Prewriting Strategies
Summary
TLDRThis video script introduces prewriting techniques to combat writer's block and enhance the writing process. It outlines four methods: brainstorming, freewriting, clustering, and questioning. Brainstorming helps generate topics or details, freewriting encourages continuous writing to uncover ideas, clustering visually organizes related ideas, and questioning prompts exploration of topic facets. The video emphasizes the importance of choosing a prewriting method that best fits one's comfort and style to ease the writing process.
Takeaways
- 📝 Pre-writing is a preparatory phase before starting an actual writing task, which helps in generating ideas and preventing writer's block.
- 🤔 The video introduces four types of pre-writing techniques: brainstorming, clustering, free writing, and questioning.
- 💡 Brainstorming involves creating a list of ideas, which can help in choosing a topic or expanding on details for an assigned topic.
- ⏰ Free writing is the process of writing continuously for a set time, disregarding grammar and punctuation, to generate ideas on a topic.
- 🔗 Clustering, also known as webbing or mind mapping, visually organizes ideas and their relationships, which is useful for detailed exploration of a topic.
- 📌 Questioning involves asking the five Ws and an H (who, what, where, when, why, and how) about a topic to uncover potential angles and details.
- 👉 Each pre-writing method serves different purposes, such as overcoming initial block, finding a topic, or fleshing out details for an essay.
- 👀 The video emphasizes the importance of choosing a pre-writing method that the writer feels most comfortable with to ensure effectiveness.
- 🔑 Pre-writing can significantly reduce the time and effort spent on writing by providing a structured approach to generating and organizing ideas.
- 🚫 The script warns against the panic and frustration associated with staring at a blank page, which can be mitigated by engaging in pre-writing activities.
Q & A
What is prewriting and why is it important?
-Prewriting is the process done before actual writing where you think about the writing assignment and generate ideas. It is important because it helps prevent writer's block and makes the writing process smoother by having ideas ready before starting to write.
What are the four types of prewriting discussed in the video?
-The four types of prewriting discussed are brainstorming, clustering, freewriting, and questioning.
How can brainstorming help with writing?
-Brainstorming can help with writing by generating a list of ideas or topics to write about, which can be useful when you have no idea where to start or when you need to think of details for a given topic.
What is freewriting and how does it differ from brainstorming?
-Freewriting involves writing down everything that comes to your mind in a set amount of time, focusing on quantity over quality. It differs from brainstorming in that it allows for a continuous flow of ideas without the need to organize them immediately, which can be helpful for both finding a topic and generating details.
Can you explain the clustering method of prewriting?
-Clustering, also known as webbing or mind mapping, is a prewriting technique where you organize ideas by showing their relationships. You start with a main topic in the center and branch out to related subtopics and further details, connecting them visually to show how they relate to one another.
How does questioning help in the prewriting process?
-Questioning involves asking the six reporter's questions (who, what, where, when, why, and how) about your topic and then answering them. This method is useful for generating details and can help when you are really stuck and need to find a direction for your writing.
Why might a student use freewriting to generate ideas about the environment?
-A student might use freewriting to generate ideas about the environment to narrow down a broad topic into something more manageable. By writing continuously for a set time, they can explore various aspects of the environment and potentially identify a specific subtopic to focus on for their paper.
How does clustering help in organizing the writing structure?
-Clustering helps in organizing the writing structure by visually representing the relationships between the main topic and its subtopics and details. This allows a student to see how different ideas connect and can serve as a blueprint for organizing paragraphs and the flow of the essay.
What is the benefit of using prewriting techniques like questioning when you're stuck?
-Using prewriting techniques like questioning when you're stuck can help stimulate thought and creativity by prompting you to consider different aspects of your topic. It can lead to the discovery of new angles or details that can be explored in the writing, thus overcoming writer's block.
How can prewriting help reduce the panic associated with writer's block?
-Prewriting helps reduce panic associated with writer's block by providing a structured way to generate and organize ideas before starting to write. This preparation can alleviate the pressure of staring at a blank page and having no idea what to write about.
What is the main takeaway from the video regarding prewriting?
-The main takeaway from the video is that prewriting is a valuable tool for any writer, as it helps to prevent writer's block, generates ideas, and organizes thoughts before the actual writing process begins, making the writing task more manageable and less daunting.
