prewriting for an essay includes organizing ideas

Prewriting: Definition, Techniques, Example & How-To Guide

What is Prewriting?

Prewriting is the initial stage of the writing process, where you gather ideas, organize your thoughts, and plan before drafting your text. It involves activities like brainstorming, researching, outlining, and mapping ideas to clarify your topic and structure before beginning the actual writing. This step helps improve focus and coherence in the final piece of writing.

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Prewriting Techniques:

Prewriting techniques are essential for organizing thoughts and generating ideas before writing. Here are some common prewriting strategies:

Brainstorming:

Write down all ideas related to your topic without worrying about organization or quality. This helps in generating content quickly.

Freewriting:

Set a time limit and write continuously without stopping to edit or evaluate. It allows ideas to flow freely.

Clustering (Mind Mapping):

Start with a central idea and branch out into related subtopics. This visual technique helps in seeing connections between ideas.

Create a structured plan for your writing by organizing main points and subpoints. It provides a clear roadmap for the actual writing process.

Make a list of ideas, points, or questions related to the topic. This helps in breaking down complex subjects into manageable sections.

Questioning (5 Ws and H):

Ask who, what, when, where, why, and how to explore different aspects of the topic and gather details for deeper understanding.

Researching:

Read articles, books, or other resources to gather information. This technique is useful for topics that require factual accuracy and depth.

Prewriting Uses:

Prewriting serves several important uses:

• Idea Generation: It helps brainstorm and explore potential topics or arguments.
• Organization: Assists in structuring thoughts logically before writing.
• Clarity: Clarifies the main purpose and message of the writing.
• Planning: Helps outline the flow and sections of the piece.
• Focus: Keeps the writer on track by identifying key points and avoiding irrelevant details.
• Research: Allows gathering of relevant information and sources beforehand.
• Overcoming Writer’s Block: Breaks the writing task into smaller, manageable steps to reduce anxiety.

How to Do Prewriting?

Below is a step by step guide on how to do prewriting:

1. Understand Your Topic:

Begin by clarifying what you’re writing about. This can include reviewing the assignment or prompt and considering the purpose of the piece (informative, persuasive, etc.).

2. Choose a Prewriting Technique:

Select from a variety of techniques to help generate and organize ideas. Some common methods include:

• Brainstorming: Jot down ideas, phrases, and concepts that come to mind.
• Freewriting: Write continuously without worrying about structure or grammar to unlock thoughts.
• Clustering/Mind Mapping: Visualize connections between ideas by creating a map or diagram.
• Outlining: Structure your ideas in a logical order, often using headings and subheadings.
• Listing: Create bulleted or numbered lists to organize your points.
• Questioning: Use the “5 Ws and H” (Who, What, Where, When, Why, How) to explore your topic further.

3. Research (If Needed):

If your topic requires background information or supporting evidence, gather relevant data before you start writing.

4. Refine Your Focus:

Narrow your ideas to ensure that your writing has a clear thesis or main argument. Identify which points are most important and align with your purpose.

5. Organize Your Thoughts:

Arrange your ideas into a logical order to form a basic structure for your writing. You might use an outline to guide the organization of your essay, article, or project.

6. Set Writing Goals:

Define your writing objectives, such as what tone to adopt, the scope of the work, and any specific requirements like word count or style.

This prewriting process can be applied to a wide range of writing tasks, including essays, secondary application responses, research papers, and more.

Prewriting Example:

Below is an example of prewriting using the brainstorming and outlining techniques for an essay about the impact of technology on education.

Topic: The Impact of Technology on Education

1. Brainstorming:

Online learning platforms (e.g., Coursera, Khan Academy) Increased access to information Digital literacy and skills for students The role of technology in personalized learning Challenges: digital divide, screen time, and distraction Teacher training on new technology Impact of COVID-19 on e-learning adoption Future trends: AI in education, virtual reality classrooms

2. Outlining:

Introduction:

Hook: Mention how technology has transformed education. Thesis: Technology has revolutionized education by providing access to resources, personalizing learning experiences, and offering flexibility, but challenges such as the digital divide remain.

Body Paragraph 1:

Topic Sentence: Technology enhances access to information and resources. Examples: Online courses, digital libraries, research databases. Supporting Evidence: Statistics on e-learning growth and its benefits.

Body Paragraph 2:

Topic Sentence: Personalized learning is made possible through technology. Examples: Adaptive learning software, AI-powered tutors. Supporting Evidence: Case studies on personalized learning outcomes.

Body Paragraph 3:

Topic Sentence: The challenges of implementing technology in education. Examples: Digital divide, lack of teacher training, distractions caused by devices. Supporting Evidence: Surveys on access inequality and educator concerns.

Conclusion:

Restate thesis: While technology offers significant advancements in education, addressing the challenges is essential for ensuring equitable access.

Closing thought: As technology evolves, the future of education will continue to change, potentially leveling the playing field for all students.

This example shows how prewriting helps organize ideas and create a clear path for drafting the essay.

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How to Prewrite: Prewriting Tips for Generating Ideas

All types of writers benefit from prewriting—the process that prepares you to write—whether you’re a student who’s drafting a thesis paper or a professional screenwriter preparing for an upcoming project. Integrating this step into your writing process strengthens your writing by helping you develop and think through your ideas. 

If you’re wondering why prewriting is important, consider Nobel Prize-winning  author Toni Morrison’s famous quote: 

“Writing is really a way of thinking—not just feeling but thinking about things that are disparate, unresolved, mysterious, problematic, or just sweet.”

Although prewriting takes additional time, it helps you explain your points articulately and coherently when you’re ready to write. Give your writing extra polish Grammarly helps you communicate confidently Write with Grammarly

What is prewriting, and what is its purpose?

Prewriting typically happens before you buckle down to write the first draft . It’s a process that can be applied to any type of writing, such as a persuasive writing essay or a short story. 

It’s a brainstorming activity that lets you define the purpose of your writing. The exercise encourages you to formulate your ideas, identify what you already know, and understand what you need to further explore to effectively make your point. 

As a preliminary step in the overall writing process, it encourages you to think through your concepts so you avoid feeling stuck when you write. Prewriting can also help you determine a structure for your writing.  

With continued practice, prewriting can help you write faster and more cohesively. 

Prewriting vs. outlining

If the concept of prewriting sounds a lot like writing an outline , you aren’t wrong; outlining is technically one type of prewriting technique. However, outlining is generally more useful if you already have a grasp of your ideas and a plan for how you’ll approach your key points or arguments. 

An outline typically includes a thesis and a bullet point structure of your ideas in the order you’ll write them in your paper. Under each topic or subtopic, you might include details about the main idea or additional analysis.

For this reason, some writers create an outline after fleshing out their ideas using other types of prewriting approaches. Some popular brainstorming techniques that you can try before outlining include “listing” and “clustering.”

How to prewrite: 5 additional prewriting techniques

If the prewriting step feels daunting, ask yourself the following questions as a starting point: 

• What is the objective of this paper?
• What is my thesis? What argument or claim am I making?
• What assertions validate my thesis?
• Do I have supporting evidence for each point?
• How do I want to organize these points?

