• At first, if you are not used to brainstorming, this might seem like extra work, but I guarantee you, writers who spend time in this stage of the writing process always produce better essays with more ease than those who blindly rush in.

    Also you might want to remember writing comes easier if you have something to say; therefore, readings and experiences which impact you in some manner will be easier to write about. Thus a good writer always tries to find ways to connect the material she is learning to that in her own experience. 

    Prewriting -- Brainstorming

    Research shows people who spend time coming up with ideas always write better than those who take the plunge. Thus, I would suggest using a specific brainstorm method. Try one of these:

    		Clustering is taking one central idea and coming up with any and every thought about it without limitation. This is visual type of brainstorming, as you would put your central idea in the center of your page, draw a circle around it, then branch off from it with your different thoughts. When you run out of steam, you stop writing and review what you have written. More often than not, you will find one idea has more thoughts "clustered" around it than others. That would be the topic and starting point of your essay because you have the most to say about it. Then when writing your actual essay, you would refer to the cluster to keep your thoughts flowing.
    Listing is the next type of brainstorming. Here you operate in the same manner as the cluster, except you "list" all of your ideas as they come to you, just like you might do with a grocery or things-to-do list. The object, again, is to keep the ideas flowing. When you really think you have no more thoughts on the topic, you review the list and try to come up with different categories, then put like ideas together. Obviously if you spend adequate time on a list, you will see what you have the most knowledge about. This will also help weed out the information that does not belong in the essay.
    Freewriting, commonly known as non-stop writing, another form of brainstorming, requires that you sit for a certain amount of time, usually ten minutes, and write everything you know about your topic. Again limiting your thoughts is not a good idea. If it comes into your head, put it down. Do not worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar or anything but capturing your thoughts!
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    Last revised: November 19, 2009 by Jan Strever -- jstrever@scc.spokane.edu
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