Prewriting: Getting your ideas out From The Longman Writer Chapter 2, pages 12-35

Why Prewrite? Prewriting techniques are like the warm-ups you do before going out to jog – they loosen you up, get you moving, and help you to develop a sense of well-being and confidence. During prewriting, you deliberately ignore your internal critic. Your purpose is simply to get ideas down on paper.

Determine your: Purpose: what do you want your essay to accomplish (inform, explain, convince, persuade, entertain) Audience: to write effectively , you need to identify who your readers are and consider their expectations and needs (age, gender, education, politics, religion, interests, prior knowledge) Tone: use word choice and sentence structure to adapt your tone to fit the purpose and audience you have selected.

Focus on a limited subject Too broad a subject can result in frustration and a long, rambling essay. General Subject Less General Limited Subject Education Computers in education Computers in elementary school arithmetic classes High school education High school electives Transportation Low-cost travel Hitchhiking Getting around a metropolitan area The transit system in a nearby city Work Planning for a career College internships Women in the workforce Women’s success as managers

Types of Prewriting Brainstorm: quickly list everything about the general topic that comes to mind. Work vertically down a page, listing every thought, idea, fact, words or phrases; even the most fleeting, random, or seemingly outrageous thoughts can be productive. Don’t try to organize or censor your ideas.

Types of Prewriting Freewrite: set a timer and jot down everything that comes to mind without worrying about spelling, grammar, or value of ideas. Don’t stop writing during that time; if you get stuck, just repeat a word or phrase until another thought comes. Feel free to get swept along and go wherever your thoughts take you.

Types of Prewriting Bubble/Cluster chart: put your limited subject in the middle of a circle in the middle of the page and branch out with sub-points; feel free to branch out from those, and so on. There’s really no wrong way to do a bubble chart.

Types of Prewriting Writer’s journal: many writers keep a journal in which they write ideas as they come to them; others make themselves just write for a specific amount of time each day Question the general subject (who, what, when, where, why, how)

Go back and star/highlight/circle ideas with potential (surprising, well-written, interesting) that may fit with your purpose, audience, and tone. Cross out anything that will not work; add points that didn’t occur to you at the time. Draw arrows between related items (so they can be grouped under a common heading in your outline). It may help to then go ahead and write several phrases or sentences summarizing the most promising information.

Practice 1 Number the items in each set from 1 (broadest subject) to 5 (most limited subject): Set A Abortion Controversial social issue Cutting state abortion funds Federal funding of abortions Social issues Set B Business majors Students’ majors College students Kinds of students on campus Why students major in business

Practice 2 Which of the following topics are too broad for an essay of two to five typed pages: Soap operas’ appeal to college students Day care Trying to “kick” junk food Male and female relationships International terrorism

Practice 3 Assume you’re writing essays on two of the topics below. For each one, how might you adapt your purpose, tone, and point of view to the audiences indicated in parenthesis? Overcoming shyness (ten-year-olds; teachers of ten-year-olds; young singles living in a large apartment building) Smoking (people who have quit; smokers; elementary school children)

Practice 4 Choose one of the following general topics for a roughly 500-word essay. Then use the prewriting technique indicated in parenthesis: Friendship (freewriting) Malls (mapping) Television (brainstorming) Manners (questioning)