Being clear about your intentions ahead of time makes the prewriting process that much more productive. When you have a broad answer to these questions, you’re ready to apply your responses toward your preferred prewriting technique. 

1 Clustering prewriting

Clustering is an effective prewriting strategy that helps you make connections between different ideas in a visual format. This technique is also called idea mapping; it gets this name because of the weblike visual effect that clustering creates on the page.

Here’s how it works: 

• Write your primary idea in the middle of the page: Some writers circle or underline the idea. This might be your theme or thesis statement.
• Brainstorm secondary ideas: Other ideas related to your primary idea might come up in the brainstorming process. Write them around your central theme or idea, connecting the secondary ideas to your main idea.
• Repeat: Continue the above step for each secondary idea until all of your ideas are clustered in the idea map. 

2 Freewriting prewriting

The freewriting prewriting technique is a timed activity (you decide the duration) where you write your thoughts in full sentences. The goal is to maintain focused writing about the topic without stopping during the allowed time. This means no editing for grammatical errors or spelling mistakes and no stopping when you feel unsure about your ideas.

When the time is up, read through what you wrote and identify the most compelling ideas. Repeat the process, focusing on the standout idea that you pulled from the first exercise to formulate a succinct and narrow focus for your writing project or assignment.

Here’s a tip: You don’t have to guess whether you’re using certain words correctly or breaking grammar rules in your writing. Just copy and paste your writing to check your grammar and get instant feedback on grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other mistakes you might have missed.

3 Looping prewriting

If developing a writing topic is challenging, looping can be a helpful prewriting technique. It builds on the freewriting technique by asking you to loop a handful of freewriting activities back-to-back. After your first looping exercise, find the key topic or idea in that writing , and use it as a jumping-off point for your next looping exercise. 

By the end of five or so prewriting loops, you’ll have formed focused ideas that are closely related to a topic. These ideas can help you formulate a thesis statement or theme for your writing.

4 Listing prewriting

When you’re faced with a broad topic and don’t know how you want to focus your writing, creating a list may help. In a short time, typically five to ten minutes, write as many words and ideas as you can in a list format. Don’t worry about spelling or grammatical mistakes, and don’t overanalyze how you structure the idea. 

Examine your list and place ideas in groups based on their relationship. For example, group together ideas or words that share a common theme. Write a sentence describing each grouped relationship. By this point, you’ve taken a broad topic and narrowed it down to a focused theme or idea with related words and ideas listed underneath it. Choose the most important or intriguing sentence to guide you through your writing.

5 Question-asking prewriting

Also referred to as “journalist’s questions,” the question-asking technique leverages the five W s and one H that journalists strive to answer. On the page, you’ll answer the following question prompts, based on your central idea:

Examples of prewriting

Below are a couple of examples of how the various prewriting strategies look in action. These examples use the topic “passion and generational trauma in Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights .”

Freewriting example

Time limit: 2 minutes

Love and revenge are two dynamic emotions that carry their own judgment. Love is conventionally perceived as a positive, joyful emotion, while revenge is considered adversarial and attributed to negative behavior. But the core sentiment underlying love and revenge is unbridled passion . Heathcliff’s strategically executed passion, whether in reaction to his undying love for Catherine or his zealous hatred of Hindley, doesn’t stop at lashing out at the key figures in his life. It seeps into the lives of the next generation at Thrushcross Grange, including Hareton Earnshaw, Cathy Linton, and Linton Heathcliff. 

In this paragraph, we’ve identified the most compelling ideas to focus on in our writing assignment.

Question-asking example

• Who: Heathcliff, Catherine Earnshaw, Edgar Linton, Isabella Linton, Hindley Earnshaw
• What: Love and revenge are masqueraded as the other throughout the novel. The underlying sentiment that drives generational dissatisfaction and agony is passion.
• Where: Thrushcross Grange
• When: Hindley’s bullying and later attempted murder of Heathcliff as punishment for being Mr. Earnshaw’s favored child, love between Catherine and Heathcliff, Heathcliff seducing Isabella to spite Catherine’s marriage with Edgar.
• Why: Heathcliff’s passion, whether fueling love or revenge against figures in his life, results in generational trauma for Cathy Linton and Linton Heathcliff, who are forced to marry.
• How: Love is typically depicted as positive, while revenge is perceived negatively. Meanwhile, passion is more ambiguous yet is the most powerful driving force in Wuthering Heights and its characters.

Finding a prewriting strategy that complements your writing style is a matter of your own preference. If one prewriting technique doesn’t feel intuitive, try the next one on the list until you find an approach that works for you.

Prewriting FAQs 

What is prewriting.

Prewriting is a preliminary step in the writing process. It’s an approach to brainstorming ideas that allows writers to connect their main points and highlights areas that need additional analysis or supporting evidence. 

What is the purpose of prewriting?

Prewriting provides a clear writing path for ideas, from the beginning of an assignment to the end. It provides focus in writing by defining a purpose and letting writers clearly articulate their thoughts from one concept to the next. The result is a cohesive written work.

What are different ways to prewrite?

There are many different prewriting techniques. A few of the most popular types of prewriting include clustering, freewriting, listing, looping, and answering journalistic questions.

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Prewriting Strategies

Five useful strategies.

Pre-writing strategies use writing to generate and clarify ideas. While many writers have traditionally created outlines before beginning writing, there are several other effective prewriting activities. We often call these prewriting strategies “brainstorming techniques.” Five useful strategies are listing, clustering, freewriting, looping, and asking the six journalists' questions. These strategies help you with both your invention and organization of ideas, and they can aid you in developing topics for your writing.

Listing is a process of producing a lot of information within a short time by generating some broad ideas and then building on those associations for more detail with a bullet point list. Listing is particularly useful if your starting topic is very broad, and you need to narrow it down.

• Jot down all the possible terms that emerge from the general topic you are working on. This procedure works especially well if you work in a team. All team members can generate ideas, with one member acting as scribe. Do not worry about editing or throwing out what might not be a good idea. Simply write down as many possibilities as you can.
• Group the items that you have listed according to arrangements that make sense to you. Are things thematically related?
• Give each group a label. Now you have a narrower topic with possible points of development.
• Write a sentence about the label you have given the group of ideas. Now you have a topic sentence or possibly a  thesis statement .

Clustering, also called mind mapping or idea mapping, is a strategy that allows you to explore the relationships between ideas.

• Put the subject in the center of a page. Circle or underline it.
• As you think of other ideas, write them on the page surrounding the central idea. Link the new ideas to the central circle with lines.
• As you think of ideas that relate to the new ideas, add to those in the same way.

The result will look like a web on your page. Locate clusters of interest to you, and use the terms you attached to the key ideas as departure points for your paper.

Clustering is especially useful in determining the relationship between ideas. You will be able to distinguish how the ideas fit together, especially where there is an abundance of ideas. Clustering your ideas lets you see them visually in a different way, so that you can more readily understand possible directions your paper may take.

Freewriting

Freewriting is a process of generating a lot of information by writing non-stop in full sentences for a predetermined amount of time. It allows you to focus on a specific topic but forces you to write so quickly that you are unable to edit any of your ideas.

