the start .
• Prewriting helps in structuring thoughts and ideas, leading to a more organized and coherent draft. This organization is crucial for the logical flow of the final piece.
• During prewriting, writers can consider their audience’s needs and expectations , tailoring the content to be more relevant and engaging for the intended readers.
• Prewriting sets a solid foundation for the first draft, ensuring that the writing process starts with a clear direction and purpose.
• With a clear outline or plan from the prewriting stage, the actual writing process becomes more efficient, as the writer has a clear roadmap to follow.
• Prewriting gives writers a chance to reflect on their topic, assess their knowledge and opinions , and evaluate the potential impact of their writing.

Is Prewriting Always Necessary?

No. Writers differ in how frequently or deeply they engage in prewriting. Some people prefer to jump immediately into composing . They don’t pause to reflect on the rhetorical situation . They don’t want to conduct a literature review. Instead, they want to immediately dive in and spark the creative process by freewriting , visual brainstorming , and other creative heuristics .

In contrast, other writers prefer to engage significant prewriting: they question

• What’s known about a topic ? what’s novel? what knowledge claims are currently being disputed?
• What does peer-reviewed literature say about the topic?
• Do I need to engage in empirical research? What methods are expected by the discourse community?
• What informal, background research needs to be done in order to prepare to write?
• What’s the best way to organize the document? What common organizational patterns should I use to help the readers interpret the message?

What Is the Difference Between Planning, Prewriting & Invention?

The terms planning , prewriting , and invention may be used used interchangeably because they are such intertwined processes, yet they each carry distinct meanings:

• Planning typically refers to the overall process of organizing ideas and structuring a writing piece , encompassing the selection of topics , determination of purpose , and arrangement of content.  It typically encompasses tools such as Team Charters and usage of project management software . While prewriting and invention may involve more creative and exploratory activities, planning is focused on setting a clear direction and framework for the writing.
• Prewriting is a subset of planning , focusing more on the initial stages of idea generation, brainstorming, and exploration of thoughts before formal writing begins. Prewriting is more expansive and free-form than planning, allowing for a broader exploration of thoughts and concepts. In comparison to invention, prewriting is less about generating new ideas and more about exploring and organizing existing ideas in preparation for writing.
• Invention in writing refers to the process of generating new ideas, concepts, or perspectives. Invention is distinct from planning and prewriting in that it is focused primarily on creating something new, rather than organizing or setting objectives for existing ideas.

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II. Getting Started

2.4 Prewriting

Kathryn Crowther; Lauren Curtright; Nancy Gilbert; Barbara Hall; Tracienne Ravita; Kirk Swenson; and Terri Pantuso

Loosely defined, prewriting includes all the writing strategies employed before writing your first draft. Although many more prewriting strategies exist, the following section covers using experience and observations, reading, freewriting, asking questions, listing, and clustering/idea mapping. Using the strategies in the following section can help you overcome the fear of the blank page and confidently begin the writing process.

Choosing a Topic

In addition to understanding that writing is a process , writers also understand that choosing a good general topic for an assignment is an essential first step. Sometimes your instructor will give you an idea to begin an assignment, and other times your instructor will ask you to come up with a topic on your own. A good topic not only covers what an assignment will be about, but it also fits the assignment’s purpose and its audience .

In the next few sections, you will follow a writer named Mariah as she explores and develops her essay’s topic and focus. You will also be planning one of your own. The first important step is for you to tell yourself why you are writing (to inform, to explain, or some other purpose) and for whom you are writing. Write your purpose and your audience on your own sheet of paper, and keep the paper close by as you read and write the first draft.

Experience and Observations

When selecting a topic, you may want to consider something that interests you or something based on your own life and personal experiences. Even everyday observations can lead to interesting topics. After writers think about their experiences and observations, they often take notes on paper to better develop their thoughts. These notes help writers discover what they have to say about their topic.

Reading plays a vital role in all the stages of the writing process, but it first figures in the development of ideas and topics. Different kinds of documents can help you choose and develop a topic. For example, a magazine cover advertising the latest research on the threat of global warming may catch your eye in the supermarket. This subject may interest you, and you may consider global warming as a topic. Or maybe a novel’s courtroom drama sparks your curiosity of a particular lawsuit or legal controversy.

After you choose a topic, critical reading is essential to the development of a topic. While reading almost any document, you evaluate the author’s point of view by thinking about his main idea and his support. When you judge the author’s argument, you discover more about not only the author’s opinion but also your own. If this step already seems daunting , remember that even the best writers need to use prewriting strategies to generate ideas.

Prewriting strategies depend on your critical reading skills. Reading, prewriting and brainstorming exercises (and outlines and drafts later in the writing process) will further develop your topic and ideas. As you continue to follow the writing process, you will see how Mariah uses critical reading skills to assess her own prewriting exercises.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming refers to writing techniques used to:

• Generate topic ideas
• Transfer your abstract thoughts on a topic into more concrete ideas on paper (or digitally on a computer screen)
• Organize the ideas you have generated to discover a focus and develop a working thesis

Although brainstorming techniques can be helpful in all stages of the writing process, you will have to find the techniques that are most effective for your writing needs. The following general strategies can be used when initially deciding on a topic, or for narrowing the focus for a topic: freewriting , a sking questions , listing , and clustering/idea mapping .

In the initial stage of the writing process, it is fine if you choose a general topic. Later you can use brainstorming strategies to narrow the focus of the topic.

Freewriting

Freewriting is an exercise in which you write freely about any topic for a set amount of time (usually five to seven minutes). During the time limit, you may jot down any thoughts that come to your mind. Try not to worry about grammar, spelling, or punctuation. Instead, write as quickly as you can without stopping. If you get stuck, just copy the same word or phrase over and over again until you come up with a new thought.

Writing often comes easier when you have a personal connection with the topic you have chosen. Remember, to generate ideas in your freewriting, you may also think about readings that you have enjoyed or that have challenged your thinking. Doing this may lead your thoughts in interesting directions.

Quickly recording your thoughts on paper will help you discover what you have to say about a topic. When writing quickly, try not to doubt or question your ideas. Allow yourself to write freely and unselfconsciously. Once you start writing with few limitations, you may find you have more to say than you first realized. Your flow of thoughts can lead you to discover even more ideas about the topic. Freewriting may even lead you to discover another topic that excites you even more.

Look at Mariah’s example below. The instructor allowed the members of the class to choose their own topics, and Mariah thought about her experiences as a communications major. She used this freewriting exercise to help her generate more concrete ideas from her own experience.

Freewriting Example

Last semester my favorite class was about mass media. We got to study radio and television. People say we watch too much television, and even though I try not to, I end up watching a few reality shows just to relax. Everyone has to relax! It’s too hard to relax when something like the news (my husband watches all the time) is on because it’s too scary now. Too much bad news, not enough good news. News. Newspapers I don’t read as much anymore. I can get the headlines on my homepage when I check my email. Email could be considered mass media too these days. I used to go to the video store a few times a week before I started school, but now the only way I know what movies are current is to listen for the Oscar nominations. We have cable but we can’t afford movie channels, so I sometimes look at older movies late at night. UGH. A few of them get played again and again until you’re sick of them. My husband thinks I’m crazy, but sometimes there are old black-and-whites on from the 1930s and ‘40s. I could never live my life in black-and-white. I like the home decorating shows and love how people use color on their walls. Makes rooms look so bright. When we buy a home, if we ever can, I’ll use lots of color. Some of those shows even show you how to do major renovations by yourself. Knock down walls and everything. Not for me–or my husband. I’m handier than he is. I wonder if they could make a reality show about us?

Asking Questions

Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

In everyday situations, you pose these kinds of questions to get more information. Who will be my partner for the project? When is the next meeting? Why is my car making that odd noise? When faced with a writing assignment, you might ask yourself, “How do I begin?”

You seek the answers to these questions to gain knowledge, to better understand your daily experiences, and to plan for the future. Asking these types of questions will also help you with the writing process. As you choose your topic, answering these questions can help you revisit the ideas you already have and generate new ways to think about your topic. You may also discover aspects of the topic that are unfamiliar to you and that you would like to learn more about. All these idea-gathering techniques will help you plan for future work on your assignment.

When Mariah reread her freewriting notes, she found she had rambled and her thoughts were disjointed. She realized that the topic that interested her most was the one she started with, the media. She then decided to explore that topic by asking herself questions about it. Her purpose was to refine media into a topic she felt comfortable writing about. To see how asking questions can help you choose a topic, take a look at the following chart that Mariah completed to record her questions and answers. She asked herself the questions that reporters and journalists use to gather information for their stories. The questions are often called the 5WH questions, after their initial letters.

Asking Questions Example

Narrowing the Focus

After rereading her essay assignment, Mariah realized her general topic, mass media, is too broad for her class’s short paper requirement. Three pages are not enough to cover all the concerns in mass media today. Mariah also realized that although her readers are other communications majors who are interested in the topic, they might want to read a paper about a particular issue in mass media.

The prewriting techniques of brainstorming by freewriting and asking questions helped Mariah think more about her topic, but the following prewriting strategies can help her (and you) narrow the focus of the topic:

• Clustering/Idea Mapping

Narrowing the focus means breaking up the topic into subtopics, or more specific points. Generating lots of subtopics will help you eventually select the ones that fit the assignment and appeal to you and your audience.

Listing is a term often applied to describe any prewriting technique writers use to generate ideas on a topic, including freewriting and asking questions. You can make a list on your own or in a group with your classmates. Start with a blank sheet of paper (or a blank computer screen) and write your general topic across the top. Underneath your topic, make a list of more specific ideas. Think of your general topic as a broad category and the list items as things that fit in that category. Often you will find that one item can lead to the next, creating a flow of ideas that can help you narrow your focus to a more specific paper topic. The following is Mariah’s brainstorming list.

Mariah’s Brainstorming List

• Broadcasting
• Radio Television
• Gaming/Video Games
• Internet Cell Phones
• Smart Phones
• Text Messages
• Tiny Cameras

From this list, Mariah could narrow her focus to a particular technology under the broad category of “mass media.”

Idea Mapping

Idea mapping, sometimes called clustering or webbing, allows you to visualize your ideas on paper using circles, lines, and arrows. This technique is also known as clustering because ideas are broken down and clustered, or grouped, together. Many writers like this method because the shapes show how the ideas relate or connect, and writers can find a focused topic from the connections mapped. Using idea mapping, you might discover interesting connections between topics that you had not thought of before.

To create an idea map:

• Start by writing your general topic in a circle in the center of a blank sheet of paper. Moving out from the main circle, write down as many concepts and terms ideas you can think of related to your general topic in blank areas of the page. Jot down your ideas quickly–do not overthink your responses. Try to fill the page.
• Once you’ve filled the page, circle the concepts and terms that are relevant to your topic. Use lines or arrows to categorize and connect closely related ideas. Add and cluster as many ideas as you can think of.

