ENGL000: Pre-College English

There are three steps for pre-writing that break down to five different techniques. Read more about each below.

• Step One - Idea-generation
  • Freewriting
  • Listing/Brainstorming
  • Questioning
• Step Two - Idea focus: Find a specific topic and message (what you want to say about that topic) and group your details and examples into three main supporting ideas
• Step Three - Idea-organizing
  • Clustering
  • Outlining

Step One: Idea Generation

In the same way that you need materials if you are going to build a house, you need materials (ideas) if you are going to write a paragraph. In this first important step of prewriting, you want to generate somewhere around twice the amount of ideas than what you will actually use in the writing. The following techniques are a great way to produce ideas. Though you should try all three of these techniques, once you have found one that really helps you come up with your best material, you will no longer need to use all three. Ultimately, you want to decide on one of these techniques as your "go-to" method of generating ideas.

Freewriting

Freewriting involves starting with a topic and just writing everything you can think of about that topic nonstop for a full ten minutes. Don't censor yourself or worry about grammar or spelling – just generate as many ideas as you can about your topic.

Here is an example of some freewriting that the author of the Corner Store paragraph wrote:

Freewriting Practice

I would like for you to practice using these prewriting techniques. Using the general topic of "jobs," please do some freewriting for a hypothetical paragraph essay assignment. Set a timer for ten minutes and aim to write nonstop with whatever comes to your mind about the topic.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is very similar to freewriting. Start with a topic and write words and phrases that you associate with that topic for ten full minutes. The only big difference between freewriting and brainstorming is that you don't need to worry about writing in sentences for brainstorming.

Here is an example of some brainstorming that the author of the Corner Store paragraph wrote:

babysitting jobs	fun playing with cousin
outside on my bike	had to start bundling at 4am
office temping	too much office gossiping
gross messes	screaming kids
very little money	fast food job
cooked burgers and made fries	smelly and super busy
Corner Store job	Mohamed took my shift for me when I had a class field trip
free fountain drinks during our shift	free fountain drinks during our shift
long commute	Katie stayed late for me
$12 an hour	Alicia orders us pizza sometimes
candy bar	drama with customer
32 hours a week	schedule changes based on my classes
birthday gift cards	stock shelves
run register	make coffee
make coffee lots of freetime to do homework	I have to clean the bathroom and it's gross

Brainstorming Practice

Using the same general topic as you used in the last activity (about "jobs"), do some brainstorming to generate ideas for a hypothetical paragraph essay assignment. As you did with the freewriting, plan to spend a full ten minutes or so on this activity. There will likely be some repetition between the ideas generated by freewriting and brainstorming.

Questioning

Questioning involves starting with a topic and writing a series of questions (at least a dozen or so) with answers about that topic. Think about the W's (who, what, when, why, and how) and think of any other questions that help you delve more deeply into your topic generating material you might use for an essay.

Here is an example of some questioning that the author of the Corner Store paragraph wrote:

What did I like about babysitting?  It was fun when it was my cousin How was it difficult with other kids? Lots of screaming kids, parents came home late, bad pay, messes What was fun about the paper route? Worked outside on my bike  When did I have to start work? 4am – horrible!  What did I do at the temp job? Sorted mail and ran outgoing items through the postage machine  What was unpleasant about the people? Regular employees didn't like temps How was the fast food job gross? I constantly smelled like grease  How was fast food stressful? It was always really busy and customers were rude How are the people at the Corner Store My coworkers have helped me when I needed great? it, my boss, Alicia does nice things for the employees What kind of nice things does Alicia do? Birthday gift cards and occasionally orders us pizza How have my coworkers helped me? Mohamed covered my shift when I needed it and Katie stayed late for me when I needed to go home to study for a test When do I work? I always get 32 hours a week and they never interfere with my classes How is the pay good? $12 an hour What kind of work do I do? Stocking shelves, making coffee, helping customers, and cleaning the bathroom

Questioning Practice

Continue using the same general topic "jobs" as you did in the first two activities, but now, do some questioning to generate ideas for a hypothetical paragraph essay assignment. As with the first two activities here, plan to spend around ten minutes or so on this. As you complete these first three activities, you will find that all three generate similar ideas. At this point, I'd like you to look at what you have written and decide which of these techniques helps you generate your best and most useful ideas. Which of these techniques did you like best?

Step Two: Idea Focus

At this point, you have generated a lot of ideas and examples related to your topic.

Your next step is to look at all that good stuff you came up with and decide what might make for a good paragraph – what would you like to focus on?

A paragraph should focus on one specific topic and one specific message/opinion/attitude you wish to express about that topic (you liked it, you hated it, you learned a lot from it, etc…).

With this in mind, decide what specific topic you want to focus on and what most of your generated ideas seem to say about that specific topic. Then go through your details and find the ones which will most effectively express what you want to say about that topic and cross off details that would be off topic. For example, if your topic is a job you once had, and you decide you want to write about how you liked that job, you will need to cut details that do not answer the question, "What did you like?"

You might also find it helpful at this point to write a topic sentence which previews what your paragraph will be about. A topic sentence should contain the specific topic and what you plan to say about it (basically the two items you have focused on in this step). With the job example, I might say, "I really liked my job at Smith's Bakery for many reasons".

A final action to take in focusing your ideas is to determine three (or four) main ideas, that is, three or four ways that or reasons how what you want to say about your topic is true. This will entail grouping all those details you've chosen around three main points. With the job example, my main ideas might be: enjoyable work, pleasant customers, and great management.

When the author of the Corner Store paragraph looked at her generated ideas, she noticed that it seemed like the bulk of what she had written was about the Corner Store, so she decided to narrow down the topic of "jobs" to the specific topic of her job at the Corner Store.