Outlines
📝 Introduction to Prewriting
The paragraph introduces the concept of prewriting as a method to prevent writer's block. It explains that prewriting involves generating ideas before starting the actual writing process, which helps in overcoming the initial panic and confusion. The paragraph outlines four types of prewriting techniques: brainstorming, clustering, freewriting, and questioning. Each technique is briefly introduced, setting the stage for a detailed discussion in the subsequent paragraphs.
💡 Techniques of Prewriting: Brainstorming and Freewriting
This paragraph delves into the first two prewriting techniques: brainstorming and freewriting. Brainstorming involves creating a list of ideas, which can help in both selecting a topic and generating details about it. Freewriting, on the other hand, is a timed exercise where one writes continuously for a set period, disregarding grammar and punctuation, to spur the flow of ideas. Examples are provided to illustrate how both techniques can be applied to generate topics and details for writing assignments.
🌐 Techniques of Prewriting: Clustering and Questioning
The final paragraph discusses the remaining two prewriting techniques: clustering and questioning. Clustering, also known as webbing or mind mapping, is a visual method for organizing ideas by showing their relationships, which is particularly useful for detailing a topic. Questioning involves asking and answering the six reporter's questions (who, what, where, when, why, and how) about the topic to uncover details and potential angles for the writing. The paragraph provides examples of how clustering can organize ideas and how questioning can lead to a more focused topic, ultimately concluding that prewriting can significantly ease the writing process by reducing writer's block.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Prewriting
💡Brainstorming
💡Free Writing
💡Clustering
💡Questioning
💡Writer's Block
💡Ideas Generation
💡Topic Selection
💡Organization
💡Details Development
💡Overcoming Initial Stuckness
Highlights
Pre-writing is essential before starting an assignment to prevent writer's block.
Four types of pre-writing methods are discussed: brainstorming, clustering, free writing, and questioning.
Brainstorming involves listing everything related to a topic to generate ideas.
Free writing encourages jotting down all thoughts within a set time frame to stimulate ideas.
Clustering, or mind mapping, organizes ideas by showing their relationships to the main topic.
Questioning uses the five Ws and an H to explore a topic in depth.
Pre-writing helps in overcoming the initial panic and blocks associated with staring at a blank page.
Having pre-written ideas ready can alleviate the pressure of immediate writing.
Brainstorming can be used both to find a topic and to flesh out details about a chosen topic.
Free writing is beneficial for both topic generation and detailing when a topic is already known.
Clustering allows for visual organization of ideas, making it easier to see connections and structure.
Questioning is particularly useful when one is stuck and needs a detailed exploration of a topic.
Examples are provided for brainstorming, illustrating how it can lead to identifying a specific writing topic.
Free writing examples show how it can help narrow down a broad topic into a more manageable one.
Clustering examples demonstrate how it can organize a paper's structure before writing begins.
Questioning examples illustrate how it can lead to a specific angle on a broad topic, such as the impact of technology on media.
The video emphasizes the importance of choosing a pre-writing method that one is most comfortable with.
Pre-writing is presented as a time-saving strategy that makes the writing process more efficient.