To continue brainstorming, Mariah tried idea mapping. Review Mariah’s idea map in Figure 2.4.1. [1]

Mariah’s Idea Map

Notice Mariah’s largest circle contains her general topic, mass media. Then, the general topic branches into two subtopics written in two smaller circles: television and radio. The subtopic television branches into even more specific topics: cable and DVDs. From there, Mariah drew more circles and wrote more specific ideas: high definition and digital recording from cable and Blu-ray from DVDs. The radio topic led Mariah to draw connections between music, downloads versus CDs, and, finally, piracy. From this idea map, Mariah saw she could consider narrowing the focus of her mass media topic to the more specific topic of music piracy.

Topic Checklist: Developing a Good Topic

• Am I interested in this topic?
• Would my audience be interested?
• Do I have prior knowledge or experience with this topic? If so, would I be comfortable exploring this topic and sharing my experience?
• Do I want to learn more about this topic?
• Is this topic specific?
• Does it fit the length of the assignment?

Prewriting strategies are a vital first step in the writing process. First, they help you choose a broad topic, and then they help you narrow the focus of the topic to a more specific idea. An effective topic ensures that you are ready for the next step: Developing a working thesis and planning the organization of your essay by creating an outline.

Purpose of an Outline

Once your topic has been chosen, your ideas have been generated through brainstorming techniques, and you’ve developed a working thesis, the next step in the prewriting stage might be to create an outline. Sometimes called a “blueprint,” or “plan” for your paper, an outline helps writers organize their thoughts and categorize the main points they wish to make in an order that makes sense.

The purpose of an outline is to help you organize your paper by checking to see if and how your ideas connect to each other, or whether you need to flesh out a point or two. No matter the length of the paper, from a three-page weekly assignment to a 50-page senior thesis , outlines can help you see the overall picture. Having an outline also helps prevent writers from “getting stuck” when writing the first draft of an essay.

A well-developed outline will show the essential elements of an essay:

• thesis of essay
• main idea of each body paragraph
• evidence/support offered in each paragraph to substantiate the main points

A well-developed outline breaks down the parts of your thesis in a clear, hierarchical manner. Writing an outline before beginning an essay helps the writer organize ideas generated through brainstorming and/or research. In short, a well-developed outline makes your paper easier to write.

The formatting of any outline is not arbitrary ; the system of formatting and number/letter designations creates a visual hierarchy of the ideas, or points, being made in the essay. Major points, in other words, should not be buried in subtopic levels.

Outlines can also be used for revision , oftentimes referred to as backwards, or reverse, outlines. When using an outline for revision purposes, you can identify issues with organization or even find new directions in which to take your essay.

Creating an Outline

• Identify your topic. Put the topic in your own words with a single sentence or phrase to help you stay on topic.
• Determine your main points. What are the main points you want to make to convince your audience? Refer back to the prewriting/brainstorming exercise of answering 5WH questions: “why or how is the main topic important?” Using your brainstorming notes, you should be able to create a working thesis .
• List your main points/ideas in a logical order. You can always change the order later as you evaluate your outline.
• Create sub-points for each major idea. Typically, each time you have a new number or letter, there needs to be at least two points (i.e. if you have an A, you need a B; if you have a 1, you need a 2; etc.). Though perhaps frustrating at first, it is indeed useful because it forces you to think hard about each point. If you can’t create two points, then reconsider including the first in your paper, as it may be extraneous information that may detract from your argument.
• Evaluate. Review your organizational plan, your blueprint for your paper. Does each paragraph have a controlling idea/topic sentence? Is each point adequately supported? Look over what you have written. Does it make logical sense? Is each point suitably fleshed out? Is there anything included that is unnecessary?

Sample Outline

Thesis: Moving college courses to an asynchronous online environment is an effective way of preventing the spread of COVID-19 and offers more students the opportunity to participate.

• Students don’t have to be on-campus, avoiding high-contact living situations
• Students don’t have to travel, avoiding buses and other high-contact travel environments
• Students don’t have to sit in lecture halls, avoiding extended indoor exposure
• Students complete group work via chat rooms or online platforms.
• Students don’t have to touch shared seating, doors, etc.
• Students don’t have to share lab equipment or other materials
• This affords students the ability to complete coursework around a job schedule.
• This format is often family-friendly for those who have children or other familial responsibilities.
• Students may be at high risk or have family members who are high risk
• The reduced exposure of an online environment allows these students to participate without increasing their risk

This section contains material from:

Crowther, Kathryn, Lauren Curtright, Nancy Gilbert, Barbara Hall, Tracienne Ravita, and Kirk Swenson. Successful College Composition . 2nd edition. Book 8. Georgia: English Open Textbooks, 2016. http://oer.galileo.usg.edu/english-textbooks/8 . Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License .

• “Mariah’s Idea Map” was derived by Brandi Gomez from an image in: Kathryn Crowther et al, Successful College Composition, 2nd ed. Book 8. (Georgia: English Open Textbooks, 2016),   http://oer.galileo.usg.edu/english-textbooks/8 . Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License . ↵

The method or operation by which something is done or accomplished; a series of continuous actions that result in the achievement of a goal. The writing process refers to the sequence of steps that result in an essay, research paper, or other piece of writing.

The person or group of people who view and analyze the work of a writer, researcher, or other content creator.

Necessary or critical for existence; indispensable or integral.

Intimidating, threatening, or fear-inducing.

To present or put forward an idea.

A statement, usually one sentence, that summarizes an argument that will later be explained, expanded upon, and developed in a longer essay or research paper. In undergraduate writing, a thesis statement is often found in the introductory paragraph of an essay. The plural of thesis is theses .

A lengthy research paper written as part of a graduation requirement for someone who is close to completing their undergraduate requirements for their major and is in their final year of undergraduate study. Like a master’s thesis or a doctoral dissertation, a senior thesis is written to demonstrate mastery over specific subject matter.

The essence of something; those things that compose the foundational elements of a thing; the basics.

Justify, affirm, or corroborate; to show evidence of; to back up a statement, idea, or argument.

A system involving rank. Hierarchical refers to a system that involves a hierarchy. For example, the military is a hierarchical system in which some people outrank others.

To be subject to the judgment of a whim, chance, or personal preference; the opposite of a standardized law, regulation, or rule.

An altered version of  a written work. Revising means to rewrite in order to improve and make corrections. Unlike editing, which involves minor changes, revisions include major and noticeable changes to a written work.

Irrelevant, unneeded, or unnecessary.

Occurring at a different time; not occurring at the same time; asynchronous learning refers to work that can be done by a student independently without real-time interaction or guidance from an instructor.

2.4 Prewriting Copyright © 2022 by Kathryn Crowther; Lauren Curtright; Nancy Gilbert; Barbara Hall; Tracienne Ravita; Kirk Swenson; and Terri Pantuso is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

An Overview of Academic Writing, Planning, and Prewriting

It can be tempting to dive into an essay immediately without taking the time to really think through what you are writing about and why you might be doing so. This can lead to essays that lack coherence and veer off topic, and not having an organized prewriting process can also create quite a bit of stress for the writer. The quality of writing without prewriting is often inconsistent, as the writer becomes trapped in simply writing and hoping that their initial instincts have set them on the correct course. As you move into your professional life, you will need to adopt a writing process that is consistent, creates effective papers, and, perhaps most importantly, minimizes the stress and anxiety that can come along with any writing endeavor.

Prewriting activities might be intimidating, especially if you have never spent much time on them in the past. However, an effective prewriting process, while perhaps requiring some additional time at the outset, will save you quite a bit of time and stress in the long run. The ideas covered in this chapter will help you map out your paper and consider how your intended audience might affect its structure, tone, and content. In doing so, it will help you escape the “writing and hoping” trap.

We Will Begin Our Journey By Exploring Basic Prewriting Concepts

Read through the following content on effective prewriting strategies, which has been adapted from Ann Inoshita, et al ‘s English Composition: Connect, Collaborate, Communicate. As you do so, try employing some of the strategies to plan out your papers for this course and beyond!

Prewriting is an essential activity for most writers. Through robust prewriting, writers generate ideas, explore directions, and find their way into their writing. When students attempt to write an essay without developing their ideas, strategizing their desired structure, and focusing on precision with words and phrases, they can end up with a “premature draft”—one that is more writer-based than reader-based and, thus, might not be received by readers in the way the writer intended.

In addition, a lack of prewriting can cause students to experience writer’s block. Writer’s block is the feeling of being stuck when faced with a writing task. It is often caused by fear, anxiety, or a tendency toward perfectionism, but it can be overcome through prewriting activities that allow writers to relax, catch their breath, gather ideas, and gain momentum.

The following exist as the goals of prewriting:

• Contemplating the many possible ideas worth writing about.
• Developing ideas through brainstorming, freewriting, and focused writing.
• Planning the structure of the essay overall so as to have a solid introduction, meaningful body paragraphs, and a purposeful conclusion.

Discovering and Developing Ideas

Quick prewriting activities.

Quick strategies for developing ideas include brainstorming, freewriting, and focused writing. These activities are done quickly, with a sense of freedom, while writers silence their inner critic. In her book Wild Mind , teacher and writer Natalie Goldberg describes this freedom as the “creator hand” freely allowing thoughts to flow onto the page while the “editor hand” remains silent. Sometimes, these techniques are done in a timed situation (usually two to ten minutes), which allows writers to get through the shallow thoughts and dive deeper to access the depths of the mind.

Brainstorming begins with writing down or typing a few words and then filling the page with words and ideas that are related or that seem important without allowing the inner critic to tell the writer if these ideas are acceptable or not. Writers do this quickly and without too much contemplation. Students will know when they are succeeding because the lists are made without stopping.

Freewriting is the “most effective way” to improve one’s writing, according to Peter Elbow, the educator and writer who first coined the term “freewriting” in pivotal book Writing Without Teachers , published in 1973. Freewriting is a great technique for loosening up the writing muscle. To freewrite, writers must silence the inner critic and the “editor hand” and allow the “creator hand” a specified amount of time (usually from 10 to 20 minutes) to write nonstop about whatever comes to mind. The goal is to keep the hand moving, the mind contemplating, and the individual writing. If writers feel stuck, they just keep writing “I don’t know what to write” until new ideas form and develop in the mind and flow onto the page.

Focused freewriting entails writing freely—and without stopping, during a limited time—about a specific topic. Once writers are relaxed and exploring freely, they may be surprised about the ideas that emerge.

Operation Beat Writer’s Block: Brainstorming

Let’s start with a basic brainstorming activity.

• Watch the following video from Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) and think about what makes brainstorming an essential prewriting activity. What are some of the potential costs of not brainstorming?
• Don’t have a topic yet or need to think through things more before you attempt the mind map? Try the brainstorming exercise embedded in the video itself (at the 1:50 mark).

Next Step: Create a Mind Map to Visualize Your Essay

Mind mapping is an early stage prewriting strategy that you can use to help generate ideas for an essay. It lets you visually map out an essay and then organize and expand these loose ideas into an increasingly coherent and nuanced project. As the following video will demonstrate, mind maps can take a variety of forms, but regardless of what your map looks like, mind maps offer an invaluable way to move past writer’s block and let your ideas flow.

• Watch the following video from Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) on mind mapping and free writing.
• When you’ve finished, use the template that follows to map out your essay! Don’t have a topic yet? Try the exercise embedded in the video itself.

Use This Mind Mapping Template to Map Out Your Paper!

