Generating Ideas
1.Free Writing:
This technique is used when you need to find a topic, when you have no ideas about the selected
topic, or when you're blocked by the blank computer screen or a blank sheet of paper.
Directions: Begin with a blank sheet of paper or a blank screen. Write nonstop for 10 minutes.
Don't try to make sense, to write complete sentences, or to spell correctly. Let your subconscious
mind be in control. Simply keep the pen moving and in contact with the paper for 10 minutes.
When the time is up, look at what you have written and select the word, phrase, or idea that
seems somehow significant (although you may not know why or how it is significant). Write a
sentence using that word or idea (we call this a "center-of-gravity sentence"). Write that sentence
at the top of another blank sheet of paper and do the same process again for 10 minutes. Don't
force yourself to write about that center-of-gravity sentence.
Repeat this process 3 or 4 times. Your center-of-gravity sentences might reveal a useful topic,
and they should provide some ideas for developing that topic.
Below is a 90-second sample of free writing (the assignment is to write a personal essay). Notice
all the characteristics of free writing--ideas are connected by a process of association rather than
by logic; there are no formal sentences; ideas run into one another; there are occasional nonsense
strings of words; and there are several puns, rhymes, and word plays (the subconscious seems to
enjoy them):
My room is cold and I feel like a Tommy gun in a 1940's movie with lots of
ammo and no target and fill up the cup and run it over the top you mop and sing a
song and think a thought and find me a cabbage patch doll for Xmas or without an
X pal buddy friend amigo and all that good stuff stuff stuff is what we're made of
buddy good buddy sidekick I get a kick out of my sidekick that's all folks and
that's the beginning and horror movies with "the beginning?" at the end instead of
"the end" and doesn't anything ever end and is that or that and then some more
and road maps are tumbling down the falls of life whatever that is fat cat mat bat
and all the ships at sea.
After re-reading the above, the writer might write one or more of the following center-of-gravity
sentences:
Although I consider myself to be a peaceful person, I sometimes describe myself
in violent terms, comparing myself to such things as Tommy guns.
There are lot of different words to describe a "friend," but each suggests an
element of friendship rather than a total friend.
All the bad stuff in life just seems to never end.
2.Directed Free Writing:
This variation of free writing is used when you have a topic but don't have any ideas about it.
Directions: Write the topic at the top of a blank sheet of paper. Then follow the directions above
under "Free Writing." Don't try to force your free writing to deal with the topic you've written --
often you'll discover an interesting aspect of the topic or approach to it in free writing that doesn't
seem at first glance to be connected to the topic.
Assume that we've been asked to write a personal essay that defines a concept. Based on the free
writing above, I've selected friendship:
What is friendship? Pals, buddies, blood brothers, sidekicks? Good times,
happiness, shared interests, helping out and being helped during crunch times,
knowing you can count on those people, knowing that they'll always be there for
you. That's supposed to be friendship. Are friends supposed to admire you?
Should they tell you all your good qualities once a week or something? Are you
supposed to admire them? What if they do something rotten? Or worse, a lot of
rotten things? What if they lie to other people -- can you be friends with a liar?
How can you trust what they tell you if they lie to other people? Is trusting friends
to tell you the truth even part of the definition of friendship? And what about
shared values? What if they cheat and you don't? What if they get drunk every
other night or welch on bets or make promises and then break them at the last
minute? What if you like to live on the edge and they're very cautious about
everything? Can you really be friends then? And what about spending time
together? Do you have to spend a certain amount of time with people for them to
your friends? Are there different kinds of friends? The people you play sports
with or go drinking with are one kind of friend, another kind is the people who
will drop what they're doing and drive over and help push your car out of a snow
bank or who will lend you some money without asking what you need it for. A
third kind are people you confide all your secrets to, the ones whose advice you
listen to. Are all these friends or are some of them just acquaintances or
sidekicks? And what about women friends? According to When Harry Met Sally,
there can't be a friendship between a man and a woman without some romantic
interest as well. Is that true? And what if a friend lets you down? How many times
does he/she have to let you down before he/she slips to the level of acquaintance?
to the level of stranger? Are friends really sidekicks? Was Tonto really the Lone
Ranger's friend? It didn't seem like a very equal relationship to me. Do friends
have to be equals? And when do you break up a friendship? What are the
acceptable causes (and to whom are they acceptable -- is there some panel of
judges somewhere making decisions about such things)? And what if a friend
starts to ignore you or finds better friends? Is he/she still a friend? Do you want
him/her for a friend still? What if a friend uses you to get over some tough times
and then leaves you in the lurch? Someone once said that you shouldn't become
friends with someone who starts off looking for help or is needy because the
relationship will never really be a friendship -- the power will always be lopsided.