Transcripts
I'm sure you've been in this situation
before you are assigned a writing
assignment so you go home and you open
up your computer or you take out a piece
of paper and you have no idea where to
begin before too long Panic starts to
set in as you continue to stare at that
computer screen or that notebook paper
and still have no idea what to write the
good news is that there's something that
can prevent this from happening and that
is pre-writing this video will talk
about what prewriting is and how it can
benefit you as well as show you several
different ways that you can accomplish
prewriting to help you generate some
ideas before you get
stuck so prewriting is simply what you
do before you write this is when you
think about that writing
assignment and you generate
ideas why would you want to take the
time to do this well that's simple
having some ideas first before you
write means that when you actually sit
down to write when you open up Microsoft
Word or you take out that piece of paper
you are already
started this means you won't have any of
that terrible writers block that creates
so much Panic this video we'll talk
about four types of prewriting and as I
talk talk about them I will explain what
each one is best for how to do it and
then you can choose the one that you're
the most comfortable with so the four
types of freewriting we will discuss are
brainstorming
clustering free
writing and finally
questioning okay so let's get started
the first type of prewriting we're going
to discuss is brainstorming
brainstorming is when you write down a
list of everything you can think of it
really is that
simple brainstorming can be used in one
of two different ways one way is
when you have no idea where to even
start and you can't even think of a
topic can also be used when you have a
topic but you need to think of the
details
so here's an example of how
brainstorming can work when you need to
find a
topic let's say the writing assignment
is
to tell me about
your a memorable
event and you have no idea where to
start you can't even think of an event
all you would do in this case is begin
making a list of all the different
memorable events in your life life so I
could simply say having a baby getting
married graduating from high
school first
day
of college first job um a special
vacation and my list could go on and on
and on hopefully by the time I'm done
brainstorming this list I will have
identified what topic I most want to
write about so brainstorming can help
you come up with a topic Toc but
brainstorming can also help you come up
with more details to write about a topic
so here's an example of a student who's
brainstorming a list for an essay on why
I want to become a nurse as you can see
through this brainstorming activity this
student has quite a few ideas already
written
down here's another example of a student
who has brainstormed a business problem
so maybe the assignment here was to
write about a problem at your work or
campus and so the problem was that the
visitor parking lot is always full by 8:
a.m. and so here this student has come
up with many ways to solve that problem
both of these sample brainstorming lists
show us that these students already have
several ideas in place so when they sit
down to begin writing their paper they
will already have a good idea of where
they should start the next type of of
pre-writing we're going to talk about is
free
writing free writing is when you write
down everything that comes into your
mind in a set amount of
time this is good for both situations
that we used you brainstorming in when
you don't have a topic at all or you
need details about a topic so here's how
free writing Works in freew writing you
would set aside a certain amount of time
a short amount of time let's say 3 to 5
minutes and then you would just write
down everything you can think about if
you can't think of a topic at all you
would Freer write by writing down
anything you can think of that you could
possibly write about you ignore sentence
structure mistakes
punctuation you just focus on getting
the ideas out
there if you're free writing on a topic
that you already have you would focus on
details about that topic that you can
think of so let's look at some
examples so here's an example free right
of a student whose assigned topic is to
write a paper about the environment
that's pretty broad though there's a lot
of ways you could go there so this
student used freew writing to try to
narrow the topic down into something a
little bit more manageable and figure
out exactly what about the environment
she wanted to say so here's her free
write I have to write a paper about the
environment I have no idea where to
start I know there are many problems
with the environment but I don't know
much about this topic maybe I could take
a look at my Biology book to come up
with some ideas I know my biology
Professor is also really into the
environment so maybe I could ask for his
help I remember he was talking about
hybrid cars in class the other day and
how much better those are for the
environment what is a hybrid car I know
it uses some sort of alternative fuel
and they are becoming very popular maybe
that is something I could write about so
for this free writing experience the
student went from I have no idea what to
write about the environment to possibly
identifying a topic writing about hybrid
cars first the student thought about how
many different topics there were and
then identified two resources she could
potentially look at to try to find a
topic her Biology book and her biology
Professor then as she started thinking
about her biology class she remembered a
conversation about hybrid cars and
started thinking about those and now
she's come up with the topic for hybrid
cars
therefore by using freew writing this
student went from feeling overwhelmed
and not knowing what to write about to
having a
topic the third type of prewriting that
I'm going to show you is clustering you
may have heard this referred to as
webbing or mind mapping from other
teachers but all those three words mean
the same thing clustering allows you to
organize ideas as you think about them
by showing their
relationships this is good for when you
have ATI
topic but you need
details I will show you what this looks
like in several examples and it'll make
a lot more sense this is generally what
a cluster looks like you start with your
topic your main idea in the middle and