Click Here to Download the PDF

Template Created by Scott Ortolano

Researching

Unlike quick prewriting activities, researching is best done slowly and methodically and, depending on the project, can take a considerable amount of time. Researching is exciting, as students activate their curiosity and learn about the topic, developing ideas about the direction of their writing. The goal of researching is to gain background understanding on a topic and to check one’s original ideas against those of experts. However, it is important for the writer to be aware that the process of conducting research can become a trap for procrastinators. Students often feel like researching a topic is the same as doing the assignment, but it’s not.

The two aspects of researching that are often misunderstood are as follows:

• Writers start the research process too late so the information they find never really becomes their own setting themselves up for way more quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing the words of others than is appropriate for the 70% one’s own words and 30% the words of others ratio necessary for college-level research-based writing.
• Writers become so involved in the research process that they don’t start the actual writing process soon enough so as to meet a due date with a well written, edited, and revised finished composition.

Being thoughtful about limiting one’s research time—and using a planner of some sort to organize one’s schedule—is a way to keep oneself from starting the research process too late to

See Part V of this book for more information about researching.

Audience and Purpose

It’s important that writers identify the audience and the purpose of a piece of writing. To whom is the writer communicating? Why is the writer writing? Students often say they are writing for whomever is grading their work at the end. However, most students will be sharing their writing with peers and reviewers (e.g., writing tutors, peer mentors). The audience of any piece of college writing is, at the very minimum, the class as a whole. As such, it’s important for the writer to consider the expertise of the readers, which includes their peers and professors). There are even broader applications. For example, students could even send their college writing to a newspaper or a legislator, or share it online for the purpose of informing or persuading decision-makers to make changes to improve the community. Good writers know their audience and maintain a purpose to mindfully help and intentionally shape their essays for meaning and impact. Students should think beyond their classroom and about how their writing could have an impact on their campus community, their neighborhood, and the wider world.

Planning the Structure of an Essay

Planning based on audience and purpose.

Identifying the target audience and purpose of an essay is a critical part of planning the structure and techniques that are best to use. It’s important to consider the following:

• Is the the purpose of the essay to educate, announce, entertain, or persuade?
• Who might be interested in the topic of the essay?
• Who would be impacted by the essay or the information within it?
• What does the reader know about this topic?
• What does the reader need to know in order to understand the essay’s points?
• What kind of hook is necessary to engage the readers and their interest?
• What level of language is required? Words that are too subject-specific may make the writing difficult to grasp for readers unfamiliar with the topic.
• What is an appropriate tone for the topic? A humorous tone that is suitable for an autobiographical, narrative essay may not work for a more serious, persuasive essay.

Hint: Answers to these questions help the writer to make clear decisions about diction (i.e., the choice of words and phrases), form and organization, and the content of the essay.

Use Audience and Purpose to Plan Language

In many classrooms, students may encounter the concept of language in terms of correct versus incorrect. However, this text approaches language from the perspective of appropriateness. Writers should consider that there are different types of communities, each of which may have different perspectives about what is “appropriate language” and each of which may follow different rules, as John Swales discussed in “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Essentially, Swales defines discourse communities as “groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals.”

Writers (and readers) may be more familiar with a home community that uses a different language than the language valued by the academic community. For example, many people in Hawai‘i speak Hawai‘i Creole English (HCE colloquially regarded as “Pidgin”), which is different from academic English. This does not mean that one language is better than another or that one community is homogeneous in terms of language use; most people “code-switch” from one “code” (i.e., language or way of speaking) to another. It helps writers to be aware and to use an intersectional lens to understand that while a community may value certain language practices, there are several types of language practices within our community.

What language practices does the academic discourse community value? The goal of first-year-writing courses is to prepare students to write according to the conventions of academia and Standard American English (SAE). Understanding and adhering to the rules of a different discourse community does not mean that students need to replace or drop their own discourse. They may add to their language repertoire as education continues to transform their experiences with language, both spoken and written. In addition to the linguistic abilities they already possess, they should enhance their academic writing skills for personal growth in order to meet the demands of the working world and to enrich the various communities they belong to.

Use Techniques to Plan Structure

Before writing a first draft, writers find it helpful to begin organizing their ideas into chunks so that they (and readers) can efficiently follow the points as organized in an essay.

First, it’s important to decide whether to organize an essay (or even just a paragraph) according to one of the following:

• Chronological order (organized by time)
• Spatial order (organized by physical space from one end to the other)
• Prioritized order (organized by order of importance)

There are many ways to plan an essay’s overall structure, including mapping and outlining.

Mapping (which sometimes includes using a graphic organizer) involves organizing the relationships between the topic and other ideas. The following is example (from ReadWriteThink.org, 2013) of a graphic organizer that could be used to write a basic, persuasive essay:

Outlining is also an excellent way to plan how to organize an essay. Formal outlines use levels of notes, with Roman numerals for the top level, followed by capital letters, Arabic numerals, and lowercase letters. Here’s an example:

• Hook/Lead/Opener: According to the Leilani was shocked when a letter from Chicago said her “Aloha Poke” restaurant was infringing on a non-Hawaiian Midwest restaurant that had trademarked the words “aloha” (the Hawaiian word for love, compassion, mercy, and other things besides serving as a greeting) and “poke” (a Hawaiian dish of raw fish and seasonings).
• Background information about trademarks, the idea of language as property, the idea of cultural identity, and the question about who owns language and whether it can be owned.
• Thesis Statement (with the main point and previewing key or supporting points that become the topic sentences of the body paragraphs): While some business people use language and trademarks to turn a profit, the nation should consider that language cannot be owned by any one group or individual and that former (or current) imperialist and colonialist nations must consider the impact of their actions on culture and people groups, and legislators should bar the trademarking of non-English words for the good of internal peace of the country.
• Legislators should bar the trademarking of non-English words for the good and internal peace of the country.
• Conclusion ( Revisit the Hook/Lead/Opener, Restate the Thesis, End with a Twist— a strong more globalized statement about why this topic was important to write about)

Note about outlines: Informal outlines can be created using lists with or without bullets. What is important is that main and subpoint ideas are linked and identified.

• Use 10 minutes to freewrite with the goal to “empty your cup”—writing about whatever is on your mind or blocking your attention on your classes, job, or family. This can be a great way to help you become centered, calm, or focused, especially when dealing with emotional challenges in your life.
• For each writing assignment in class, spend three 10-minute sessions either listing (brainstorming) or focused-writing about the topic before starting to organize and outline key ideas.
• Before each draft or revision of assignments, spend 10 minutes focused-writing an introduction and a thesis statement that lists all the key points that supports the thesis statement.
• Have a discussion in your class about the various language communities that you and your classmates experience in your town or on your island.
• Create a graphic organizer that will help you write various types of essays.
• Create a metacognitive, self-reflective journal: Freewrite continuously (e.g., 5 times a week, for at least 10 minutes, at least half a page) about what you learned in class or during study time. Document how your used your study hours this week, how it felt to write in class and out of class, what you learned about writing and about yourself as a writer, how you saw yourself learning and evolving as a writer, what you learned about specific topics. What goals do you have for the next week?

During the second half of the semester, as you begin to tackle deeper and lengthier assignments, the journal should grow to at least one page per day, at least 20 minutes per day, as you use journal writing to reflect on writing strategies (e.g., structure, organization, rhetorical modes, research, incorporating different sources without plagiarizing, giving and receiving feedback, planning and securing time in your schedule for each task involved in a writing assignment) and your ideas about topics, answering research questions, and reflecting on what you found during research and during discussions with peers, mentors, tutors, and instructors. The journal then becomes a record of your journey as a writer, as well as a source of freewriting on content that you can shape into paragraphs for your various assignments.

Works Cited

Elbow, Peter. Writing Without Teachers . 2nd edition, 1973, Oxford UP, 1998.

Goldberg, Natalie. Wild Mind : Living the Writer’s Life. Bantam Books, 1990.

Swales, John. “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings , 1990, pp. 21-32.

For more about discourse communities, see the online class by Robert Mohrenne “ What is a Discourse Community? ” ENC 1102 13 Fall 0027. University of Central Florida, 2013.

Sources Used to Create This Chapter

The majority of the content for this section has been adapted from OER Material from “Prewriting, ” in Ann Inoshita, et al’s English Composition: Connect, Collaborate, Communicate (2019). This work was published under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States (CC BY 3.0 US) License.

Media Resources

Remixed and Compiled by Scott Ortolano

An Overview of Academic Writing, Planning, and Prewriting Copyright © by Leonard Owens III; Tim Bishop; and Scott Ortolano is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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GKT103: General Knowledge for Teachers – Essays

Pre-Writing

Sitting down for an exam and reading an essay prompt can be intimidating. One way to ease your nerves and help you focus on the task is to pre-write. Pre-writing is a way to think through the essay question, gather your thoughts, and keep yourself from becoming overwhelmed. This resource explains pre-writing and shows strategies you can practice now and use on exam day to help ensure that you start your essay writing off on the right foot!

Planning the Structure of an Essay

Planning based on audience and purpose.

Identifying the target audience and purpose of an essay is a critical part of planning the structure and techniques that are best to use. It's important to consider the following:

• Is the the purpose of the essay to educate, announce, entertain, or persuade?
• Who might be interested in the topic of the essay?
• Who would be impacted by the essay or the information within it?
• What does the reader know about this topic?
• What does the reader need to know in order to understand the essay's points?
• What kind of hook is necessary to engage the readers and their interest?
• What level of language is required? Words that are too subject-specific may make the writing difficult to grasp for readers unfamiliar with the topic.
• What is an appropriate tone for the topic? A humorous tone that is suitable for an autobiographical, narrative essay may not work for a more serious, persuasive essay.

Hint: Answers to these questions help the writer to make clear decisions about diction (i.e., the choice of words and phrases), form and organization, and the content of the essay.

Use Audience and Purpose to Plan Language

In many classrooms, students may encounter the concept of language in terms of correct versus incorrect. However, this text approaches language from the perspective of appropriateness. Writers should consider that there are different types of communities, each of which may have different perspectives about what is "appropriate language" and each of which may follow different rules, as John Swales discussed in "The Concept of Discourse Community". Essentially, Swales defines discourse communities as "groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals".

Writers (and readers) may be more familiar with a home community that uses a different language than the language valued by the academic community. For example, many people in Hawai‘i speak Hawai‘i Creole English (HCE colloquially regarded as "Pidgin"), which is different from academic English. This does not mean that one language is better than another or that one community is homogeneous in terms of language use; most people "code-switch" from one "code" (i.e., language or way of speaking) to another. It helps writers to be aware and to use an intersectional lens to understand that while a community may value certain language practices, there are several types of language practices within our community.

What language practices does the academic discourse community value? The goal of first-year-writing courses is to prepare students to write according to the conventions of academia and Standard American English (SAE). Understanding and adhering to the rules of a different discourse community does not mean that students need to replace or drop their own discourse. They may add to their language repertoire as education continues to transform their experiences with language, both spoken and written. In addition to the linguistic abilities they already possess, they should enhance their academic writing skills for personal growth in order to meet the demands of the working world and to enrich the various communities they belong to.

Use Techniques to Plan Structure

Before writing a first draft, writers find it helpful to begin organizing their ideas into chunks so that they (and readers) can efficiently follow the points as organized in an essay.