• Freewrite on the assignment or general topic for five to ten minutes non-stop. Force yourself to continue writing even if nothing specific comes to mind (so you could end up writing “I don’t know what to write about” over and over until an idea pops into your head. This is okay; the important thing is that you do not stop writing). This freewriting will include many ideas; at this point, generating ideas is what is important, not the grammar or the spelling.
• After you have finished freewriting, look back over what you have written and highlight the most prominent and interesting ideas; then you can begin all over again, with a tighter focus (see looping). You will narrow your topic and, in the process, you will generate several relevant points about the topic.

Looping is a freewriting technique that allows you to focus your ideas continually while trying to discover a writing topic. After you freewrite for the first time, identify a key thought or idea in your writing, and begin to freewrite again, with that idea as your starting point. You will loop one 5-10 minute freewriting after another, so you have a sequence of freewritings, each more specific than the last. The same rules that apply to freewriting apply to looping: write quickly, do not edit, and do not stop.

Loop your freewriting as many times as necessary, circling another interesting topic, idea, phrase, or sentence each time. When you have finished four or five rounds of looping, you will begin to have specific information that indicates what you are thinking about a particular topic. You may even have the basis for a tentative thesis or an improved idea for an approach to your assignment when you have finished.

The Journalists' Questions

Journalists traditionally ask six questions when they are writing assignments that are broken down into five W's and one H:  Who? ,  What? ,  Where? ,  When? ,  Why? , and  How?  You can use these questions to explore the topic you are writing about for an assignment. A key to using the journalists' questions is to make them flexible enough to account for the specific details of your topic. For instance, if your topic is the rise and fall of the Puget Sound tides and its effect on salmon spawning, you may have very little to say about  Who  if your focus does not account for human involvement. On the other hand, some topics may be heavy on the  Who , especially if human involvement is a crucial part of the topic.

The journalists' questions are a powerful way to develop a great deal of information about a topic very quickly. Learning to ask the appropriate questions about a topic takes practice, however. At times during writing an assignment, you may wish to go back and ask the journalists' questions again to clarify important points that may be getting lost in your planning and drafting.

Possible generic questions you can ask using the six journalists' questions follow:

• Who? Who are the participants? Who is affected? Who are the primary actors? Who are the secondary actors?
• What? What is the topic? What is the significance of the topic? What is the basic problem? What are the issues related to that problem?
• Where? Where does the activity take place? Where does the problem or issue have its source? At what place is the cause or effect of the problem most visible?
• When? When is the issue most apparent? (in the past? present? future?) When did the issue or problem develop? What historical forces helped shape the problem or issue and at what point in time will the problem or issue culminate in a crisis? When is action needed to address the issue or problem?
• Why? Why did the issue or problem arise? Why is it (your topic) an issue or problem at all? Why did the issue or problem develop in the way that it did?
• How? How is the issue or problem significant? How can it be addressed? How does it affect the participants? How can the issue or problem be resolved?

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Prewriting Strategies

Writing is a creative project, and writers go through the same messy stage. For writers, the development stage involves playing with words and ideas—playing with writing. Prewriting is the start of the writing process, the messy, “play” stage in which writers jot down, develop, and try out different ideas, the stage in which it’s fine to be free-ranging in thought and language. Prewriting is intended to be free-flowing, to be a time in which you let your ideas and words flow without caring about organization, grammar, and the formalities of writing.

There are many ways to develop ideas for writing, including:

• Freewriting
• Brainstorming
• Mapping or diagramming
• Asking defining questions
• Noting Pros & Cons

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Check out other great resources:

Paradigm Online Writing Assistant

Excellent resource maintained by Boise State University. Offers excellent support on argument and strategies for the entire writing process.

The Professor’s Perch: Quit Facebook and Start Writing Again with Prewriting Strategies

A blog post from Hoot – The Excelsior OWL Blog all about prewriting.

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11 Pre-Writing Techniques for Writers and Authors

Discover how to brainstorm, organize thoughts, and develop ideas effectively with essential pre-writing techniques for writers and authors.

Embarking on a writing journey can be exhilarating, but challenging. The writing process requires careful planning and preparation, from brainstorming ideas to organizing thoughts and finally putting pen to paper.

This is where pre-writing techniques come into play, serving as the foundation of great writing. This article explores pre-writing techniques writers and authors can use to think critically, develop ideas, and lay the groundwork for their writing projects.

Whether you’re a seasoned writer looking to refine your process or a novelist looking for ideas for plot priming (the name for novel notes pre-writing) these techniques will help you harness your creativity and approach your writing with clarity and purpose.

What is Pre-Writing?

Pre-writing, meaning the process of preparing and planning before you start writing, includes activities that help writers generate ideas, organize thoughts, clarify their message, and create a solid foundation for their writing.

During the pre-writing stage, an author will determine the purpose and audience of their writing, develop a clear thesis or main idea, gather and organize relevant information, outline the structure of their piece, and consider the tone and style that will best suit their purpose and audience.

Structured pre-writing practice is essential for organizing ideas and planning the content of a writing project before beginning the actual writing process.

What is the Purpose of Pre-Writing?

The pre-writing process is crucial for laying the groundwork for a successful writing project. It’s an important step that can help writers improve their writing skills .

Pre-writing is important for all of the following reasons:

#1. Generating Ideas

Pre-writing helps brainstorm and organize ideas before putting them into a cohesive form. This can prevent writer’s block and ensure your writing stays focused and on track.

For example, before writing an essay on climate change, a writer might use brainstorming techniques to generate a list of potential topics, such as the causes of climate change, its impact on the environment, and possible solutions.

The writer would then organize these ideas into a coherent outline, ensuring that each topic is clearly defined and supports the main thesis. By structuring the pre-writing process, the writer can prevent writer’s block and ensure the final piece is well-organized and focused.

Notion AI’s generative AI will help you brainstorm ideas, summarize, help you write, and find what you’re looking for.

#2. Organizing Thoughts

Organizing thoughts is a key aspect of structured pre-writing. It allows writers to organize their thoughts and ideas logically, which makes the writing process smoother and more coherent.

For instance, before drafting a research paper on renewable energy sources, a writer might use outlining to organize their thoughts into main topics (e.g., solar power, wind energy, hydropower) and subtopics (e.g., benefits, drawbacks, technological advancements).

This process ensures the writer has a clear roadmap, making the overall process smoother, and resulting in a more coherent and well-structured final piece.

#3. Improving Clarity

Improving clarity is another benefit of structured pre-writing. By planning your writing, you can ensure that your ideas are communicated to your audience, making your writing more effective.

For example, before writing a persuasive speech advocating for stricter environmental regulations, a speaker might use pre-writing techniques to clarify their main arguments and supporting evidence.

By organizing these ideas cohesively, the speaker can ensure their message is clear and impactful, increasing the likelihood of persuading their audience. Notion’s AI tools will help you find the right words and add the finishing touches.

#4. Saving Time

Saving time is a significant advantage of structured pre-writing. Pre-writing can save time by helping you avoid unnecessary revisions. Having a clear plan can help you write more efficiently and effectively.

