Prewriting

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Prewriting

• Chapter 3
• Reasoning Writing Well, 3rd Edition
• ENG 101

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Discovering Ideas

• Some students are reluctant to write because they
  dont know how to begin.
• The prewriting techniques explained in this
  chapter can help anyone start writing quickly.
• They can also help to divert the flood of anxiety
  that sometimes overwhelms writers.

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Prewriting

• The first stage of the writing process is a time
  of discovery you unearth ideas.
• Prewriting can condense swirling mists of
  thoughts into words on paper.
• You uncover raw material to shape and polish
  later.
• There is no need to think about order or
  correctness.
• The object is to produce as many ideas as
  possible.

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Prewriting

• You can prewrite whenever and however you like
  on paper, at a keyboard, or with a tape recorder.
• Most everything we do in class is considered
  prewriting. You just have to record it in some
  way.
• The literature we read, the journalresponses we
  write in the discussion board are both prewriting
  activities.
• The six invention techniques in this chapter are
  ways to jump-start ideas.

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Invention Techniques

• Freewriting
• Clustering
• Brainstorming
• List Making Scratch Outlining
• Questioning
• Reading Literature Doing Research
• Keeping a Journal (Discussion Board or Blog)

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Freewriting

• Freewriting is uncensored writing, often in
  sentence form.
• Freewriting enables anyone to start writing
  immediately.
• To freewrite, just empty whatever bits and pieces
  of ideas are in your mind out onto the paper.

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Clustering

• Clustering is uncensored brainstorming combined
  with doodling.
• Clustering produces an overview of a subject,
  suggests specific topics, and yields related
  details.
• To begin, take a fresh sheet of paper and write a
  general subject in the center.
• Circle the word. As new thoughts burst forth, jot
  it near the word that prompted it.
• Circle the new word. Next, draw a line between
  the two. Repeat the procedure.

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Brainstorming

• Brainstorming captures ideas as they flit by,
  either as words, phrases, or fragments.
• You can use this technique in a group or alone.
• The secret of success in brainstorming is to
  think fast and forgo criticism.
• In brainstorming, all ideas are respected and
  recorded, no matter how wild.

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List Making Scratch Outlining on Computer

• List making can be a boon when you know so much
  about a topic you feel overwhelmed.
• With a list you can narrow a broad range of
  possibilities.
• Lists often have no apparent order. When you
  start placing ideas in order, you are beginning a
  scratch outline.
• This primitive outline is simply a revised list
  that herds ideas into a tentative order.

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Questioning

• To use questioning at its best, try projecting
  yourself into the role of a reporter.
• What questions could you ask to elicit
  information from other people?
• The traditional five Ws and H (who? What?
  When? Where? Why? How?) can be expanded to
  full-fledged questions

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Full-Fledged Questions

• Who was involved?
• What happened?
• When did it happen?
• Where did it happen?
• Why did it happen?

• How did it happen?
• What will be its effect?
• What can be learned?
• What is the subject like or unlike?
• How has it changed over time?

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Reading Literature Doing Research

• You can gather ideas for writing by reading
  literature.
• We will talk more about this later in the
  semester when we read chapters 26, 27, and 28.
• This class will also require research.
• We will talk more about this later as well, when
  we read chapters 22 23.

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Keeping a Journal

• Some instructors require that students keep a
  journal to store reactions to essays, fiction,
  and poetry or other ideas for writing.
• We will use the Discussion Board to record some
  of our reactions.
• Journals are also useful for recording
  observations, impressions, and incidents when you
  conduct firsthand research.

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Summary

• Prewriting is a practical way to manage fear of
  writing. When a writer faces fear and starts
  prewriting, progress begins.
• Prewriting is the first stage of the writing
  process, an opportunity to discover ideas and
  write them down.
• Six common invention techniques, useful in
  prewriting, are freewriting, clustering,
  brainstorming, list-making, scratch outlining,
  and questioning.
• You may also gather information for writing from
  reading literature and doing research.
• Journals are a valuable way for storing
  observations and ideas for later writing.