First, it's important to decide whether to organize an essay (or even just a paragraph) according to one of the following:

• Chronological order (organized by time)
• Spatial order (organized by physical space from one end to the other)
• Prioritized order (organized by order of importance)

There are many ways to plan an essay's overall structure, including mapping and outlining.

Mapping (which sometimes includes using a graphic organizer) involves organizing the relationships between the topic and other ideas. The following is example (from ReadWriteThink.org, 2013) of a graphic organizer that could be used to write a basic, persuasive essay:

Outlining is also an excellent way to plan how to organize an essay. Formal outlines use levels of notes, with Roman numerals for the top level, followed by capital letters, Arabic numerals, and lowercase letters. Here's an example:

• Hook/Lead/Opener: According to the Leilani was shocked when a letter from Chicago said her "Aloha Poke" restaurant was infringing on a non-Hawaiian Midwest restaurant that had trademarked the words "aloha" (the Hawaiian word for love, compassion, mercy, and other things besides serving as a greeting) and "poke" (a Hawaiian dish of raw fish and seasonings).
• Background information about trademarks, the idea of language as property, the idea of cultural identity, and the question about who owns language and whether it can be owned.
• Thesis Statement (with the main point and previewing key or supporting points that become the topic sentences of the body paragraphs): While some business people use language and trademarks to turn a profit, the nation should consider that language cannot be owned by any one group or individual and that former (or current) imperialist and colonialist nations must consider the impact of their actions on culture and people groups, and legislators should bar the trademarking of non-English words for the good of internal peace of the country.
• Legislators should bar the trademarking of non-English words for the good and internal peace of the country.
• Conclusion (Revisit the Hook/Lead/Opener, Restate the Thesis, End with a Twist - a strong more globalized statement about why this topic was important to write about)

Note about outlines: Informal outlines can be created using lists with or without bullets. What is important is that main and subpoint ideas are linked and identified.

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Introduction to Prewriting (Invention)

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

When you sit down to write...

• Does your mind turn blank?
• Are you sure you have nothing to say?

If so, you're not alone. Many writers experience this at some time or another, but some people have strategies or techniques to get them started. When you are planning to write something, try some of the following suggestions.

You can try the textbook formula:

• State your thesis.
• Write an outline.
• Write the first draft.
• Revise and polish.

. . . but that often doesn't work.

Instead, you can try one or more of these strategies:

Ask yourself what your purpose is for writing about the subject.

There are many "correct" things to write about for any subject, but you need to narrow down your choices. For example, your topic might be "dorm food." At this point, you and your potential reader are asking the same question, "So what?" Why should you write about this, and why should anyone read it?

Do you want the reader to pity you because of the intolerable food you have to eat there?

Do you want to analyze large-scale institutional cooking?

Do you want to compare Purdue's dorm food to that served at Indiana University?

Ask yourself how you are going to achieve this purpose.

How, for example, would you achieve your purpose if you wanted to describe some movie as the best you've ever seen? Would you define for yourself a specific means of doing so? Would your comments on the movie go beyond merely telling the reader that you really liked it?

Start the ideas flowing

Brainstorm. Gather as many good and bad ideas, suggestions, examples, sentences, false starts, etc. as you can. Perhaps some friends can join in. Jot down everything that comes to mind, including material you are sure you will throw out. Be ready to keep adding to the list at odd moments as ideas continue to come to mind.

Talk to your audience, or pretend that you are being interviewed by someone — or by several people, if possible (to give yourself the opportunity of considering a subject from several different points of view). What questions would the other person ask? You might also try to teach the subject to a group or class.

See if you can find a fresh analogy that opens up a new set of ideas. Build your analogy by using the word like. For example, if you are writing about violence on television, is that violence like clowns fighting in a carnival act (that is, we know that no one is really getting hurt)?

Take a rest and let it all percolate.

Summarize your whole idea.

Tell it to someone in three or four sentences.

Diagram your major points somehow.

Make a tree, outline, or whatever helps you to see a schematic representation of what you have. You may discover the need for more material in some places. Write a first draft.

Then, if possible, put it away. Later, read it aloud or to yourself as if you were someone else. Watch especially for the need to clarify or add more information.

You may find yourself jumping back and forth among these various strategies.

You may find that one works better than another. You may find yourself trying several strategies at once. If so, then you are probably doing something right.

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4.6: Prewriting Strategies

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• Athena Kashyap & Erika Dyquisto
• City College of San Francisco via ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative

If you think that a blank sheet of paper or a blinking cursor on the computer screen is a scary sight, you are not alone. Many writers, students, and employees find that beginning to write can be intimidating. When faced with a blank page, however, experienced writers remind themselves that writing, like other everyday activities, is a process. Every process, from writing to cooking, bike riding, and learning to use a new cell phone, will get significantly easier with practice.

Just as you need a recipe, ingredients, and proper tools to cook a delicious meal, you also need a plan, resources, and adequate time to create a good written composition. In other words, writing is a process that requires following steps and using strategies to accomplish your goals.

These are the five steps in the writing process:

• Outlining the structure of ideas
• Writing a rough draft

Effective writing can be simply described as good ideas that are expressed well and arranged in the proper order. This chapter will give you the chance to work on all these important aspects of writing. Although many more prewriting strategies exist, this chapter covers six: using experience and observations, free writing, asking questions, brainstorming, mapping, and searching the Internet. Using the strategies in this chapter can help you overcome the fear of the blank page and confidently begin the writing process.

Prewriting means just what it says—it’s the writing that occurs before you actually write a draft. Richard Nordquist writes that:

“In composition, the term prewriting refers to any activity that helps a writer think about a topic, determine a purpose, analyze an audience, and prepare to write. Prewriting is closely related to the art of invention in classical rhetoric."

‘The objective of prewriting,’ according to Roger Caswell and Brenda Mahler, ‘is to prepare students for writing by allowing them to discover what they know and what else they need to know. Prewriting invites exploration and promotes the motivation to write’ ( Strategies for Teaching Writing , 2004).” [1]

In order to explore and identify what might be fruitful ideas for writing, I tend to jot concepts, phrases, and notes to myself. Sometimes I draw linkages to connect related ideas. Other writers tend to just write in order to explore and identify patterns of thought. Still other writers list out all of the concepts and information they can think of around a certain topic, and then narrow and refine their lists. Visual thinkers may draw a mind map or other pictures. Others start writing a really “drafty draft” of an essay, and then circle back into prewriting strategies to develop ideas. Any prewriting strategy is fine, depending on “how your mind thinks” and how you like to discover and explore ideas.

Prewriting is the stage of the writing process during which you transfer your abstract thoughts into more concrete ideas in ink on paper (or in type on a computer screen). Although prewriting techniques can be helpful in all stages of the writing process, the following four strategies are best used when initially deciding on a topic:

• Using experience and observations

Free writing

• Asking questions

At this stage in the writing process, it is okay if you choose a general topic. Later you will learn more prewriting strategies that will narrow the focus of the topic.

Choosing a Topic

In addition to understanding that writing is a process, writers also understand that choosing a good general topic for an assignment is an essential step. Sometimes your instructor will give you an idea to begin an assignment, and other times your instructor will ask you to come up with a topic on your own. A good topic not only covers what an assignment will be about but also fits the assignment’s purpose and its audience.

On this page, you will follow a writer named Mariah as she prepares a piece of writing. You will also be planning one of your own. The first important step is for you to tell yourself why you are writing (to inform, to explain, or some other purpose) and for whom you are writing. Write your purpose and your audience on your own sheet of paper, and keep the paper close by as you read and complete exercises in this chapter.

My purpose: ____________________________________________

My audience: ____________________________________________

Using Experience and Observations

When selecting a topic, you may also want to consider something that interests you or something based on your own life and personal experiences. Even everyday observations can lead to interesting topics. After writers think about their experiences and observations, they often take notes on paper to better develop their thoughts. These notes help writers discover what they have to say about their topic.

Have you seen an attention-grabbing story on your local news channel? Many current issues appear on television, in magazines, and on the Internet. These can all provide inspiration for your writing.

Reading plays a vital role in all the stages of the writing process, but it first figures in the development of ideas and topics. Different kinds of documents can help you choose a topic and also develop that topic. For example, a magazine advertising the latest research on the threat of global warming may catch your eye in the supermarket. This cover may interest you, and you may consider global warming as a topic. Or maybe a novel’s courtroom drama sparks your curiosity of a particular lawsuit or legal controversy.

After you choose a topic, critical reading is essential to the development of a topic. While reading almost any document, you evaluate the author’s point of view by thinking about his main idea and his support. When you judge the author’s argument, you discover more about not only the author’s opinion but also your own. If this step already seems daunting, remember that even the best writers need to use prewriting strategies to generate ideas.

The steps in the writing process may seem time consuming at first, but following these steps will save you time in the future. The more you plan in the beginning by reading and using prewriting strategies, the less time you may spend writing and editing later because your ideas will develop more swiftly.

Prewriting strategies depend on your critical reading skills. Reading prewriting exercises (and outlines and drafts later in the writing process) will further develop your topic and ideas. As you continue to follow the writing process, you will see how Mariah uses critical reading skills to assess her own prewriting exercises.

Free writing is an exercise in which you write freely about any topic for a set amount of time (usually three to five minutes). During the time limit, you may jot down any thoughts that come to your mind. Try not to worry about grammar, spelling, or punctuation. Instead, write as quickly as you can without stopping. If you get stuck, just copy the same word or phrase over and over until you come up with a new thought.

Writing often comes easier when you have a personal connection with the topic you have chosen. Remember, to generate ideas in your free writing, you may also think about readings that you have enjoyed or that have challenged your thinking. Doing this may lead your thoughts in interesting directions.

Quickly recording your thoughts on paper will help you discover what you have to say about a topic. When writing quickly, try not to doubt or question your ideas. Allow yourself to write freely and unselfconsciously. Once you start writing with few limitations, you may find you have more to say than you first realized. Your flow of thoughts can lead you to discover even more ideas about the topic. Free writing may even lead you to discover another topic that excites you even more.

Look at Mariah’s example. The instructor allowed the members of the class to choose their own topics, and Mariah thought about her experiences as a communications major. She used this free writing exercise to help her generate more concrete ideas from her own experience.

Some prewriting strategies can be used together. For example, you could use experience and observations to come up with a topic related to your course studies. Then you could use freewriting to describe your topic in more detail and figure out what you have to say about it.

Free write about one event you have recently experienced. With this event in mind, write without stopping for five minutes. After you finish, read over what you wrote. Does anything stand out to you as a good general topic to write about?

Asking Questions

Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? In everyday situations, you pose these kinds of questions to get more information. Who will be my partner for the project? When is the next meeting? Why is my car making that odd noise? Even the title of this chapter begins with the question “How do I begin?”

You seek the answers to these questions to gain knowledge, to better understand your daily experiences, and to plan for the future. Asking these types of questions will also help you with the writing process. As you choose your topic, answering these questions can help you revisit the ideas you already have and generate new ways to think about your topic. You may also discover aspects of the topic that are unfamiliar to you and that you would like to learn more about. All these idea-gathering techniques will help you plan for future work on your assignment.