For instance, before writing a business proposal for a new product, an entrepreneur might use pre-writing techniques to outline the key features, target market, and competitive analysis.

With a clear plan, the entrepreneur can write the proposal more efficiently, reducing the need for extensive revisions later. This saves time and ensures that the final proposal is well-organized and persuasive.

#5. Enhancing Creativity

Structured pre-writing can enhance creativity by providing a platform to explore different ideas and approaches before committing to a specific direction.

For example, before starting a short story , a writer might use pre-writing exercises like brainstorming or freewriting to generate multiple plot ideas or character concepts.

This exploration can lead to unexpected and innovative storylines that the writer may not have considered otherwise. This creative exploration in structured pre-writing results in a more engaging and original final piece.

Sudowrite’s AI creative writing assistant brings your stories to life in your unique voice. With its Quick Chat feature, you can generate fresh ideas as it understands your entire narrative.

11 Pre-Writing Techniques for Writers & Authors

Writers can use several pre-writing techniques to prepare for the writing process. Some common pre-writing strategies to think critically and develop ideas include brainstorming, outlining, freewriting, clustering, and using graphic organizers.

#1. Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a creative technique that can help writers generate ideas and overcome mental blocks. It involves generating ideas on a specific topic without worrying about organization or structure.

Here are some techniques you can use to improve your brainstorming and pre-writing skills:

• Set a Time Limit: Give yourself a specific amount of time, such as 10-15 minutes, to brainstorm. This helps prevent overthinking and encourages a free flow of ideas.
• Use Mind Mapping: Create a visual representation of your ideas using a mind mapping tool or pen and paper. Start with a central topic or question and branch out with related ideas.
• Try Listing: Simply list all ideas related to your topic that come to mind. Don’t worry about the order or coherence at this stage; the goal is to capture as many ideas as possible.
• Use Prompt Questions: Use questions like “What if?”, “Why?”, or “How?” to stimulate different angles and perspectives on your topic.
• Combine and Expand Ideas: Look for connections between ideas and expand on them. For example, if you’re brainstorming blog post ideas, you could combine two ideas to create a more comprehensive topic.
• Use Online Tools: Online brainstorming tools such as MindMeister, Coggle, and Bubbl.us, can help you organize and visualize your ideas.
• Collaborate: If possible, brainstorm with others. Group brainstorming sessions can generate a wider range of ideas and perspectives.

Here are some brainstorming courses with exercises to boost your creativity and brainstorm new ideas:

• Certified Brainstorming Specialist Masterclass (Accredited)
• Brainstorming Strategies For Enhanced Cognitive Dominance®
• Become 10x More Confident in Your Ideas with Brainstorming

Remember, the goal of brainstorming is to generate a large quantity of ideas without judgment. You can then review and refine these ideas in the next stages of your writing process.

#2. Freewriting

Freewriting is a pre-writing exercise used as a warm-up practice to generate new ideas. It is a valuable technique for writers to overcome writer’s block and stimulate creativity.

Here are some actionable tips and resources for effective freewriting:

• Set a Timer: Choose a specific amount of time, such as 5-10 minutes, and commit to writing continuously during that period. This helps to keep your thoughts flowing without interruption.
• Don’t Edit or Revise: The key to freewriting is to write without stopping to edit or revise. Allow yourself to write freely, even if it means making grammatical errors or writing incomplete sentences.
• Write Anything: Write whatever comes to mind, even if it seems unrelated to your topic. The goal is to keep your pen moving and explore ideas without judgment.
• Focus on the Process: Instead of worrying about the quality of your writing, focus on the process of writing itself. Embrace the act of putting your thoughts into words without self-censorship.
• Use Prompts: If unsure where to start, consider using a writing prompt to kickstart your freewriting session. Prompts can be specific questions, phrases, or ideas to inspire your writing.
• Review and Reflect: After your freewriting session, take some time to review what you’ve written. You may discover new ideas or insights that can be developed further in your writing.
• Repeat Regularly: Freewriting can be a beneficial daily practice to keep your writing skills sharp and overcome creative blocks. Try to incorporate freewriting into your routine regularly.

Here are some courses to help you learn and practice freewriting:

• Five-Minute Writing Challenges: Extended Course
• The Artist’s Way Starter Kit by Julia Cameron
• Advanced Brainstorm Techniques

You can use online tools and apps that help facilitate freewriting, such as 750 Words, which provides a private space for daily freewriting sessions.

#3. Outlining

Outlining is a crucial step in the writing process that helps writers organize their thoughts and create a coherent structure for their pieces. It involves creating a structured plan for your writing, including main ideas, supporting details, and the overall organization of your piece.

Outlines can be hierarchical (using Roman numerals, letters, and numbers) or linear (using bullet points or dashes). Here are some actionable tips and resources for effective outlining:

• Identify Your Main Ideas: Identify the main ideas or arguments you want to convey in your writing. These will serve as the foundation for your outline.
• Organize Supporting Details: For each main idea, identify supporting details or evidence that will help strengthen your argument or narrative. These details should logically support your main points.
• Choose Your Outline Format: Decide on the format for your outline, whether hierarchical (using Roman numerals, letters, and numbers) or linear (using bullet points or dashes). Choose the format that best suits your writing style and the complexity of your piece.
• Be Flexible: Your outline is a guide, not a strict rule. Be open to adjusting your outline as you write and discover new ideas or connections.
• Use Online Tools: Online tools like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or dedicated outlining software like Workflowy or Dynalist can help you create outlines.
• Include Transitions: Incorporate transitional phrases or sentences into your outline to ensure a smooth flow between ideas and sections.
• Review and Revise: Once you have completed your outline, review it carefully to ensure it effectively conveys your main ideas and supporting details. Make any necessary revisions to improve clarity and coherence.

These writing tools and courses will help you organize your ideas and content into quality outlines in minutes:

• Surfer’s Free AI Article Outline Generator
• SEMrush’s Free Outline Builder
• Sudowrite’s AI Creative Writing Assistant
• Start Your Book: Nonfiction Writer’s Roadmap [Outline Guide]
• Create an Entire Nonfiction Book Outline in Minutes

By following these tips and utilizing available resources, you can create a well-organized outline as a roadmap for your writing project.

#4. Clustering or Mapping

Clustering, mapping , or webbing, involves creating a visual representation of ideas and their relationships. It’s a creative way to visually organize ideas and explore connections.

Clustering can help organize thoughts and see connections between different concepts. Here are some actionable tips and resources for effective clustering or mapping:

• Start with a Central Idea: Write your main idea or topic in the center of a paper or digital canvas. This will serve as the focal point of your cluster or map.
• Brainstorm Related Ideas: Around the central idea, jot down related ideas, concepts, or keywords. These can be branches extending outwards from the central idea.
• Draw Connections: Use lines or arrows to connect related ideas. This helps to visualize the relationships between different concepts and can spark new ideas.
• Group Similar Ideas: As you add more ideas to your cluster or map, you may notice that certain ideas are related or similar. Group these ideas together to create clusters within your overall map.
• Use Color or Symbols: To further organize your ideas, consider using different colors or symbols to differentiate between different categories or types of ideas.
• Add Detail: As your cluster or map grows, you can add more detail to each idea, including supporting points, examples, or arguments.
• Review and Refine: Once you have completed your cluster or map, review it to ensure that it effectively represents your ideas and their relationships. Make any necessary refinements to improve clarity and coherence.
• Digital Tools: There are many digital tools available that can help you create clusters or maps, such as MindMeister, XMind, or Coggle. These tools often offer additional features, such as collaborating or exporting your map to other formats.

