1. Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011
Prewriting
English 70
4/27/2019
Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011

2. Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011
Discovering Ideas
Some students are reluctant to write because they don’t know how to begin.
The prewriting techniques explained can help anyone start writing quickly.
They can also help to divert the flood of anxiety that sometimes overwhelms writers.
4/27/2019
Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011

3. Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011
Prewriting
The first stage of the writing process is a time of discovery – you unearth ideas.
There is no need to think about order or correctness.
The object is to produce as many ideas as possible.
4/27/2019
Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011

4. Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011
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 journal responses we write and write in the blog are both prewriting activities.
4/27/2019
Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011

5. Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011
Invention Techniques
Freewriting
Clustering
Brainstorming
List Making & Scratch Outlining
Questioning-Heuristic
Keeping a Journal
4/27/2019
Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011

6. Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011
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.
4/27/2019
Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011

7. Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011
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.
4/27/2019
Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011

8. Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011
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.
4/27/2019
Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011

9. 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.
4/27/2019
Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011

10. Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011
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 W’s and H” (who? What? When? Where? Why? How?) can be expanded to full-fledged questions:
4/27/2019
Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011

11. Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011
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.
4/27/2019
Professor Minnis, Delta College 2011