When Mariah reread her free writing notes, she found she had rambled and her thoughts were disjointed. She realized that the topic that interested her most was the one she started with, the media. She then decided to explore that topic by asking herself questions about it. Her purpose was to refine media into a topic she felt comfortable writing about. To see how asking questions can help you choose a topic, take a look at the following chart that Mariah completed to record her questions and answers. She asked herself the questions that reporters and journalists use to gather information for their stories. The questions are often called the 5WH questions, after their initial letters.

Prewriting is very purpose driven; it does not follow a set of hard-and-fast rules. The purpose of prewriting is to find and explore ideas so that you will be prepared to write. A prewriting technique like asking questions can help you both find a topic and explore it. The key to effective prewriting is to use the techniques that work best for your thinking process. Free writing may not seem to fit your thinking process, but keep an open mind. It may work better than you think. Perhaps brainstorming a list of topics might better fit your personal style. Mariah found free writing and asking questions to be fruitful strategies to use. In your own prewriting, use the 5WH questions in any way that benefits your planning.

Choose a general topic idea from the prewriting you completed in Exercise 1. Then read each question and use your own paper to answer the 5WH questions. As with Mariah when she explored her writing topic for more detail, it is okay if you do not know all the answers. If you do not know an answer, use your own opinion to speculate, or guess. You may also use factual information from books or articles you previously read on your topic. Later in the chapter, you will read about additional ways (like searching the Internet) to answer your questions and explore your guesses.

5WH Questions

_____________________________________________________

Now that you have completed some of the prewriting exercises, you may feel less anxious about starting a paper from scratch. With some ideas down on paper (or saved on a computer), writers are often more comfortable continuing the writing process. After identifying a good general topic, you, too, are ready to continue the process.

Write your general topic on your own sheet of paper, under where you recorded your purpose and audience. Choose it from among the topics you listed or explored during the prewriting you have done so far. Make sure it is one you feel comfortable with and feel capable of writing about.

My general topic: ____________________________________________

You may find that you need to adjust your topic as you move through the writing stages (and as you complete the exercises in this chapter). If the topic you have chosen is not working, you can repeat the prewriting activities until you find a better one.

More Prewriting Techniques

The prewriting techniques of free writing and asking questions helped Mariah think more about her topic, but the following prewriting strategies can help her (and you) narrow the focus of the topic:

Brainstorming

• Idea mapping

Searching the Internet

Narrowing the focus means breaking up the topic into subtopics, or more specific points. Generating lots of subtopics will help you eventually select the ones that fit the assignment and appeal to you and your audience.

After rereading her syllabus, Mariah realized her general topic, mass media, is too broad for her class’s short paper requirement. Three pages are not enough to cover all the concerns in mass media today. Mariah also realized that although her readers are other communications majors who are interested in the topic, they may want to read a paper about a particular issue in mass media.

Brainstorming is similar to list making. You can make a list on your own or in a group with your classmates. Start with a blank sheet of paper (or a blank computer document) and write your general topic across the top. Underneath your topic, make a list of more specific ideas. Think of your general topic as a broad category and the list items as things that fit in that category. Often you will find that one item can lead to the next, creating a flow of ideas that can help you narrow your focus to a more specific paper topic.

The following image is Mariah’s brainstorming list:

Writing at Work

Imagine you have to write an e-mail to your current boss explaining your prior work experience, but you do not know where to start. Before you begin the e-mail, you can use the brainstorming technique to generate a list of employers, duties, and responsibilities that fall under the general topic “work experience.”

Idea Mapping

Idea mapping allows you to visualize your ideas on paper using circles, lines, and arrows. This technique is also known as clustering because ideas are broken down and clustered, or grouped together. Many writers like this method because the shapes show how the ideas relate or connect, and writers can find a focused topic from the connections mapped. Using idea mapping, you might discover interesting connections between topics that you had not thought of before.

To create an idea map, start with your general topic in a circle in the center of a blank sheet of paper. Then write specific ideas around it and use lines or arrows to connect them together. Add and cluster as many ideas as you can think of.

In addition to brainstorming, Mariah tried idea mapping. Review the following idea map that Mariah created:

Image from @api.

Notice Mariah’s largest circle contains her general topic, mass media. Then, the general topic branches into two subtopics written in two smaller circles: television and radio. The subtopic television branches into even more specific topics: cable and DVDs. From there, Mariah drew more circles and wrote more specific ideas: high definition and digital recording from cable and Blu-ray from DVDs. The radio topic led Mariah to draw connections between music, downloads versus CDs, and, finally, piracy.

From this idea map, Mariah saw she could consider narrowing the focus of her mass media topic to the more specific topic of music piracy.

Using search engines on the Internet is a good way to see what kinds of websites are available on your topic. Writers use search engines not only to understand more about the topic’s specific issues but also to get better acquainted with their audience.

Look back at the chart you completed in Exercise 2. Did you guess at any of the answers? Searching the Internet may help you find answers to your questions and confirm your guesses. Be choosy about the websites you use. Make sure they are reliable sources for the kind of information you seek.

When you search the Internet, type some key words from your broad topic or words from your narrowed focus into your browser’s search engine (many good general and specialized search engines are available for you to try). Then look over the results for relevant and interesting articles.

Results from an Internet search show writers the following information:

• Who is talking about the topic
• How the topic is being discussed
• What specific points are currently being discussed about the topic

If the search engine results are not what you are looking for, revise your key words and search again. Some search engines also offer suggestions for related searches that may give you better results.

Mariah typed the words music piracy from her idea map into the search engine, Google. The search engine provided her with the following results:

Not all the results online search engines return will be useful or reliable. Give careful consideration to the reliability of an online source before selecting a topic based on it. Remember that factual information can be verified in other sources, both online and in print. If you have doubts about any information you find, either do not use it or identify it as potentially unreliable.

The results from Mariah’s search included websites from university publications, personal blogs, online news sources, and lots of legal cases sponsored by the recording industry. Reading legal jargon made Mariah uncomfortable with the results, so she decided to look further. Reviewing her map, she realized that she was more interested in consumer aspects of mass media, so she refocused her search to media technology and the sometimes confusing array of expensive products that fill electronics stores. Now, Mariah considers a paper topic on the products that have fed the mass media boom in everyday lives.

In Exercise 2, you chose a possible topic and explored it by answering questions about it using the 5WH questions. However, this topic may still be too broad. Here, in Exercise 3, choose and complete one of the prewriting strategies to narrow the focus. Use either brainstorming, idea mapping, or searching the Internet.

Collaboration: Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Share what you found and what interests you about the possible topic(s).

Pr ewriting strategies are a vital first step in the writing process. First, they help you first choose a broad topic and then they help you narrow the focus of the topic to a more specific idea. An effective topic ensures that you are ready for the next step.

Topic Checklist

The following checklist can help you decide if your narrowed topic is good for your assignment.

• Am I interested in this topic?
• Would my audience be interested?
• Do I have prior knowledge or experience with this topic? If so, would I be comfortable exploring this topic and sharing my experiences?
• Do I want to learn more about this topic?
• Is this topic specific?
• Does it fit the length of the assignment?

With your narrowed focus in mind, answer the bulleted questions in the checklist for developing a good topic. If you can answer “yes” to all the questions, write your topic on the line. If you answer “no” to any of the questions, think about another topic or adjust the one you have and try the prewriting strategies again.

My narrowed topic: ____________________________________________

Watch this video that covers the basics of prewriting:

Contributors and Attributions

• Adapted from Writing for Success . Provided by: The Saylor Foundation. License: CC-NC-SA 3.0
• Adapted from "Developing Ideas for Writing" from College Writing . Provided by: Lumen. License: CC-BY-NC

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CONTENT:

• Prewriting Strategies. Authored by: Leslie Cox. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube license.

This page most recently updated June 3, 2020.

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Prewriting 1: Understanding the Task

Sometimes, you define the writing task, but in college, it’s more likely that a professor gives you a writing assignment. Either way, if you do not understand the parameters of the project, you will almost certainly struggle with it. When I use the word “parameters,” I am referring to the guidelines of the assignment. Mostly, these will be determined by your professor, but sometimes you have a say in those guidelines.

For your writing assignments, you want to make sure you understand the following:

• The purpose(s) of the assignment
• The audience(s) for the final project
• Technical information such as sources and length

We’ll talk about all of these in this chapter.

Understanding Purpose

What are you supposed to do? And why? These questions are central to any writing task.

Too often, students think about the first question in technical terms: “I’m supposed to write a four-page paper on a significant issue in my hometown.” While the number of pages does matter (and we’ll talk about this kind of technical requirement shortly), there are more significant questions that this kind of simplification doesn’t answer. What are you supposed to say about that issue?

• Are you explaining the issue?
• Arguing for a solution?
• Trying to identify points of compromise?
• Providing a historical overview?
• Something else?

If you don’t understand what you are trying to accomplish in the assignment, you are unlikely to be successful.

Identify the primary purpose

Specific assignments differ, but at the core, we can identify three primary purposes for writing:

• To inform: Informative writing provides information and explanations to the reader.
• To persuade: Persuasive writing works to convince the reader.
• To entertain: Entertaining writing provides the reader with enjoyment.

These aren’t mutually exclusive. Can you imagine a successful argument, for example, without good information to back up the claims? Similarly, information can be persuasive, even if the writer isn’t actively trying to convince the reader of anything. Finally, think about how many novels have been written to make a case for something.

But one of these purposes will be primary . That is, the professor will be most interested in seeing you focus on one of these things. It may be fine for you to do more than one (check with your professor), but one will be more important than the others.

For most college writing assignments, the primary purpose will probably be either to inform or to persuade. Be sure you know which you are being asked to do, and if you aren’t sure, ask your professor.

Find the Verbs

Remember the whole “-ing” discussion at the beginning of this section ? Writing is an action, and verbs are action words. Examining the verbs in an assignment can help you understand its purpose. What, exactly, is your professor asking you to do ?

One way to get started is to locate the verbs—and sometimes the verb-like words—in your assignment. It can be helpful to underline, circle, or highlight those words. You can annotate assignments just like you can annotate any other text! If you need help identifying verbs, look at the section of the Editing chapter with that name .

Different verbs indicate different purposes:

• Verbs such as “summarize” and “compare” are asking you to demonstrate your understanding (which is primarily an informative task).
• Verbs such as “examine” and “analyze” are asking you to break your topic down and explain how it works (which is primarily an informative task).
• Verbs such as “assess” and “recommend” are asking you to evaluate something related to your topic (which is primarily a persuasive task).
• Verbs such as “synthesize” and “combine” are asking you to bring together multiple sources and/or viewpoints (which is primarily an informative task).

Keep in mind that there may be more than one purpose for a writing assignment. For example, a professor may ask you to summarize an event and evaluate the public’s response to it. These would be two different acts in your paper, one of which would be informative and the other persuasive.

Sometimes the verbs in the assignment you have been given are vague, using words like “write” or “create.” When that happens, you’ll need to look beyond the verbs to identify the primary purpose. You can also use the guidance in the section on Intellectual Work to help.