These mind-mapping courses will help writers organize their thinking, visualize their thoughts, and understand information faster:

• Complete Mind Mapping Course: Beginner to Advanced Technique
• Mind Mapping Mastery: Effective Mind Maps Step-by-Step
• The Mind Mapping Experts MasterClass For Success
• Mind Mapping a Novel

Using clustering or mapping techniques will help you visually organize your ideas, explore connections between them, and create a solid foundation for your writing project.

#5. Research

Research is a critical component of the pre-writing process, especially for writing that requires factual accuracy and depth. This can involve gathering information from books, articles, interviews, or online sources.

For example, when pre-writing for an informative essay, try to generate relevant, accurate, and engaging ideas focused on providing factual information, explaining concepts clearly, and supporting the main thesis or argument of the essay.

Consider the needs and interests of the target audience ensuring that the information provided is accessible and valuable to them. Generating several ideas and perspectives can help make the essay more comprehensive and balanced.

Here are some actionable tips and resources for effective research:

• Define Your Research Questions: Start by clearly defining the questions you need to answer through your research. This will help you focus your efforts and gather relevant information.
• Use Credible Sources: When conducting research , use credible sources such as academic journals, books, reputable websites, and expert interviews. Avoid relying solely on unverified sources or opinions.
• Diversify Your Sources: Gather information from different sources to ensure a comprehensive understanding. This can include primary sources, secondary sources, and expert opinions.
• Take Notes: As you conduct your research, take detailed notes on key points, quotes, and sources. This will help you keep track of your sources and organize your thoughts later.
• Organize Your Research: Use tools like spreadsheets, reference managers (e.g., Zotero, Mendeley), or note-taking apps to organize your research materials and citations.
• Evaluate Your Sources: Before using information from a source, critically evaluate its credibility, relevance, and bias. Ensure that the information is accurate and supports your argument or thesis.
• Stay Organized: Keep track of all your research materials, including sources, notes, and citations, to avoid plagiarism and easily reference your sources in your writing.
• Ask for Help: If you’re struggling to find relevant information or understand a complex topic, don’t hesitate to ask for help from librarians, professors, or subject matter experts.

Learn how to conduct research with these courses:

• Research & Interviewing Strategies for Writers

By following these tips and utilizing available resources, you can conduct thorough and effective research to support your writing and enhance the quality of your work.

#6. Interviewing

When writing personal experiences or expert opinions, interviewing relevant individuals can be a valuable pre-writing activity that can provide firsthand information and unique perspectives for your writing.

Interviewing can help gather insights and quotes to include in your writing. Here are some actionable tips for conducting effective interviews:

• Identify Your Interviewees: Determine who you need to interview based on their expertise, experience, or relevance to your topic. This could include experts, professionals, or individuals with personal experiences related to your subject.
• Prepare Your Questions: Develop a list of open-ended questions that will encourage detailed responses and provide insights into your topic. Tailor your questions to each interviewee’s background and perspective.
• Set Up the Interview: Contact your interviewees to schedule a convenient time for the interview. Decide on the format (in-person, phone, video call) and duration.
• Conduct the Interview: Start the interview by introducing yourself and explaining the purpose of the interview. Ask your questions and listen attentively to the responses. Take notes or record the interview with permission.
• Ask Follow-Up Questions: If necessary, ask follow-up questions to clarify or expand on the interviewee’s responses. This can help you gather more detailed information and insights.
• Respect Privacy and Confidentiality: Respect the privacy and confidentiality of your interviewees. Ask for permission before using any personal or sensitive information in your writing.
• Thank Your Interviewees: After the interview, thank your interviewees for their time and insights. Offer to share a copy of your writing if they’re interested.
• Transcribe and Analyze: Transcribe your interviews and analyze the responses to identify key insights, quotes, or themes that you can incorporate into your writing.

Learn how to conduct interviews with these courses:

Interviewing can add depth and credibility to your writing by incorporating real-life experiences and expert opinions. By following these tips, you can conduct effective interviews that enhance the quality and impact of your writing.

#7. Reflecting or Journaling

Reflecting or journaling is a valuable pre-writing activity that can help writers clarify their thoughts, develop a deeper understanding of their topic, and identify key points to include in their writing.

Here are some actionable tips for effective reflection or journaling:

• Set Aside Regular Time: Schedule regular time for reflection or journaling in your writing process. This can be daily, weekly, or as needed.
• Write Freely: When journaling, write freely without worrying about grammar or structure. Allow your thoughts to flow naturally and explore different ideas and perspectives.
• Focus on Your Topic: Use your reflection or journaling time to focus on your writing topic. Consider different angles, viewpoints, and potential arguments related to your topic.
• Ask Yourself Questions: Pose questions to yourself about your topic to prompt deeper reflection. For example, “What are the main challenges in my topic?”, “What solutions have been proposed?”, or “How does my topic relate to current events?”
• Capture Ideas: Jot down any ideas or insights that come to mind during your reflection or journaling session. These ideas can later be developed into more detailed content for your writing.
• Review and Revise: After your reflection or journaling session, review your notes and ideas. Revise or expand on them as needed to further develop your thoughts.
• Use Prompts: If unsure where to start, use writing prompts to guide your reflection. There are many writing prompt resources available online or in writing books.
• Reflect on Your Progress: Use reflection or journaling to track your progress in your writing project. Reflect on what you have accomplished and set goals for the next steps.

Here are some courses to help you start journaling:

• The Artist’s Way Morning Pages Journal
• Journaling 101: Learn To Journal & Create a Journal Habit
• Kick Start Your Journaling Habit in Just 28 Days
• Strategic Journaling for Information

By incorporating reflection or journaling into your pre-writing routine, you can clarify your ideas, identify key points, and deepen your understanding of your writing topic.

#8. Discussing with Others

Discussing your ideas with peers, mentors, or instructors is a valuable pre-writing activity that can help clarify your thoughts, generate new ideas, and provide feedback and insights.

Here are some actionable tips for effective discussions:

• Choose Your Discussion Partners Wisely: Select individuals who are knowledgeable about your topic or who can provide valuable feedback. This could include peers, mentors, instructors, or subject matter experts.
• Prepare Your Ideas: Before the discussion, prepare a brief overview of your topic and the key points you want to discuss. This will help focus the discussion and make the most of your time.
• Listen Actively: During the discussion, listen carefully to the feedback and ideas of others. Be open to different perspectives and be willing to modify your ideas based on the feedback you receive.
• Ask for Specific Feedback: If you have specific questions or areas where you need feedback, ask for it directly. This will help guide the discussion and ensure you receive feedback.
• Take Notes: During the discussion, take notes on the feedback and ideas shared. This will help you remember the key points discussed and provide valuable insights for your writing.
• Follow-Up: After the discussion, follow up with your discussion partners to thank them for their time and to clarify any points that may still be unclear. This can also be an opportunity to share any updates or revisions to your ideas based on the discussion.
• Reflect on the Discussion: Reflect on the discussion and the feedback you received. Consider how you can incorporate this feedback into your writing and how it has helped clarify your thoughts.