then you think
of smaller ideas that fit within that
topic and that's what's here in red
connected ideas then from there you
think of even finer details that can
connect to each of those red ideas and
as you go you come up with more and more
details the great thing is though you
see how all these details are related by
the lines let's look at some examples of
student
work here's a sample cluster on how TV
affects kids so from that topic this
student thought of some main ways that
TV affects kids such as kids don't have
as much social interaction when they sit
around and watch TV or they don't get as
much exercise maybe this student thought
about how um TV has a lot of advertising
and how that makes kids be more
materialistic also that TV has poor role
models and promotes violence then the
student thought about some of these
topics in a little bit more detail for
example TV has poor role models and from
there we have the smaller detail that
the criminals are glorified when it
comes to how TV promotes violence the
student thought about more details for
that including that TV shows murders and
fighting and TV depicts violence as
normal this is nicely organized from
here if a student were to sit down and
start writing she already has an idea as
to how this paper would be organized
there might be one paragraph on how TV
promotes violence and look there's
already two details to go with that
another paragraph could be about how TV
shows poor role models and we're already
have to a good start with one detail for
that
subtopic here's another example this is
an example of a cluster about the summer
so the student thought of some major
ideas about summer summer mornings a
warm breeze no shoes energy in the beach
and then from there the student thought
of details about each one of these
subtopics so let's just look at the warm
soothing Breeze this the student thought
of the scent of lilax putting flowers in
vases the curtains blowing and that
fresh air coming in for um energy the
student thought about different things
that he might do in the summer to get
rid of some energy like riding a bike or
swimming stent thought about things that
happen at the beach reading the Sunday
Times eating
croissants but what's great about this
is when this student goes to sit down
and rate this this essay he's already
off to such a good start he can have one
paragraph about the warm soothing Breeze
and he already has some ideas of what to
say can have another paragraph about how
he spends his energy the third paragraph
about the beach and so on so the great
thing about clustering is that not only
do you generate ideas but you get begin
to organize those organize those ideas
as you go
the last type of prewriting we are going
to discuss is
questioning questioning is asking the
six reporters reporters questions about
your topic so what are these questions
who
what where I can't type today I'm sorry
when
why and
how well why would you do this this
doesn't seem like any of the other types
of prewriting we were just thinking of
things off the top of our head this is
really good for when you have a topic
but you are struggling mightily with
details this is the prewriting you
should use when you are really really
stuck and you're starting to panic so
here's how this works you ask these six
questions who what where when why and
how about your topic and then you answer
them so let's see an example so in this
example the topic at hand was media and
so this student applied the who what
where when why and how questions to
Media so who well the student thought of
who uses media I do students teachers
parents everybody uses media what well
what is media it can be a lot of things
TV radio email newspapers Etc where is
Media it's almost everywhere homes work
cars cell phones when when was media
media has been around for a long time
but it seems more important now why hm
why do we have mass media maybe because
we have better technology now or people
live far away from their families and
can stay in touch and how well maybe we
have media because of better technology
inventions but the student says I don't
know how they all work now this at first
doesn't look like a whole lot but from
here this student could come up with a
more specific topic about media and that
to me would be how technology has
affected media so if we look at the
answers to the questions and we look for
Trends here we have media in a lot of
things look at TV radio email media is
almost everywhere including on your
phone media is a lot more important now
why do we have media because we have the
technology people can stay in touch and
how is Media accomplished through
technology inventions so from here a
great topic would be how technology
Innovations have impacted or increased
media so this student went from I have
no idea what to say about media to
having a topic so in conclusion
prewriting can really really help
prevent writer block by using prewriting
you can think about things to say or
come up with a topic if you are really
stuck and you can't even think of a
topic at all then you should use
brainstorming by making a list of topics
you might want to talk write about or
Freer writing by just writing down
everything that comes into your mind and
then going back over your free rate to
see if a topic has
emerged if you have a topic but you're
not really sure what to say about it in
your writing then you can use any of the
four types of pre-writing but you can
brainstorm by making a list of
everything you know or want to know
about that topic you can freew write
about the topic and just write whatever
comes into your mind and then see if a
if a potential more detailed subtopic
has emerged from your free right you can
make a cluster to generate some ideas
and see how those ideas connect to each
other or you can use questioning and ask
the reporter's questions to try to get
an idea of where your top could go but
no matter what method you choose make
sure it's the one that you're the most
comfortable with the one that you like
the most and the one that works best for
you prewriting might seem like a little
bit of of a different thing to do it
might not be something you ever really
tried before but I assure you if you
take the very short amount of time that
it takes to do prewriting you will start
writing those essays so much easier and
so much more quickly because you won't
be stuck wow
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