PREWRITING STRATEGIES

TECHNIQUES THAT WRITERS USE TO
HELP THEM GET IDEAS DOWN ON
PAPER AND TO DISCOVER WHAT THEY
KNOW (AND DON’T KNOW) ABOUT A
TOPIC.

PREWRITING STRATEGIES (cont.)

ALSO HELP WRITERS W/ THE PROBLEM
OF OVERCOMING WRITER’S BLOCK &
GETTING STARTED.

PREWRITING STRATEGIES (cont.)
SOME COMMON PREWRITING STRAT-
EGIES:

FREEWRITING

CLUSTERING

BRAINSTORMING

OUTLINING

HEURISTICS

FREEWRITING

WRITING NON-STOP FOR A MANAGE-
ABLE PERIOD OF TIME (10-15 MINS.)

THE ONLY RULE: DO NOT STOP WRIT-
ING FOR ANY REASON UNTIL THE TIME
IS UP.

FREEWRITING (cont.)

REDUCES ANXIETY BY ALLOWING A
WRITER TO EXPRESS IMMEDIATE FEEL-
INGS, QUESTIONS, & IDEAS ABOUT A
TOPIC.

GETS WORDS & IDEAS FLOWING; HELPS
OVERCOME THE URGE TO EDIT.

FREEWRITING (cont.)

AFTER FREEWRITING, UNDERLINE
STRIKING WORDS OR IDEAS THAT CAN
SERVE AS STARTING POINTS FOR FUR-
THER THINKING & (FREE)WRITING.

FREEWRITING (cont.)

CAN ALSO BE A USEFUL WARM-UP
ACTIVITY FOR TAKING OUT ONE’S
MENTAL “GARBAGE.”

CLUSTERING

A VISUAL FORM OF BRAINSTORMING
THAT HELPS A WRITER SEE RELATION-
SHIPS AMONG IDEAS BETTER THAN
FREEWRITING DOES.

CLUSTERING (cont.)

BASIC PROCEDURE:
(1) CIRCLE TOPIC IN MIDDLE OF PAGE.
(2) WRITE DOWN (AND CIRCLE) OTHER
IDEAS & CONNECT RELATED IDEAS
W/ LINES.

CLUSTERING (cont.)

ANY WORD OR IDEA IN A CLUSTER CAN
BECOME THE STARTING POINT OF A
NEW CLUSTER, WHICH CAN PROVIDE
THE BASIS FOR SUPPORTING PARA-
GRAPHS.

BRAINSTORMING

RAPID FREE ASSOCIATION & LISTING
OF IDEAS ABOUT A TOPIC.

THE BASIC RULE: WRITE DOWN ALL
IDEAS THAT COME TO MIND IN SINGLE
WORDS OR SHORT PHRASES; OMIT
NOTHING.

BRAINSTORMING (cont.)

AFTER INITIAL BRAINSTORMING, ANA-
LYZE THE LIST BY DOING THE FOLLOW-
ING KINDS OF THINGS:

PUT ASTERISKS, STARS, ETC. NEXT TO THE
MOST PROMISING ITEMS;

NUMBER KEY ITEMS IN ORDER OF IMPOR-
TANCE;

BRAINSTORMING (cont.)

ANALYZE BRAINSTORMING BY:

GROUP RELATED ITEMS;

CROSS OUT UNPROMISING ITEMS;

ADD NEW ITEMS.

OUTLINING

HELPS PLAN THE ORGANIZATION OF AN
ESSAY AS WELL AS GENERATE IDEAS.

THREE BASIC TYPES OF OUTLINES:

SCRATCH

TOPIC

SENTENCE

SCRATCH OUTLINE

A ROUGH LIST OF INTENDED POINTS
& IDEAS (THE LEAST FORMAL TYPE
OF OUTLINE).

TOPIC OUTLINE

MORE DETAILED, W/ IDEAS PRESENTED
IN KEY WORDS OR PHRASES IN CONVEN-
TIONAL OUTLINE FORMAT (I.E., W/ NUM-
BERED & LETTERED HEADINGS & SUB-
HEADINGS).

SENTENCE OUTLINE

EVEN MORE DEVELOPED IN COMPLETE
SENTENCES, EACH SENTENCE BEING A
SUBTOPIC FOR A SUPPORTING PARA-
GRAPH. CONTAINS MOST OF THE IN-
FORMATION IN AN ESSAY (THE MOST
FORMAL TYPE OF OUTLINE).

HEURISTICS

A HEURISTIC IS A SYSTEMATIC DIS-
COVERY PROCEDURE THAT FORCES A
WRITER TO CONSIDER DIFFERENT
ASPECTS OF A TOPIC.

HEURISTICS (cont.)

AN EXAMPLE OF A HEURISTIC IS THE
JOURNALIST’S QUESTIONS: WHO,
WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, & HOW.