Using a writing assignment that you are currently working on, create a sticky note (on paper or on your computer) or some similarly sized message reminding yourself of the primary purpose of that assignment. The post-it message should list the primary purpose and the key verbs that identify what you are supposed to do in the assignment. Place the post-it where you will see it while you work on that assignment.

Considering Your Professor’s Reasons

You are being asked to write something for a reason (or you have a reason yourself). Understanding what that reason is—and there are probably multiple reasons—can help you write successfully.

When you are writing for yourself, you are more likely to know your reasons. Perhaps you are trying to write a song to capture the feeling of a bad breakup. Perhaps you are journaling to work through a difficult transition from home to college. Perhaps you are writing a grocery list so that you won’t forget what you need at the store. Perhaps you are taking notes in your biology class so that you will better understand the material.

Professors have lots of reasons for asking students to write, but these reasons may not be obvious to students. Often, professors want to see essays or lab reports or business plans because these types of tasks ask students to do multiple things at once. For example, a lab report may be asking you to demonstrate subject-matter knowledge related to the experiment, familiarity with the conventions of scientific writing, and critical thinking about the connections between the experiment and the results. These kinds of assignments are called “complex” and “performance-based” because they are asking for evidence of multiple competencies at the same time.

Try looking for a statement of the objectives of the assignment. Language like “by the end of this assignment, you will…” can give you clues about the learning that the professor would like to see demonstrated in the final project. Sometimes, you’ll see statements about how you are expected to use prior knowledge; this will be a purpose, too. And if you don’t see these statements and you aren’t sure what you are supposed to be learning from the assignment, ask!

With a current assignment, make two lists:

• The first should contain your reasons for completing the assignment. What do you want to get out of the writing project?
• The second should contain the reasons you believe the professor has given this assignment. What does the professor hope you will be able to demonstrate by the final version?

Compare your lists with a classmate. If your first lists differ substantially, consider why that might be (people have lots of individual reasons for writing).

More importantly, compare your second lists. If there are significant differences, discuss those, and consider bringing questions about the assignment’s purpose to the professor.

Understanding Audience

Once you know your purpose, you need to think about your audience.

You may have heard the term “general audience,” which implies that there is a set of general characteristics that most people fit. This idea is a fiction. While we have lots in common with other people, we have very little in common with everybody . People have different passions, experiences, and demographic characteristics. These all influence what a person reads and how they read it.

Instead of a general audience, think about a target audience . These are the people that you are trying to reach.

Think about the target audience for the following:

• The Halloween films: People who enjoy being scared and at least somewhat grossed out. These people are mostly men and mostly under 25.
• Sports Illustrated : People who follow sports, particularly in the United States. These people are mostly men and their ages vary.
• The Harry Potter books: People who enjoy fantasy worlds and adolescent fiction. These people are mostly women who were young when the series began, but who have continued reading the books.

All of these were written for a “general audience,” but not everyone would enjoy all of these texts.

Writing for Academic Audiences

Many of your assignments in college will be written for academic audiences. What does this mean?

Regardless of their age or gender or personal passions or discipline, academic audiences tend to care about a set of similar characteristics in writing:

• Logical and critical thinking so that the ideas are contributing some kind of insight. Critical thinking is something that you will be asked to develop in most, if not all, of your college courses.
• Clear organization of ideas so that readers can follow the logic of an entire text
• Careful and complete explanations of your reasoning so that readers can follow the logic of the supporting ideas in a text
• Evidence from credible sources, with an emphasis on sources that are peer reviewed , so that the information is trustworthy and significant
• Complete citations so that readers can find the original source material and so that proper credit is given to people for their intellectual work
• Clear and grammatically correct sentences that treat the audience respectfully
• Careful proofreading so that sentence-level errors do not get in the way of the meaning

Academic audiences will have some differing investments, too. For example, your chemistry professor is likely to care about the precision and accuracy of your graphs and charts more than your literature professor, who will care more about your careful and creative uses of language. The more you understand about the particular field you are studying, the more you will understand these expectations.

Writing for Non-Academic Audiences

Even in college, you won’t always be asked to write for an academic audience. For example, you may be asked to prepare documents like the following:

• A brochure on the importance of sleep for your peers
• A social media post for a local non-profit organization to advertise their services
• A presentation on a proposed law change for state legislators

Sometimes, you will be asked to deliver these final products to the actual intended audience, which can be a great opportunity to experience the importance of strong communication skills in a live setting.

Other times, you will simply deliver the final product to your professor. However, do not make the mistake of thinking that you should always write as if your professor is your audience. Most professors are very good at putting on the hats of the readers that they want you to write for, and they will read as if they are members of that audience. If you want your writing to be successful, you should always identify your target audience and write as if that audience is the only one who matters.

Considering the Technicalities

Technicalities matter. For example, if you are being asked to produce a text using at least six sources, you need six, not five. Also, you’ll want to make sure you know what kind of sources the professor wants you to use and where to find them.

Moreover, using those six sources in a five-page paper is different from using them in a two-page handout or a research poster.

The key technicalities that you need to pay attention to are the following:

• Number and kind of sources

Each of these will influence your writing process in both direct and indirect ways.

The number and kind of sources will impact the amount of time you spend preparing to write. If you need to locate your own sources, you will need more time to find credible sources , but even if the instructor is providing you with sources, you will need to spend time and energy reading all of your sources carefully.

Students often focus on length to the exclusion of other technical considerations, and they frequently see a high word count or page requirement as a major challenge. However, length requirements can help you address what may be one of your key questions: What does the professor want?

When the assignment is brief, the professor is probably looking for you to focus on what is essential for the assignment. When the assignment is longer, the professor is looking for you to explain your ideas more fully. What is brief, and what is long? This varies by discipline, but in general anything less than 1000 words could be considered brief. In some fields (like history or literature), however, “brief” may be more like 1500 words.

It’s also important to know that professors set length requirements as a way to say, “You will need to write at least this much (or this little) to do a good job on this assignment.” If you find yourself substantially under or over the length requirement as you write, you should show your professor your work for additional guidance. The tutors in your writing center can also help you think about the content of your paper and how to meet the length requirements.

You can use the due date to plan out your writing process. Instead of waiting until the day or two before the assignment is due, you can break down the work and ultimately be more successful. If you set interim dates for completing various tasks (e.g., locating and evaluating sources, writing a first draft), you’ll make each step easier and less panic-inducing.

Your professor may help by providing some of those interim dates, particularly for activities like first drafts and peer responses. But you also know from past experience how long it takes you to do certain tasks. Use your own experience to help you create a plan that doesn’t involve you desperately writing your paper in the hours before it’s due.

Normally when students think about their assignments, they think first about the topic: What am I going to write about? I’m putting it last in this section for one very simple reason: All of the other elements in this section can and should influence your choice of topic.

Your assignment is likely to give you parameters for a topic choice, but even if it doesn’t, you already know that you should write about something relevant to the course. Even if you absolutely love music, you’re likely to struggle if you try to connect your love of music to the essay you need to write about the effects of climate change on sea life for your marine biology class.

If you know that you are going to have to make an argument, you’ll want to choose a topic that allows you to take a position. It can be hard to take a position on water lilies, even if it’s a topic you are deeply interested in. And if you know that you need to provide a logical and objective explanation, it might be best to avoid highly controversial topics, particularly when you have an emotional investment in those topics.

Similarly, if you know you are writing for scholars, you’ll want to think long and hard before choosing a personal topic like your experiences with skateboarding—unless you can find an academic angle. And if you have been given a word count of 1200-1500 words, you’re going to need a smaller topic than race relations in the United States.

If you decide you want to take on a challenge like those I’ve described here, I strongly recommend that you talk with your professor early in the process so that you don’t find yourself scrambling at the end.

The Generating Ideas chapter will give you some techniques to help you come up with a topic if you are stuck and to help you refine your topic if you think you have a good one.

Checking Your Assignment Again and Again

As you write, return to your assignment and your notes about the tasks to make sure that you are accomplishing what the professor is asking for. It’s a good idea to do this at several key points in your process:

• As you are gathering your ideas and sources, check to make sure that your topic is in line with the assignment and that you are gathering the number and types of sources that your professor wants you to use.
• Once you have a working thesis statement and perhaps some early draft material, check to make sure that your thesis is setting your paper up to accomplish the purpose of the assignment.
• Once you have a solid first draft, check again that your paper matches the purpose, and check that you have pitched your paper to the audience you’ve been assigned or chosen.
• As you revise, check again that you are writing on a topic, for a purpose, and to an audience that matches the assignment. Also start checking the technicalities, particularly source and length requirements.
• As a final check before you submit the paper, make sure that your paper meets technical requirements that we have discussed (like length) and those that we haven’t (like citation style).

Each of these checkpoints doesn’t need to be long or involved. The few minutes involved in these checks may save you considerable time later. Just read through the assignment again to make sure that you’re on track. It’s a terrible feeling to get to the revision stage only to discover that you have written a paper that doesn’t match the assignment.

• Before you start writing, be sure that you understand the purpose and audience for the assignment.
• Don’t assume that you will always be writing for your professor, even if they are the only ones who will read it.
• Keep the technical requirements, like length and number of sources, in mind as you write.
• Let the purpose, audience, and technical requirements guide your choice of topic.
• Check your assignment throughout your process so that you stay on track.

In the context of writing, the expectations and/or requirements of a writing task.

The most important goal of a piece of writing; there are three primary purposes: inform, persuade, and entertain.

Make notes on or otherwise mark up a text.

The group of readers who would be interested in a particular text, as opposed to a general audience who would be able to read the text, but may or may not be interested in it.

A kind of thinking characterized by logical, objective analysis and evaluation based on evidence.

Sources that have been evaluated by experts in the field, also sometimes called "scholarly sources"; these sources are considered the most reputable in academic settings.

Reading and Writing Successfully in College: A Guide for Students Copyright © 2023 by Patricia Lynne is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Working with Prewriting

The point of prewriting is to record an array of thoughts so that you have a pool to draw from for your essay. You may have recorded a mish-mash of information and ideas. I know that I think of my prewriting as a splatter. My prewriting tends to be the stuff that’s in my head that I just have to spill out on paper (okay, so I have messy stuff going on in my head). The task then becomes to sort through that stuff, choosing some pieces and discarding others, so that I’m moving from a hodgepodge of information to a focus that I can develop and support for an essay.

In essence, to work with prewriting, you need to move from self to subject. As important as each piece of prewriting is in helping you identify ideas for writing, a prewriting entry alone may not provide enough information to write a whole essay. Prewriting is confined only to your own experiences, observations, and thoughts. In order to develop an essay, you may need to bring in additional experiences, observations, and thoughts–information that reflects not only your specific experiences, but also the general human experience. An essay always uses your own personal insights and thoughts as its basis, but it also broadens out so that those thoughts have relevance for others. (Dave Barry’s syndicated newspaper columns provide a good example. I’m thinking of one essay in particular that described his experience with a new toilet, the kind that doesn’t use much water and thus doesn’t flush very well. He used his own experience as the basis for a broader reflection on problems with modern technology and problems with legislation, things that most adults can relate to in some way.)

So, how do you work with your prewriting to make that shift from self to subject?

• Review it to identify the various main ideas that are embedded in the prewriting.
• List those ideas.
• Write the ideas in thesis form. That is, make an assertion that explains your own insight or idea about the topic, and write that assertion in complete sentence form.

