Prewriting

Introduction:

Loosely defined, prewriting includes all the writing strategies employed before writing your first draft. Although many more prewriting strategies exist, this section covers the following: 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.

Prewriting:

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.

This course will provide you with a few examples from a writer named Mariah as she explores and develops her essay’s topic and focus. This will be valuable as you consider your own topic and begin prewriting. The first important step is for you to determine why you are writing (to inform, to explain, or some other purpose) and for whom you are writing (your audience). Write your purpose and your audience on your own sheet of paper, and keep the paper close by as you explore options for prewriting.

Prewriting Techniques: 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,
• Asking 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.

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 every-day 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

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.

Summary:

There are many strategies available for prewriting. By completing activities such as clustering, brainstorming, listing, and freewriting, you will provide yourself ample opportunity to generate ideas for a paper, assignment, or creative writing project.

Terms included in this section include:

• Freewriting – scribbling down thoughts with little to no structure
• Clustering – grouping concepts together to form connections and groups of ideas
• Listing – jotting down a list of ideas with no particular need for structure/organization
• Brainstorming – this could happen in a variety of ways. Simply thinking through a topic, discussing a topic with a friend or family member, or reading more about a topic could give you initial brainstorming ideas.

Sources:

“Overview of Prewriting.” by GSU Perimeter College English Department. Retrieved from: http://gsuideas.org/SCC/WrtProcess/2.1%20Prewriting.html Licensed under: CC-BY 4.0. Adapted by The American Women’s College at Bay Path University.