Is friendship about power relations? Maybe no sidekicks -- just equals.
Based on this directed free writing, we can see several points that could be explored in a draft of
the essay: (1) are there different kinds of friends? (2) do people misuse the term friend when they
should use acquaintance or some other term? (3) what are some good reasons for forming a
friendship? (4) do friends have to be equal? (5) is friendship a power relationship? (6) do friends
have to share the same sense of themselves? the same values? the same lifestyle? (7) can men
and women be "just friends"?
3.Cubing:
This technique combines classical invention and free writing and is used when you have a topic
but aren't sure what to say about it.
Directions: Write the topic at the top of a blank sheet of paper. Then write responses to each of
the following commands. Write nonstop for at least 5 minutes on each command. Do not try to
write good prose; do not stop to correct grammar, punctuation, or spelling. A variation: instead
of free writing, write at least one full paragraph (4-7 sentences) for each of the commands.
Describe it
Associate it
Apply it
Compare it
Tell how it is made
Argue for or against it
4.Listing:
This is a powerful tool for generating ideas and for seeing connections between them once you
know what your topic is.
Directions: Write your topic at the top of the page. Then, in single words or short phrases, write
in list form everything that comes to mind about the topic. Don't worry about connections or
relevance; simply jot down everything that occurs to you. Once you're finished, look at the list
carefully. Are there some items that seem to belong together? Group them, and try to assign a
name to that group. Feel free to add to the list at any time and eliminate any items that don't fit.
Then try to write an assertion about each group.
For example, if the topic were "apple," the list might be:
pie
cider
William Tell
tarts
the Big Apple
apple for the teacher
an apple a day keeps the doctor away
applesauce
Johnny Appleseed
Apple computers
Adam and Eve
red
green
apple butter
core
stem
Delicious
Granny Smith
Cortland
apple juice
crab apple
apple jelly
Snow White
applejack
Groups or Categories:
1.description of the apple (e.g., stem, core, color)
2.apple's uses as food (including beverages)
3.apple sayings (e.g., "apple a day")
4.myths and legends associated with apples (e.g., Snow White)
Each of the above groups (categories) might become a section and/or major idea in the paper.
5.Variation on Listing:
Some writers work in the reverse order; they think of the groupings (or categories) first and then
make lists under them. That's fine. In either case, the point is to make a list.
6.Classical Invention:
This approach helps you discover material by asking questions about your topic.
Questions about a physical object:
1.What are its physical characteristics?
2.What sort of structure does it have?
3.What other object is it similar to?
4.How does it differ from things that resemble it?
5.Who or what produced it?
6.Who uses it? For what?
Questions about events:
1.Exactly what happened (who, what, when, where, why, how)?
2.What were its causes?
3.What were its consequences?
4.How is this event like or unlike similar events?
5.To what other events was it connected?
6.How might the event have been altered or avoided?
Questions about abstract concepts:
1.How has the concept or term been defined by others?
2.How do you define the term?
3.What other concepts have been associated with it?
4.In what ways has this concept affected the lives of people?
5.How might the concept be changed to work better?
Questions about propositions:
1.What must be established before readers will believe the proposition?
2.What are the meanings of the key words in the proposition?
3.By what kinds of evidence can the proposition be proved or disproved?
4.What counter-arguments must be confronted and refuted?
5.What are the practical consequences of the proposition?
Note: Any complex topic will require you to begin with one kind of questioning and then move
to another. In answering the question about consequences or a proposition, for example, you may
need to use an abstract term. Defining that term opens a new field of inquiry.
Similarly, you can mix these various approaches (e.g., begin with Free Writing and then use
Classical Invention) or invent your own techniques.
MIT Online Writing and Communication Center
Copyright © 1999, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Reprinted with permission.