Here are some courses to help you facilitate productive group discussions:

• Group Discussion Strategies
• An In-Depth Approach to Debate and Critical Discussion

Discussions with others can help you gain valuable feedback, clarify your thoughts, and generate new ideas for your writing.

#9. Visualizing & Storyboarding

Visualizing your writing is a powerful pre-writing technique that can help you envision the final product and identify any gaps or areas that need further development.

This can be done through sketches, diagrams, or mental imagery. Here are some actionable tips for effective visualization:

• Create a Mental Image: Close your eyes and visualize what you want your final piece to look like. Imagine the structure, the main points, and how you want to convey your message to your audience.
• Use Sketches or Diagrams: If you’re a visual learner, consider sketching out the main ideas or structure of your writing. This can help you see the big picture and identify any missing elements.
• Storyboarding: With narrative writing, such as storytelling or scriptwriting, creating a storyboard by sketching out each scene or section of your writing can help visualize the flow and sequence of events.
• Mind Mapping: Use a mind mapping tool to create a visual representation of your ideas and how they are connected. This can help you see the relationships between separate concepts and organize your thoughts more effectively.
• Use Visual Aids: Incorporate visual aids, such as images, charts, or graphs, into your visualization process. This can help you convey complex information more clearly and engage your audience visually.
• Revise and Refine: As you visualize your writing , take note of any areas that seem unclear or underdeveloped. Use this visual feedback to revise and refine your ideas before starting the writing process.
• Share and Get Feedback: Once you have visualized your writing, consider sharing it with others to get feedback. This can help you identify blind spots and improve the overall quality of your writing.

Learn visualizing and storyboarding techniques with these courses:

• 21-Day Creative Visualization Project
• Storyboarding Techniques and Tips
• Storyboarding for Filmmakers & Content Creators

By visualizing your writing, you can clearly understand your ideas and how to best communicate them to your audience. This can lead to more effective and engaging writing.

#10. Annotating

Annotating as a pre-writing technique involves actively engaging with a text or source by highlighting important information, making notes, and asking questions.

This technique helps writers analyze and understand the text more deeply, which informs their writing.

For example, when annotating a research article, a writer might highlight key findings, jot down ideas for their research, and note any questions or areas that need further exploration.

Annotating can help writers generate ideas , organize their thoughts, and gather evidence to support their arguments, making it a valuable pre-writing strategy.

Here are some actionable tips and resources for using annotating as a pre-writing technique:

• Use Different Annotation Symbols: Develop a system of symbols (e.g., asterisks, question marks, arrows) to denote different types of annotations, such as important points, questions, connections to other ideas, or areas for further research.
• Highlight Key Information: Use a highlighter or colored pens to mark important passages or quotes you may want to include in your writing.
• Take Margin Notes: Write brief notes in the margins of the text to summarize key points, jot down ideas, or record your reactions and thoughts.
• Use Sticky Notes: If you prefer not to write directly on the text, use sticky notes to annotate important sections and jot down notes.
• Engage in Dialogue: Write comments or questions in the margins as if you were in conversation with the text. This can help you clarify your thoughts and generate ideas for your writing.
• Organize Annotations: Use different colors or symbols to organize your annotations by theme, topic, or relevance to your writing project.
• Review and Reflect: After annotating, review your annotations to identify common themes, connections, or ideas that can inform your writing. Reflect on how the text relates to your own ideas and arguments.
• Digital Annotation Tools: There are many digital tools available for annotating texts, such as Adobe Acrobat, and Microsoft Word, or online tools like Hypothesis. These tools allow you to annotate PDFs or digital texts and save your annotations for later reference.

Here are some note-taking courses to elevate your pre-writing annotation skills:

• Structured Note Taking Vol 1: Create an Ideas Bank
• The Science of Taking Great Notes: Natural Observation
• Strategic Note-taking for Information

Using these tips and resources will help you effectively use annotating as a pre-writing technique to deepen your understanding of texts, generate ideas, and prepare for your writing project.

#11. Keyword Research

Keyword research can be considered a pre-writing technique, especially for content creators who write for online platforms such as blogs, websites, or articles optimized for search engines.

It involves identifying the words and phrases people type into search engines to find information about your topic.

By conducting keyword research before writing , writers can gain insights into what their target audience is searching for and tailor their content to meet their needs.

This can help writers generate ideas, optimize their content for search engines, and improve the visibility and reach of their writing.

Here are some actionable tips for conducting keyword research:

• Understand Your Audience: Start by understanding your target audience and their needs. Identify the topics and keywords they are likely to use when searching for information related to your content.
• Use Keyword Research Tools: Utilize keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush to discover relevant keywords and phrases. These tools can provide insights into search volume, competition, and related keywords.
• Focus on Long-Tail Keywords: Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific phrases that often have less competition. Targeting long-tail keywords can help you attract more qualified traffic to your content.
• Consider Search Intent: Think about the search intent behind the keywords . Are people looking for information, trying to make a purchase, or looking for a specific solution? Tailor your content to match the intent behind the keywords.
• Competitor Analysis: Analyze the keywords that your competitors are targeting. This can provide valuable insights into which keywords drive traffic to their content.
• Create a Keyword List: Compile a list of relevant keywords and phrases you can use in your content. Organize the list based on relevance, search volume, and competition.
• Use Keywords Naturally: Incorporate your chosen keywords naturally into your content. Avoid keyword stuffing, as this can negatively impact the readability and quality of your content.
• Monitor and Refine: Create a content audit report to monitor the performance of your keywords using analytics tools. Refine your keyword strategy based on performance data to improve your content’s visibility and effectiveness.

Here are some tools and resources to help you conduct keyword research before writing SEO content:

• Surfer’s Keyword Research Tool
• Surfer SEO Content Editor
• Free Surfer SEO Writing Masterclass
• SEO Copywriting Certification Course
• How to Create a Content Audit Report

Follow these tips to conduct effective keyword research to optimize your content for search engines and attract more traffic to your writing.

These structured pre-writing exercises and techniques can be used individually or in combination to suit the writer’s preferences and the nature of the writing task.

Creative Writing Tips & Tools

• Free creative writing classes & creative writing courses
• Free book writing software & writing apps for creative writers
• How to be creative & let the creative process flow
• The art of creative thinking: how to enhance creativity
• How to learn creative writing skills and be a better writer
• How to use a story generator AI to write a story
• How to overcome and deal with writer’s block
• How to find the best content writing topics to write about
• How to use ChatGPT for writers (with ChatGPT prompts)
• 18 types of writing skills and how to learn them
• Speech writing checklist for drafting a speech
• How to master academic writing skills for career success
• How to learn lucid dreaming for creativity & personal growth

© 2024, Priya Florence Shah . All rights reserved.