The working thesis, which can be developed from prewriting, is the key to writing an essay.

Sample Student Work from Prewriting to Thesis (from Self to Subject)

Sample #1 – Student Brainstorming, “Insect Life in Japan”

Gokiburi is the Japanese word for cockroach my landlord simply picked it up and threw it out of the window Nagoya was heaven for insects of all kinds misconception. people in U.S. associate roaches with being dirty, and this is not true. Attitude in Japan is very different. roaches have been around for about 3 million years ways to control them: sprays, boric acid large roach contest by spray manufacturers. Poor postman having to carry them all around and deliver them winner was very large

This student found the following types of information within the brainstorming list:

• Japanese vs. American views of roaches
• ways of controlling roaches
• large roach contest
• postal carrier’s difficulties

The student then could make a point–offer an idea–about one of the types of information:

• Japanese and American attitudes toward roaches differ greatly.
• There are many ways to control roaches.
• Different types of absurdities are associated with a large roach contest.
• For various reasons, running a large roach contest to promote bug spray is a good promotional tactic.
• Mail carriers suffer many annoyances and/or hazards in the course of their everyday work.

Sample #2 – Student Journal Entry, “Disposing of Radioactive Waste”

The issue of a low-level radioactive waste site being built in this county is a hot one. Recently a group of about 50 residents formed a human chain around representatives of the siting commission who were here to test the soil at three proposed sites for the waste facility. These residents were from every walk of life: housewives, doctors, shop owners, lawyers, teachers, students. All felt strongly that they did not want a waste facility near their homes. They realized that they could be arrested for their actions, yet they were determined to stop the team from testing the soil and they were willing to be arrested for their belief that a waste facility shouldn’t be built near people’s homes. This well-organized, energetic group of “warriors” got a small boost when the State Police arrived and did not arrest them, but instead escorted the members of the commission off of the land. They considered this a small victory in a much larger battle that may take years to settle. They feel that the State is not playing fair with them about the facts. So little is known about long-time exposure to low-level radiation that even the experts can’t seem to agree. And there is a lot of distrust about the motives of those responsible for choosing a site for the facility. All of this uncertainty, plus the fact that no waste facility in the country has been 100% leakproof, has drawn people together as never before. Whether their voices will be heard remains to be seen, but whatever the outcome, hopefully it will be resolved peacefully.

This student found many points that she could make–many ideas that were embedded in the journal entry:

• The disposal of radioactive waste is a complex problem that people and their government representatives need to address.
• Results of long-term human exposure to low-level radioactive waste are inconclusive.
• Some people feel that their land and homes are worth fighting for no matter what.
• Adversity can make people unite.
• Often, in a crisis situation, the unexpected happens.
• People have taken a number of tactics to ensure that radioactive waste is not dumped in their communities.
• The proposal to locate a radioactive waste disposal facility in an area can result in a number of reactions including passive resistance, vocal protests, legal action and, in some cases, violent acts.

Sample #3 – Student Question and Answer Chains, “Education”

Head Start’s reading readiness programs are very effective in preparing children to read in elementary school because they teach eye movement from left to right, they teach children to associate sounds with letter symbols, and they teach children to associate reading with pleasant experiences.

Adult students returning to college face many challenges that range from managing their time and family life to re-learning how to study to re-defining their self-concepts.

(this page’s text © Empire State College)

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• image of radioactive waste containers. Authored by : rabedirkwennigsen. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : https://pixabay.com/en/nuclear-waste-radioactive-trash-1471361/ . License : CC0: No Rights Reserved
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What is Prewriting and How Is It Done?

~ The First Stage of the Writing Process ~

Too often we assume that writing happens instantaneously and without much thought; however, the important thing to remember is that writing takes time. (And usually a lot of planning.)

Prewriting is the first, and some say the most important, stage of the writing process . Although it is so crucial, we often skip it because we don’t know how to plan out our writing. Here are a few tips on how to get the writing process started:

Draw a Mind Map If you are a visual learner, being able to see your ideas on the page and how they connect to one another is a great way to start brainstorming. Start by drawing a circle in the center of your page and then draw three lines outward from the center. In the circle write the main idea of your essay and then use the lines to connect three details/support to the main idea. After you have these initial ideas on the page, keep branching off from them and building more connections.

Make a List If you’re the person who always has a list for the grocery store, making a list to help you write an essay may be an excellent approach because it helps you organize your ideas and see them on the page. Start by writing the main idea at the top of the page and then just list any words or ideas that you feel connect to it. It can be as simple as a word that comes to mind when you think of your main idea, or it may be as complex as a complete sentence or specific example. Let your thoughts come to you and then later you can sort through and cross items off your list as you shop write.

Create an Outline If you’d prefer to use a map or GPS when driving to a new place, using an outline for your writing might be the best technique for you because it helps provide a clear roadmap for your entire essay. Start with the standard essay format: introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs and then add the topic sentences and supporting details. Your outline does not have to be complete sentences or even complete ideas, just a general guide for the rest of the essay.

Once you’ve finished brainstorming and compiling your ideas, you’re ready for the next stage of the writing process : Drafting!

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What is prewriting? Preparing to write with purpose

Prewriting is an important stage of writing as it ensures your story project has purpose, a market, clarity, and the conceptual bedrock to build an enduring story. Learn more.

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The writing process has seven core stages: Discovery/idea-finding, prewriting, drafting, getting feedback, revision, editing and publishing. What is prewriting, the first stage? Read a simple guide including prewriting strategies plus tips to make a preparatory process work for you.

What is prewriting?

Prewriting is the preparation you make before you start drafting.

In a fiction-writing process , it means doing preparatory work that helps you keep in mind important aspects of your story such as:

• intended audience (for example, deciding genre or subgenre and thinking about your target readership’s age range)
• scope (for example length – whether you’re writing a short story , novella or novel)
• core subjects/topics and research (finding subject or topics you will need to research in order to tell this story)

It is the first stage of fiction and non-fiction writing alike. The typical seven-part writing process is:

• Getting feedback

Prewriting is everything that comes before drafting – creating prologues, scenes, chapters; the narrative of your story.

Key prewriting strategies and tasks

Prewriting strategies that may help you put forethought into your stories include:

• Brainstorming: Putting down ideas quickly using prompts, mind maps or other strategies to find ideas
• Freewriting: Using free association in narrative form to write freely on a concept without structure or concern for story at this stage – for example, writing whatever comes to mind off a given word, image, scenario or idea
• Looping: Freewriting on a topic or idea, then choosing an idea from this process to do further freewriting ( source: University of Kansas’ Writing Center )
• List-making: For example, answering a character profile questionnaire to list qualities characters in your story may have so you can differentiate them
• The journalist’s questions: Asking questions of ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘where’ and ‘when’ based off a scenario to brainstorm further creative ideas

Keep reading for tips on using the above strategies plus how to make the most of prewriting in your writing process:

Prewriting your story: How to use planning time well

Here are ideas on how to do prewriting to use story planning time well:

Find a central idea and ask who your target audience is (to build in marketability from the start).

Once you have your idea, list any research that would make it easier to tell this story. How will you approach it?

Asking ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘where’ and ‘when’ questions directed to your central idea expands your concept.

Story organizing tools and planning templates may simplify the writing process and bring extra clarity.

Plan not only research and outlining but other stages of the writing process (drafting especially), too. Deadlines and timelines for completion will keep you on track.

Do you enjoy making lists or are you more of a visual planner and concept developer? Try different prewriting strategies to find your favorite.

If outlining stifles the free flow of ideas, try a different approach such as writing a ‘draft zero’.

If you get stuck during the next phase of drafting, try reverting to a prewriting method such as freewriting to shake loose new ideas.

Let’s explore preparatory writing approaches further:

Brainstorm central ideas (with audience in mind)

A strong story concept or ‘central idea’ (as we call it in our story brainstorming process) is worth spending time on finding in the prewriting phase.

It’s much easier to draft (the next, developmental phase of the writing process ) when you have an idea that hints towards possible conflicts, the impetus for an adventure (and its ultimate objective).

Why keep your audience in mind? Depending on your genre, reader expectations matter. In literary fiction , you might get away with a pastiche of genre tropes or something more experimental and sui generis (genre-less). Readers of genres such as thrillers, on the other hand, expect story elements such as twists and generally taut, well-paced stories .

It helps to brainstorm ideas when you know the publishing landscape for your genre, too. What’s been published recently?

Writing a book about sparkly vampires after Twilight or a fantasy series about a boy with a distinguishing scar could be a tough sell when the market is so saturated for these. This is also why research is a crucial part of prewriting.

Use your idea to guide your research

Do you have your central idea? Fantastic – you have material to guide your research.

Is there something you need to learn more about to feel confident to move to the next stage of the writing process? Perhaps you need to research:

• A country you’re planning to use for a story setting
• A vocation or skill you don’t possess but a character does
• A psychological state or condition
• Life in a specific historical setting or era

Read over your central idea and make a list of possible reference sources.

For internet research, favor .edu, .org and .gov domains that have credible, cited references.

Many digital archives have been created that provide amazing scans of historical documents such as manuscripts and newspaper clippings, for example. The British Museum has digital collections , for example, offering information on over four million objects.

Strategies to organize your prewriting research

Apps such as Evernote and Trello offer ways to organize cards and lists with checklists and reminders.

Create bookmark folders in your internet browser by story location or other research detail if there are multiple topics you’ll need to learn more about.

Organized research where you can find the information you need fast will really help when you’re trying to find that one small fact you wanted to incorporate into your story.

Explore journalists’ questions (the 5 w’s)

Prewriting would be nothing without these five powerful questions:

The 5 w’s (and how they change) are a fundamental ingredient of what makes a great story .

Let’s take an example: Using these questions to expand on a logline from a 2022 bestseller:

‘Two childhood friends follow in their fathers’ footsteps, which puts them on opposite sides of the law.’

This is the logline for John Grisham’s The Boys from Biloxi (October 2022).

Say you had this central idea – a useful prewriting activity would be to go through it asking yourself questions using the 5 w’s. Questions such as:

• Who were the boys’ fathers?
• What did their fathers do that put the boys on opposite sides of the law?
• Why did the boys decide to emulate their fathers’ behavior?
• Where did the boys grow up (and where are they when the story picks up with their adult life?)
• When is the decisive moment that the boys each fall on one or the other side of the law?

It’s easy to expand a central idea from two lines to a paragraph than a page through this simple questioning process.

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Simplify writing process using a story organizer

A story organizer – whether it’s a whiteboard, corkboard with post-its (or the digital equivalent), prompt-based app or desktop writing software – is useful for prewriting with purpose.

Creating a skeleton of the tale you want to tell gives you something concrete to dress any way you like (not in a Norman Bates way).

A good outlining tool will help you with prewriting processes such as finding ideas, outlining, and moving around scene event outlines to find the sequence of events for your story.

Use the free template with progress tracker in our complete guide to story planning .

Plan prewriting plus other stages

It’s easy to get so caught up in outlining, research and other preparatory processes that you forget to apply any kind of organizing principles to drafting, the next phase of the writing process.

