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.