Priya Florence Shah is a bestselling author and an award-winning blogger. Check out her book on emotional self-care for women .  Priya writes short stories  and  poetry and chills with her two-legged and four-legged kids in her spare time .

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Mohawk Valley Community College

• Pre-Writing Strategies
• Student Success
• Writing Help

Use pre-writing strategies to generate and organize ideas

Before you dive into writing an academic paper, it's helpful to brainstorm and organize your thoughts. The pre-writing strategies below will help you define, clarify,  and connect related topics . Doing preliminary research in encyclopedias can reveal basic understanding of a broad topic and help you complete these pre-writing strategies. The library database Gale Virtual Reference Library is a good place to find a variety of subject-specific encyclopedias for background information. Students can also meet with a writing tutor to talk out their ideas and develop a plan for an academic paper.

 An outline for an essay is a list of main topics with supporting details associated with a preliminary thesis statement. Outlining is a helpful way to plan out an essay so you know what you want to discuss and in what order.

Outline Example:

Working thesis: Waiting tables at a diner was my worst job.

• opening remarks on what makes a job bad
• long hours, on my feet all day
• heavy plates/trays, arms and wrists hurt
• little hourly wage, lousy tips
• difficult management/co-workers/customers - give particular examples
• thesis restated
• closing remarks on finding a more fulfilling job

 Cluster Mapping

Clustering, also called mind mapping, is a more visual way to organize ideas. It's a good strategy to see connections between ideas. This technique can work well in conjunction with other prewriting strategies. For example, organize and connect ideas with a cluster map after pulling out topics and details from a freewriting session.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has a useful digital mind mapping tool  to help you generate ideas and narrow a topic. GoConqr also has a digital mind mapping tool, but you have to create an account in order to create a mind map.

Journalistic Questions

 Journalists ask questions like Why? How? When? Where? In what ways? Asking questions about the topic you are writing about is a good way to generate ideas and to look at the topic from different angles. Write down your questions along with answers you brainstorm and research.

Below are some generic examples of journalistic questions. Ask a friend to ask you questions about your topic to help you generate questions and possible answers to explore further.

Examples of using journalistic questions to generate ideas

How: How is the issue significant? How can the problem be resolved? How are people affected by it?

Why:  Why did the issue arise? Why is it an issue at all?

Where: Where is this issue important? Where are the effects of this issue most keenly felt?

What: What are some other ways to describe this topic? What are different definitions of this topic? What are some opposing viewpoints related to this topic? What is the significance of this topic? What historical influences have led to this issue?

When:  When was this issue most apparent? When did it develop? When in history was it looked upon differently? When is action needed to address the problem?

Who:  Who is affected by the issue? Who stands to gain or lose? Who are the primary players and secondary players?

Freewriting

 Freewriting helps get out ideas without the stress of finding the exact words, organizing information correctly, spelling, or grammar. A writer's inner critic to "say the right thing" can get in the way of simply starting. Start freewriting by setting a goal to write nonstop for a specific length of time (ten minutes for example). Don't inhibit yourself if you get stuck. Write "I don't know what else to say" until something else comes to mind.  The purpose is to write so fast that self-editing doesn't get in the way of the brainstorming process. Don't worry about being "right" or making mistakes; you are just thinking through writing.

After the freewriting session is done, look through the passage and pull out any nuggets of information that are worthwhile keeping and expanding on further. It is also helpful to do another freewriting session but focused on a specific topic generated in the first freewriting brainstorm. Repeat the process as many times as needed.

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

2.2 Prewriting

Prewriting is an essential activity for most writers. Through robust prewriting, writers generate ideas, explore directions, and find their way into their writing. When students attempt to write an essay without developing their ideas, strategizing their desired structure, and focusing on precision with words and phrases, they can end up with a “premature draft”—one that is more writer-based than reader-based and, thus, might not be received by readers in the way the writer intended.

In addition, a lack of prewriting can cause students to experience writer’s block. Writer’s block is the feeling of being stuck when faced with a writing task. It is often caused by fear, anxiety, or a tendency toward perfectionism, but it can be overcome through prewriting activities that allow writers to relax, catch their breath, gather ideas, and gain momentum.

The following exist as the goals of prewriting:

• Contemplating the many possible ideas worth writing about.
• Developing ideas through brainstorming, freewriting, and focused writing.
• Planning the structure of the essay overall so as to have a solid introduction, meaningful body paragraphs, and a purposeful conclusion.

Discovering and Developing Ideas

Quick prewriting activities.

Quick strategies for developing ideas include brainstorming, freewriting, and focused writing. These activities are done quickly, with a sense of freedom, while writers silence their inner critic. In her book Wild Mind , teacher and writer Natalie Goldberg describes this freedom as the “creator hand” freely allowing thoughts to flow onto the page while the “editor hand” remains silent. Sometimes, these techniques are done in a timed situation (usually two to ten minutes), which allows writers to get through the shallow thoughts and dive deeper to access the depths of the mind.

Brainstorming begins with writing down or typing a few words and then filling the page with words and ideas that are related or that seem important without allowing the inner critic to tell the writer if these ideas are acceptable or not. Writers do this quickly and without too much contemplation. Students will know when they are succeeding because the lists are made without stopping.

Freewriting is the “most effective way” to improve one’s writing, according to Peter Elbow, the educator and writer who first coined the term “freewriting” in pivotal book Writing Without Teachers , published in 1973. Freewriting is a great technique for loosening up the writing muscle. To freewrite, writers must silence the inner critic and the “editor hand” and allow the “creator hand” a specified amount of time (usually from 10 to 20 minutes) to write nonstop about whatever comes to mind. The goal is to keep the hand moving, the mind contemplating, and the individual writing. If writers feel stuck, they just keep writing “I don’t know what to write” until new ideas form and develop in the mind and flow onto the page.

Focused freewriting entails writing freely—and without stopping, during a limited time—about a specific topic. Once writers are relaxed and exploring freely, they may be surprised about the ideas that emerge.

Researching

Unlike quick prewriting activities, researching is best done slowly and methodically and, depending on the project, can take a considerable amount of time. Researching is exciting, as students activate their curiosity and learn about the topic, developing ideas about the direction of their writing. The goal of researching is to gain background understanding on a topic and to check one’s original ideas against those of experts. However, it is important for the writer to be aware that the process of conducting research can become a trap for procrastinators. Students often feel like researching a topic is the same as doing the assignment, but it’s not.

The two aspects of researching that are often misunderstood are as follows:

• Writers start the research process too late so the information they find never really becomes their own setting themselves up for way more quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing the words of others than is appropriate for the 70% one’s own words and 30% the words of others ratio necessary for college-level research-based writing.
• Writers become so involved in the research process that they don’t start the actual writing process soon enough so as to meet a due date with a well written, edited, and revised finished composition.

Being thoughtful about limiting one’s research time—and using a planner of some sort to organize one’s schedule—is a way to keep oneself from starting the research process too late to

See Part V of this book for more information about researching.

