1. Presented by the UTA English Writing Center
Brainstorming
Presented by the UTA English Writing Center
Last Updated 6/16/2016 LT

2. Hosted by English Writing Center www.uta.edu/owl
A Program Sponsored by the Department of English

3. Writing Center
Free Tutoring for Undergrads and Graduate students on all academic projects for UTA classes at any stage of the writing process
Face-to-Face
Online
Individual and Group Projects
20, 40, 60 Minute Sessions
4th Floor of the Central Library
Register at uta.mywconline.com
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4. Workshop Overview
Brainstorming, or invention, is a part of the writing process meant to help writers:
discover ideas
sharpen the focus of their essays
experiment and play with ideas without necessarily committing to them
provide a way past writers block
Though it can be used at any stage in the writing process, today we will be employing brainstorming exercises as a way to begin writing.

5. Discussion:
Writing Process

6. Charts or Shapes
Use phrases or words that are central to your topic and try to arrange them spatially in a graph, grid, table, or chart. How do the different spatial representations help you see the relationships among your ideas? If you can’t imagine the shape of a chart at first, just put the words on a page and draw lines between or around them

7. Primary Invention Guide
Assignment Prompt
Primary Invention Guide

8. Assignment Breakdown What does the assignment as me to do?
What am I being asked to think about in the assignment?
What questions are I expected to answer?
For what will my readers be looking?
How broad or narrow should my focus be?
Are there any terms or phrases repeated in the assignment or in the course material?

9. Listing
List all the ideas you can think of that are connected to the topic or the subject you want to explore.
Consider any idea or observation as valid and worthy of listing
go for quantity at this point
List quickly and then set your list aside for a few minutes.
Come back and read your list and then do the listing exercise again.

10. Freewriting Set yourself a specific time limit and stick to it
Ours will be 4 minutes
Write whatever ideas, words, phrases, or sentences come to mind
Don’t stop writing for any reason
No corrections
No erasing
No crossing out
No rewording
(When you are finished, read through your draft and underline or circle ideas that might lead you to a thesis or main points for your paper.)

11. Looping After freewriting or initial idea generation
Select an effective idea, from what you have previously written, that clearly respond to the prompt
Write this at the top of a new sheet of paper and use it to guide a new freewriting
Repeat several times
The more you write and select, the more you will be able to refine your ideas.

12. Talk to Yourself
“I know what I want to say. It’s just that I can’t figure out how to put it in writing.”
try dictating your thoughts on a digital recording device (most smartphones have this capability)
After several minutes
listen to what you’ve recorded
write down ideas you want to incorporate into your paper
If you can’t record, you might ask a friend to write down your main points as you talk
In this example, the nouns cat, fence, and mouse take an indefinite article, but only when they are introduced for the first time. After they are introduced, we use the definite article in every instance. This pattern, or rule, covers a lot of basic instances of concrete nouns, especially in story telling. This rule can extend over long periods of time and interrupted dialogue so that I can ask you to buy a pen and then several hours later I can ask you if you bought the pen.

13. Defining Terms
In your own words, write definitions for key terms or concepts given in the assignment.
Find other definitions of those terms to compare to your own
in your course readings
the dictionary
through conversations and then compare the definitions to your own.
Keep these definitions in mind as you begin to write your essay.
This exception also applies to ordering (ordinal numbers used as adjectives) where it is presumed that the ordering is unique: the second time, the third example, the fourth person to call. In other words, once you place an order on objects they hold a unique position in that order. This exception applies to named things (which through naming become unique): The Rocky Mountains (a mountain range)The New York Islanders (a sports team)The Amazon River (a river in South America)The Pacific Ocean (an ocean)The Steelworkers Union (an organization)The Great Plains (a geographic locality)The Washington Monument (a statue)The Number Four Bus
However, this application is imperfect as some things such as named lakes and islands take no articles (Buttle Lake, Skull Island) except in plural instances (the Great Lakes, the Galapagos islands).

14. Summarizing Positions
Summarize the positions of relevant authors from your course readings or research.
Do you agree or disagree with their ideas, methods, or approaches?
How do your interests overlap with the positions of the authors in question?
Try to be brief in your descriptions.
Write a paragraph or up to a page describing a reading or a position.

15. Topic Swap Get together with a group of classmates
Have each person write down her or his tentative topic or thesis at the top of a blank sheet of paper
Pass the sheets around from left to right
Have each person write down a thoughtful question or suggest related ideas to think about

16. Compare/Contrast
If your assignment asks you to compare or contrast two concepts, texts, subjects, etc.
Organize your thoughts in a compare/contrast matrix
focus on the attributes you will consider in your draft.
Establish the key points of comparison or contrast with which you will deal in your essay
Important

17. What works for whom? Reactions www.uta.edu/owl

18. 2Qs
Question 1: What is the most important thing you’ve learned about writing today?
Question 2: What questions or concerns do you still have regarding writing?