At this point, she went through her generated ideas and crossed off all the details about babysitting jobs and the fast food job.

For the purposes of modeling here, we will look at how she did this using her brainstormed list.

babysitting jobs  fun playing with cousin  gross messes  screaming kids very little money  newspaper route  outside on my bike  had to start  bundling at 4am  office temping  too much office gossiping  fast food job  cooked burgers and made fries  smelly and super busy  Corner Store job  Mohamed took my shift for me when I had a class field trip  free fountain drinks during our shift  long commute  Katie stayed late for me  $12 an hour  Alicia orders us pizza sometimes  candy bar drama with George  32 hours a week  schedule changes based on my classes  birthday gift cards  stock shelves  run register  make coffee  lots of freetime to do homework  I have to clean bathroom and it's gross

From there, she looked at what kind of ideas she had generated about the Corner Store job and determined that they were mostly positive details and things she liked about the job, so she decided that her message (what she wants to say about her specific topic) is that she likes the job at the Corner Store.

With these two pieces (the specific topic and the message), she went ahead and wrote a topic sentence:

At this point, she went back to her brainstormed list (above) and crossed off anything that did not answer the question, "Why do you really love your job at the Corner Store?" She decided that the long commute, cleaning the gross bathroom, and the drama with the customer, George, would not fit in her essay.

Lastly, she started thinking about how she might organize the remaining details around three main ideas, that is, reasons why she loves her job at the Corner Store.

She decided that the three reasons she would focus on (based on the details she generated) were:

1. Easy work
2. Good people
3. Good benefits and pay

Focusing Practice

Please take the ideas you have generated from the first three activities and work on focusing them. If you generated ideas about multiple jobs, please look at what you have and decide which job will be your specific topic for this paragraph. Then look at what kinds of details you have generated about that job and what you think you might want to say about that job. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Did you learn a lot? Did you have really crazy experiences there? What opinion do you have toward this job that the details you generated would support?

After narrowing down your topic and message, please work on writing a topic sentence and organize your details around three or maybe four main ideas.

Step Three: Idea Organizing

Once you have generated ideas and focused them (meaning you have decided your topic and what you plan to say about that topic, and have crossed off ideas that do not support your message), it is time to organize all your generated ideas and create a sort of blueprint for your paragraph. Please try the following two techniques, but once you get a feeling for what is most helpful to you, you will only need to use one of these techniques.

Clustering

Clustering involves determining what generated ideas will best support each of the three or four main ideas you determined in the focus step. In particular, clustering involves creating a visual using bubbles or boxes to group ideas and lines or arrows to show relationships between ideas.

Here is an example of a cluster map that the author of the Corner Store paragraph wrote as part of her organizational prewriting. Note that in the middle of her cluster map, she has written out the message of her topic sentence:

Clustering Practice

Using the topic sentence and narrowed down ideas from what you generated, make a cluster map that organizes your main ideas and supporting details to create a visual you can use as a kind of blueprint for your first draft.

Outlining

Outlining involves determining what generated ideas will best support each of the three or four main ideas you determined in the focus step. Instead of creating a visual (as is done in clustering), outlining uses a system of letters and numbers to show relationships between ideas.

Here is an example of an outline that the author of the Corner Store paragraph wrote as part of her organizational prewriting:

Topic Sentence: I really love my job at The Corner Store for many reasons.

1. Easy work
   1. Ring up customers, stock shelves, and make sure there is fresh coffee
   2. It's never busy so I can sit behind the register and do homework
2. I work with good people
   1. Coworkers help me out if I need it
      1. When I needed someone to cover for me so I could attend a field trip to the local art museum for my art history class, Mohamed took my shift for me
      2. One night when I had a big test the next morning, I was supposed to finish inventory before I left and my coworker Katie agreed to stay late and finish for me
   2. My boss, Alicia does a lot of nice things for us
      1. She always gives us a ten dollar gift card for our birthdays
      2. She sometimes orders a pizza for all of us when business is slow
3. Great pay and benefits
   1. $12 an hour
   2. Free fountain beverages during my shift
   3. A great schedule
      1. I always get 32 hours
      2. Alicia changes it for me every semester so it works around my classes

Outlining Practice

Using the topic sentence and narrowed down ideas from what you generated, make an outline that organizes your main ideas and supporting details to create a visual you can use as a kind of blueprint for your first draft. *Note: You will find that the outline is going to be very similar to the cluster map. As you try these two methods, please keep in mind what works for you and best helps you organize your ideas; in the future, you will never need to make both a cluster map and an outline.

A final note about prewriting is that there is nothing wrong with changing your writing plans or even scrapping them at any point in the process. Sometimes, you can have a great essay all planned out, but as you start writing the first draft, it just doesn't come together as you had hoped. Be flexible in this process and remember that if you are really stuck in trying to write about something, sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is to change directions. On this note, ALWAYS keep ALL of your prewriting. Even as you are narrowing down what you plan to use, never erase; just put a single line through an item (as the author of the prewriting above did in the brainstorming). It could be that something you dismissed in your generated ideas is the perfect direction for your essay (when your original plan doesn't work) and if you keep all your prewriting, you may not have as much new prewriting to do.

Drafting

Technically this isn't a prewriting step, but writing a first draft is the first step in working on a final draft. At this point, you have ideas generated, focused, and organized, so now it is time to start taking all those details and writing them out in sentences!

Please rewrite the following paragraph, filling in the blanks with the ideas and details you produced (be sure to write in complete sentences). I have included transitions, but feel free to change the wording if you need to.

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Source: Erin Severs
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License.