Audience and Purpose

It’s important that writers identify the audience and the purpose of a piece of writing. To whom is the writer communicating? Why is the writer writing? Students often say they are writing for whomever is grading their work at the end. However, most students will be sharing their writing with peers and reviewers (e.g., writing tutors, peer mentors). The audience of any piece of college writing is, at the very minimum, the class as a whole. As such, it’s important for the writer to consider the expertise of the readers, which includes their peers and professors). There are even broader applications. For example, students could even send their college writing to a newspaper or a legislator, or share it online for the purpose of informing or persuading decision-makers to make changes to improve the community. Good writers know their audience and maintain a purpose to mindfully help and intentionally shape their essays for meaning and impact. Students should think beyond their classroom and about how their writing could have an impact on their campus community, their neighborhood, and the wider world.

Planning the Structure of an Essay

Planning based on audience and purpose.

Identifying the target audience and purpose of an essay is a critical part of planning the structure and techniques that are best to use. It’s important to consider the following:

• Is the the purpose of the essay to educate, announce, entertain, or persuade?
• Who might be interested in the topic of the essay?
• Who would be impacted by the essay or the information within it?
• What does the reader know about this topic?
• What does the reader need to know in order to understand the essay’s points?
• What kind of hook is necessary to engage the readers and their interest?
• What level of language is required? Words that are too subject-specific may make the writing difficult to grasp for readers unfamiliar with the topic.
• What is an appropriate tone for the topic? A humorous tone that is suitable for an autobiographical, narrative essay may not work for a more serious, persuasive essay.

Hint: Answers to these questions help the writer to make clear decisions about diction (i.e., the choice of words and phrases), form and organization, and the content of the essay.

Use Audience and Purpose to Plan Language

In many classrooms, students may encounter the concept of language in terms of correct versus incorrect. However, this text approaches language from the perspective of appropriateness. Writers should consider that there are different types of communities, each of which may have different perspectives about what is “appropriate language” and each of which may follow different rules, as John Swales discussed in “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Essentially, Swales defines discourse communities as “groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals.”

Writers (and readers) may be more familiar with a home community that uses a different language than the language valued by the academic community. For example, many people in Hawai‘i speak Hawai‘i Creole English (HCE colloquially regarded as “Pidgin”), which is different from academic English. This does not mean that one language is better than another or that one community is homogeneous in terms of language use; most people “code-switch” from one “code” (i.e., language or way of speaking) to another. It helps writers to be aware and to use an intersectional lens to understand that while a community may value certain language practices, there are several types of language practices within our community.

What language practices does the academic discourse community value? The goal of first-year-writing courses is to prepare students to write according to the conventions of academia and Standard American English (SAE). Understanding and adhering to the rules of a different discourse community does not mean that students need to replace or drop their own discourse. They may add to their language repertoire as education continues to transform their experiences with language, both spoken and written. In addition to the linguistic abilities they already possess, they should enhance their academic writing skills for personal growth in order to meet the demands of the working world and to enrich the various communities they belong to.

Use Techniques to Plan Structure

Before writing a first draft, writers find it helpful to begin organizing their ideas into chunks so that they (and readers) can efficiently follow the points as organized in an essay.

First, it’s important to decide whether to organize an essay (or even just a paragraph) according to one of the following:

• Chronological order (organized by time)
• Spatial order (organized by physical space from one end to the other)
• Prioritized order (organized by order of importance)

There are many ways to plan an essay’s overall structure, including mapping and outlining.

Mapping (which sometimes includes using a graphic organizer) involves organizing the relationships between the topic and other ideas. The following is example (from ReadWriteThink.org, 2013) of a graphic organizer that could be used to write a basic, persuasive essay:

Outlining is also an excellent way to plan how to organize an essay. Formal outlines use levels of notes, with Roman numerals for the top level, followed by capital letters, Arabic numerals, and lowercase letters. Here’s an example:

• Hook/Lead/Opener: According to the Leilani was shocked when a letter from Chicago said her “Aloha Poke” restaurant was infringing on a non-Hawaiian Midwest restaurant that had trademarked the words “aloha” (the Hawaiian word for love, compassion, mercy, and other things besides serving as a greeting) and “poke” (a Hawaiian dish of raw fish and seasonings).
• Background information about trademarks, the idea of language as property, the idea of cultural identity, and the question about who owns language and whether it can be owned.
• Thesis Statement (with the main point and previewing key or supporting points that become the topic sentences of the body paragraphs): While some business people use language and trademarks to turn a profit, the nation should consider that language cannot be owned by any one group or individual and that former (or current) imperialist and colonialist nations must consider the impact of their actions on culture and people groups, and legislators should bar the trademarking of non-English words for the good of internal peace of the country.
• Legislators should bar the trademarking of non-English words for the good and internal peace of the country.
• Conclusion ( Revisit the Hook/Lead/Opener, Restate the Thesis, End with a Twist— a strong more globalized statement about why this topic was important to write about)

Note about outlines: Informal outlines can be created using lists with or without bullets. What is important is that main and subpoint ideas are linked and identified.

• Use 10 minutes to freewrite with the goal to “empty your cup”—writing about whatever is on your mind or blocking your attention on your classes, job, or family. This can be a great way to help you become centered, calm, or focused, especially when dealing with emotional challenges in your life.
• For each writing assignment in class, spend three 10-minute sessions either listing (brainstorming) or focused-writing about the topic before starting to organize and outline key ideas.
• Before each draft or revision of assignments, spend 10 minutes focused-writing an introduction and a thesis statement that lists all the key points that supports the thesis statement.
• Have a discussion in your class about the various language communities that you and your classmates experience in your town or on your island.
• Create a graphic organizer that will help you write various types of essays.
• Create a metacognitive, self-reflective journal: Freewrite continuously (e.g., 5 times a week, for at least 10 minutes, at least half a page) about what you learned in class or during study time. Document how your used your study hours this week, how it felt to write in class and out of class, what you learned about writing and about yourself as a writer, how you saw yourself learning and evolving as a writer, what you learned about specific topics. What goals do you have for the next week?

During the second half of the semester, as you begin to tackle deeper and lengthier assignments, the journal should grow to at least one page per day, at least 20 minutes per day, as you use journal writing to reflect on writing strategies (e.g., structure, organization, rhetorical modes, research, incorporating different sources without plagiarizing, giving and receiving feedback, planning and securing time in your schedule for each task involved in a writing assignment) and your ideas about topics, answering research questions, and reflecting on what you found during research and during discussions with peers, mentors, tutors, and instructors. The journal then becomes a record of your journey as a writer, as well as a source of freewriting on content that you can shape into paragraphs for your various assignments.

Works Cited

Elbow, Peter. Writing Without Teachers . 2nd edition, 1973, Oxford UP, 1998.

Goldberg, Natalie. Wild Mind : Living the Writer’s Life. Bantam Books, 1990.

Swales, John. “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings , 1990, pp. 21-32.

For more about discourse communities, see the online class by Robert Mohrenne “ What is a Discourse Community? ” ENC 1102 13 Fall 0027. University of Central Florida, 2013.

English Composition Copyright © 2019 by Contributing Authors is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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