1. PREWRITING STRATEGIES zTECHNIQUES THAT WRITERS USE TO HELP THEM GET IDEAS DOWN ON PAPER AND TO DISCOVER WHAT THEY KNOW (AND DON’T KNOW) ABOUT A TOPIC.

2. PREWRITING STRATEGIES (cont.) zALSO HELP WRITERS W/ THE PROBLEM OF OVERCOMING WRITER’S BLOCK & GETTING STARTED.

3. PREWRITING STRATEGIES (cont.) SOME COMMON PREWRITING STRAT- EGIES: zFREEWRITING zCLUSTERING zBRAINSTORMING zOUTLINING zHEURISTICS

4. FREEWRITING zWRITING NON-STOP FOR A MANAGE- ABLE PERIOD OF TIME (10-15 MINS.) zTHE ONLY RULE: DO NOT STOP WRIT- ING FOR ANY REASON UNTIL THE TIME IS UP.

5. FREEWRITING (cont.) zREDUCES ANXIETY BY ALLOWING A WRITER TO EXPRESS IMMEDIATE FEEL- INGS, QUESTIONS, & IDEAS ABOUT A TOPIC. zGETS WORDS & IDEAS FLOWING; HELPS OVERCOME THE URGE TO EDIT.

6. FREEWRITING (cont.) zAFTER FREEWRITING, UNDERLINE STRIKING WORDS OR IDEAS THAT CAN SERVE AS STARTING POINTS FOR FUR- THER THINKING & (FREE)WRITING.

7. FREEWRITING (cont.) zCAN ALSO BE A USEFUL WARM-UP ACTIVITY FOR TAKING OUT ONE’S MENTAL “GARBAGE.”

8. CLUSTERING zA VISUAL FORM OF BRAINSTORMING THAT HELPS A WRITER SEE RELATION- SHIPS AMONG IDEAS BETTER THAN FREEWRITING DOES.

9. CLUSTERING (cont.) zBASIC PROCEDURE: (1) CIRCLE TOPIC IN MIDDLE OF PAGE. (2) WRITE DOWN (AND CIRCLE) OTHER IDEAS & CONNECT RELATED IDEAS W/ LINES.

10. CLUSTERING (cont.) zANY WORD OR IDEA IN A CLUSTER CAN BECOME THE STARTING POINT OF A NEW CLUSTER, WHICH CAN PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR SUPPORTING PARA- GRAPHS.

11. BRAINSTORMING zRAPID FREE ASSOCIATION & LISTING OF IDEAS ABOUT A TOPIC. zTHE BASIC RULE: WRITE DOWN ALL IDEAS THAT COME TO MIND IN SINGLE WORDS OR SHORT PHRASES; OMIT NOTHING.

12. BRAINSTORMING (cont.) zAFTER INITIAL BRAINSTORMING, ANA- LYZE THE LIST BY DOING THE FOLLOW- ING KINDS OF THINGS: yPUT ASTERISKS, STARS, ETC. NEXT TO THE MOST PROMISING ITEMS; yNUMBER KEY ITEMS IN ORDER OF IMPOR- TANCE;

13. BRAINSTORMING (cont.) zANALYZE BRAINSTORMING BY: yGROUP RELATED ITEMS; yCROSS OUT UNPROMISING ITEMS; yADD NEW ITEMS.

14. OUTLINING zHELPS PLAN THE ORGANIZATION OF AN ESSAY AS WELL AS GENERATE IDEAS. zTHREE BASIC TYPES OF OUTLINES: ySCRATCH yTOPIC ySENTENCE

15. SCRATCH OUTLINE zA ROUGH LIST OF INTENDED POINTS & IDEAS (THE LEAST FORMAL TYPE OF OUTLINE).

16. TOPIC OUTLINE zMORE DETAILED, W/ IDEAS PRESENTED IN KEY WORDS OR PHRASES IN CONVEN- TIONAL OUTLINE FORMAT (I.E., W/ NUM- BERED & LETTERED HEADINGS & SUB- HEADINGS).

17. SENTENCE OUTLINE zEVEN MORE DEVELOPED IN COMPLETE SENTENCES, EACH SENTENCE BEING A SUBTOPIC FOR A SUPPORTING PARA- GRAPH. CONTAINS MOST OF THE IN- FORMATION IN AN ESSAY (THE MOST FORMAL TYPE OF OUTLINE).

18. HEURISTICS zA HEURISTIC IS A SYSTEMATIC DIS- COVERY PROCEDURE THAT FORCES A WRITER TO CONSIDER DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF A TOPIC.

19. HEURISTICS (cont.) zAN EXAMPLE OF A HEURISTIC IS THE JOURNALIST’S QUESTIONS: WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, & HOW.