Drafting is hard, though. The prewriting phase is a good time to work out details such as:

• An attainable writing schedule for your story drafting
• A timeline from drafting to launch (including time for revision and editing)

Bank on a year at least (though Kickstart your Novel alumna Bonnie who we chatted to here managed to complete her debut within six months).

Tight timelines are doable with a plan plus discipline/accountability, so befriend prewriting sooner rather than later.

NaNoWriMo is useful annual event for pantsers resistant to planning because the timeline of 30 days and a clear target word count (50,000) provides an easy way to plan and prewrite.

It’s an ambitious daily word count target, though (50,000 / 30 or 1667 words per day). 80,000 words (standard paperback length) over six months equates to approximately 533 words per day – far more attainable if work or school keep you busy.

Find the prewriting activity that suits you

Writers often self-identify as either plotters or pantsers. Prewriting, though, isn’t only for plotting or finding in advance what will happen. If plotting each single incident in your story in advance isn’t for you, other prewriting activities you may still find useful include:

• Answering detailed character questionnaires to get to know your characters better
• Freewriting on a theme you intend to explore in your story (for example, ‘class in Victorian England’) to niche down and find more ideas
• Workshopping ideas in progress with other writers

Whatever prewriting activity you prefer, it should help you to write guided by a stronger underlying sense of purpose .

Try outlining alternatives if necessary

If you really don’t enjoy outlining or list-making, what then?

A very rough, not-at-all-polished first draft (or draft zero, or as a member called their draft in our recent Critiques Live ‘double zero draft’) provides a great way to take the pressure off yourself to write something perfect.

Try strategies for this type of prewriting such as turning your font white so you can’t be tempted to edit a few lines back as you go.

Another outlining alternative is to write a longer work as a short story, start to finish, first. This may uncover specific plot and character arcs that are begging to be teased into a longer narrative.

Go back to prewriting methods if stuck

What if you’re halfway through a draft you’ve ‘pantsed’ your way through (or planned) and you get stuck ?

Many writers treat storytelling and drafting like a runaway train on a linear track. You lay down your own track as you go, though, and can backtrack to the shelter of a station – prewriting – at any time.

If you aren’t sure what to write in the middle, or have hit another type of roadblock, try one of these strategies from prewriting:

• Write a two-line summary of every scene in your story so far and go through the 5 w’s to brainstorm potential plot developments for each
• Choose a character, topic or scenario from your story so far, set a timer or 15 minutes, and write anything that comes into your head for 15 minutes

Maya Angelou famously said that when she got stuck, she would write inanities such as ‘the cat sat on the mat’ over and over until her creative mind got so bored she would write anything else but that.

What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat,’…. And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.” Maya Angelou, quoted by Jack Heffron in ‘Chapter 31: The Water’s Fine’ in The Writer’s Idea Book: How to develop great ideas for fiction, nonfiction, poetry and screenplays, 2012.

What is your go-to prewriting approach? Tell us in the comments.

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Related Posts:

• How to write a scene: Nailing purpose and structure
• Write with purpose: 7 ways to keep drafts focused
• Why write a book? 10 global authors give reasons to write
• Tags outlining , writing process

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

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6 Creative Prewriting Activities for Academic Writing

by Suzanne Davis | May 28, 2020 | Writing Process

How do you develop essay ideas?

How do you find an interesting topic you can use for academic writing? Start with prewriting activities that help you unleash your thoughts and put them onto paper.  What is prewriting? 

It is the first stage of the writing process where you come up with ideas, make notes (and sometimes do research) and plan what you will write. Prewriting is an essential piece of academic writing, but many people overlook it.

They think prewriting is only for creative writing–it’s not.  Whatever writing genre you are in, prewriting helps you find and plan your ideas.  Prewriting for academic writing is like other types of prewriting; the difference is in how you evaluate writing ideas.

When you select a topic, you search for what interests you, as well as whether or not there is research about it.

Prewriting helps you select a topic you’re interested in and figure out what things you should include in your academic essay or paper.  The trick is in finding the ideal prewriting method that suits your personality as a writer and gets you excited to start a new writing project.

Today, we’re looking at 6 types of prewriting so that you can find the right activities for your writing process.

6 Prewriting Activities for Academic Writing

These are 6 prewriting activities I use to help my students decide what to write about and how they should plan their writing.

Three of these prewriting techniques will help find your topic and select some of your content. Three prewriting activities are for when you already know your subject and want to organize it.   Use one or a combination of these prewriting techniques to get you started on your essay.

Prewriting Activity 1: Brainstorming (Listing) Ideas

Brainstorming is where you write or type down every idea you have for a possible essay topic or any other kind of writing project.  Then you can use one of those ideas as a topic, and create a second list of ideas based on your essay topic.

The process for brainstorming is:

Part 1 –select a writing topic:.

• Find a place where you can focus without distraction.
• Ask yourself, “what can I write about?”
• Think for a moment.
• List every idea that comes to your mind.
• Do this for a short time (5-10 minutes).
• Look over your list and pick a topic.

Part 2—Choose content to include in your topic

• Focus on the question, “What ideas relate to this topic?”
• Write down every thought that comes to your mind for 5-10 minutes.
• Circle ideas that intrigue you.
• Decide which ideas would best relate to the essay topic, and which ideas are interesting.

Brainstorming is excellent for anyone who likes to do short creative activities that don’t require writing in complete sentences.  There is an organized process to it, but this activity doesn’t restrain the mind.

You won’t have a well-structured essay outline at the end of this activity, but you could try this activity first and then create an outline.

Prewriting Activity 2: Clustering/Mind Maps

This is an activity where you create a web or mind map based on your essay topic.   Clustering and mind mapping are the same thing, but the word “clustering” was used first.   

I use the words “mind map” because I use mind maps for many different learning activities.   The process is the same, no matter what you call this prewriting technique.

The process for creating a mind map is:

• Select your main topic.
• Write your main idea in a circle in the middle of your map.
• Think of an idea that relates to the main idea.
• Draw a line and write that word/s in a circle. These ideas are major categories you can include in your essay or paper.
• Do this for every idea that relates to your main topic.
• Look at the major categories you wrote in these circles.
• For each category, think of related ideas.
• Draw a branch with a circle for each related idea.
• Analyze the ideas in your mind map, and decide which ones you want to include in your writing project.

This prewriting activity is good for people who know their writing topic and want to develop ideas about what to include in their essay or paper. It is also an excellent activity for visual learners and people who don’t want to write a lot of words during the prewriting process.

Prewriting Activity 3: Freewriting and Looping

Freewriting is an activity where you write non-stop for a set number of minutes to find a topic.  You can use freewriting for other purposes like developing your writing voice and style, but it is a great prewriting activity too.  When you use it for prewriting, start with an open-ended question like, “What can I write about? or  “What things interest me?”

Looping is the second part of freewriting.  You take your writing topic and then write about it non-stop for another set number of minutes.  Looping will help you find other ideas you want to add to your writing.

Rachel Connor explains freewriting and looping in her post, “The Prewriting Toolkit: Freewriting and Looping” at  http://rachelconnorwriter.com/2014/12/the-prewriting-toolkit-freewriting-and-looping/

The goal of this activity is the same as brainstorming—find a topic and then select ideas related to it.

The process for freewriting:

• Find a place to focus and concentrate on writing.
• Set a timer for at least 10 minutes.
• Start writing and don’t stop to go back and edit your words.
• Keep writing even if you can’t think of what to say. When you’re stuck, write the words, “I don’t know what to say,” and then continue.
• Stop writing when you hear the timer’s alarm.
• Read what you wrote and circle, highlight or underline any exciting ideas.
• Ask, “Can I write an essay or paper about any of these ideas?”
• Select your idea and decide if you want to try looping for more ideas related to your topic.

The process for looping:

The process of looping is identical to that of freewriting.  Set a timer and write for a certain length of time without stopping. Then focus your writing on the topic you selected from the freewrite.  When you finish your writing,  you will circle, highlight, or underline interesting ideas related to your writing topic.   Then ask, “What ideas would be good to include in my essay or paper?”

Freewriting and looping are great for people who don’t like a lot of structure and want a lot of flexibility when they are prewriting.  It is not the best choice for people who don’t want to write a lot of sentences in a short time.

Prewriting Activity 4: Journalist’s Questions

This prewriting technique is where you take your main topic and try to answer the 6 questions journalists ask about everything they write:  Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How?

The process for the Journalist’s Questions prewriting activity:

• Write down your main topic.
• Ask each question: Who? What? When? Where? How? And Why?  Note: y ou probably won’t be able to answer every question for your topic.
• Answer questions that fit your main topic.
• Write detailed answers to these questions.
• Check and see if any of your answers make you think of other questions.
• Write down any other questions that come to your mind. These are called follow-up questions.
• Try to write answers to your follow-up questions.

The Journalist’s Questions prewriting activity is useful for people who are doing some kind of research writing.  These are also helpful questions for people writing a story or a personal narrative.  It is a structured prewriting exercise that is easy to follow, and it helps you develop a lot of content for your writing project.

This technique involves a lot of writing, but the writing is focused on answering specific questions.

Prewriting Activity 5: Creating an Outline

This prewriting exercise is for organizing your main idea, thesis statement, and all the content you’ll include in your essay or paper. It’s not a prewriting activity for choosing a topic and deciding on ideas.

It’s only helpful when you have a good idea of what you want to include in your paper.   

Here’s the process for creating an outline:

• Write a title at the head of the outline.
• Add the introduction, which includes: the hook—a sentence that engages your audience, so they want to keep reading your essay (fact, interesting story, statistic, quotation, etc.) &  the main idea and thesis statement.
• Outline the body of your essay with the main ideas connected to the thesis statement.  Add supporting details and evidence.
• Outline the conclusion which restates your thesis statement and explains the significance of that thesis.

Here’s what you include in an outline for a 5- Paragraph Essay.

You can add more pieces to the outline if you’re writing a longer paper.  If you’re writing a long research paper, you can divide your paper into headings. You’ll see an example of how to do this at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/01/

Outlines are perfect for you if you like to have a structured plan for what to write.  They make it easy for you to transfer your ideas into paragraphs.   But, if you are a person who likes to be flexible in their writing then you may not find this activity useful.   There are other ways to organize your notes and ideas before writing.

Prewriting Activity 6:  Journaling!

Do you want to have a source of endless writing ideas?   Journaling is an excellent habit for you.

You can keep a journal for your academic studies, or if you like journaling, you can keep a journal for each of your courses.  All you do is write down what you think or feel about what you’ve read, studied, or learned for that day.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• What’s the most intriguing thing I read about? Why is it interesting? 
• What ideas from class did I agree with and why?
• What did I disagree with and why?
• What did I learn today?
• What confused me?

You can explore many other questions in a daily academic journal.  I limit my writing to 1 page, and many times I write a lot less. I also have a personal journal, and I find many writing ideas from this journal too.

The advantage of journaling is that when you don’t know what to write about, you can look back at other things that interested you. Then you can decide if you want to write an essay or paper on those topics.

Try one or more of techniques with your writing and see which ones work the best for you.

 Also, if you want more support and help with academic writing, join the Academic Writing Success Community!   I’ll send you my free  How to Organize an Amazing Academic Essay Cheat Sheet! 

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