Prewriting

Prewriting, or as some call it planning, is the first step in becoming a successful writer. This is a crucial first stage. 

          Sometimes you will be assigned a topic.  At other times, you will have to find your own.  Whatever the situation, you will begin with careful consideration of your audience, the assignment, the length, and knowledge of the topic.  These factors will require you to think about your writing by not just giving a rapid thought but earnestly engaging in the process. That is brainstorming.  Brainstorming is no easy. 

Brain storming

            Without participating in it, you will have a hard time coming up with the ingredients of the composition.  In essence, brainstorming is the generating of ideas about the subject matter.  Start brainstorming as soon as you settle on your topic.  The trick is to write down all the ideas.  A large number of successful writers keep a small notebook, something like a reporter’s notebook, with them all the time—jotting down all of their inspirations. Do not count on your memory to retain whatever you have come up with.  Another thing you ought to do is come up as many ideas as possible.  The more you have, the better it is.  Quantity is more important in this stage than quality.  There are many ways of brainstorming: 

1. listing

2.clustering, mapping, or webbing

3.freewriting

4.asking questions. 

Whichever method you prefer, use it. 

Become proficient in it.  Besides, turn in your brainstorming with your composition if your instructor asks you to do so.  If not, keep your brainstorming in a three-ring binder or inside a manila envelope with all the material of that particular essay. 

Listing

            Many of us make “things to do lists,” so we do not forget the tasks we have to accomplish.  Going to the grocery store without a list is unthinkable for a number of us.  (Of course, there are some who are impulsive shoppers.)  Listing is simply writing down all that comes into the mind about the topic.  Let us take topic the causes of poverty, which can generate a large number of ideas.  Poverty has various causes, while some of them can be removed by various measures, eliminating the most complicated underlying causes remains a challenge for both developed and developing nations, This topic can produce a lot of ideas—some fifty or more. On a piece of paper, write down the title of your essay, if not the title, at least the subject matter and follow it with the ideas you have engendered in the following manner.

Causes of Poverty

ü  War

ü  Disease

ü  Economic structures

ü  Lack of education

ü  Loss of job

ü  Disasters

ü  Flood

ü  Overpopulation

ü  Dictatorships

ü  Racism

ü  Globalisation

ü  Over dependence on agriculture

ü  Drug abuse

ü  Income inequalities

ü  Natural disasters…and other ideas

Causes of Poverty

                                

                                     

Clustering, Mapping, or Webbing

             Generally, those who are visual like to cluster, map, or web their ideas on a piece of paper—making it easier for them see the relationship or connectedness of ideas.  You can put in practice this form of brainstorming by taking a clean sheet of paper and writing on the center the title or topic.  Follow it up by drawing large ovals for the main ideas, connecting them and interconnecting with smaller ovals which contain sub-ideas. Words of caution, a topic like causes of poverty can become unwieldy because of its ability to generate a very large number of ideas.  Therefore, do your clustering, mapping, or webbing carefully in such a situation.  You can use the following as a model for this type of brainstorming.

Freewriting

            Freewriting is a favorite means of brainstorming for countless students because they feel they can skip several steps in the writing process.  According to them, freewriting is the prototype of the composition they will turn in.  In other words, they fail to realize that this type of brainstorming also is responsible in churning out ideas.  In freewriting, you set yourself a time limit, between 10 and 30 minutes, in which you write nonstop on the topic.  If your mind stops working, do not stop writing.  While freewriting on the causes of poverty, if your thoughts turn to Mickey Mouse as having been born in 1928, write down “Mickey Mouse was born in 1928.” After you have exhausted your time limit, weed through what you have put down on paper.  Pick those items that are only relevant to poverty, and discard the rest.  This kind of brainstorming is by no means the easiest one.

Asking Questions

             Another method of brainstorming is asking questions and answering them.  This is the favorite method of reporters.  Journalism schools teach their students to brainstorm by asking “WH” questions.  “WH” questions can be another way you can come up with ideas for your composition.  Answer these questions while being focused on the topic, and you will produce enough ideas to write your paper:

Who?

What?

When?

Where?

Why?

How?

Thesis Statement

            After mulling through all the ideas you have spawned on the topic of the causes of poverty, choose three of the top reasons.  In my view, they are financial problems, lack of communication, and mistrust.  Put all three of these ideas into a sentence, which some call the central idea or the thesis:

v  The three leading causes of poverty are economic structures, cultural Issues, and disasters.

The thesis will be the focal point of the essay and will allow your and readers to realize the direction your topic is going to take.  For instance, at meetings agendas are provided, so the contents of the meeting are obvious to the attendees.  Similarly, the thesis is the agenda of your essay.  

      Follow these guidelines for creating your thesis and you will find that with practice the creation of a central idea becomes easy, and once you have mastered the art you can experiment with your thesis.

1.      As stated earlier, provide three main points in the thesis.  You might ask why three?  The reason is very simple, so you can write the five-paragraph essay with each main point becoming the three body paragraphs.  The other two make up the introduction and conclusion.  Moreover, psychologists tell us that we remember in multiples of three.

2.      It is essential that as a beginning writer you construct your thesis as one sentence in which you include all three of the main ideas.

3.      Make your thesis the last sentence of the introductory paragraph.  This will allow you and your readers to see the connection of your main ideas of your body paragraphs to the thesis. 

Outline

            The next useful tool in the prewriting process is the outline.  After the thesis is shaped, make an outline.  In fact, the outline is a plan of the essay.  Would you have your house built without a blueprint?  That is highly unlikely.  Without one, the builder might build a bathroom in the middle of your kitchen.  Most would not appreciate that.  Outlines are the blueprints of your essays, allowing you to keep your essay within the framework of your topic and assigned length.  Most importantly, you can keep an eye on the thesis, main ideas, sub-ideas, and conclusion while you pen your composition.  Supporting the main ideas and sub-ideas with evidence, facts, data, statistics, testimony, examples, and anecdotes make the writing process easy.  It is almost like plugging these things and expanding the essay to its finale.

            Outlines come in two forms, informal—also known as scratch outline—and formal.  In informal outlines, you would just jot down the thesis, the main ideas, sub-ideas (if necessary sub sub-ideas—even sub, sub sub-ideas), and the conclusion.  Unlike formal outlines, scratch outlines are not numbered and are similar to creating a list.  However, working with formal outlines will enable you to become a better writer because they provide you with more organizational structure with your writing.  Most accomplished writers use formal outlines.  Below is a sample of a formal outline, which has been developed from the causes of poverty topic.

Causes of Poverty

Thesis:  The three leading causes of poverty are economic structures, cultural issues, and disasters.

                             I.        The first major reason for poverty is economic structures.

                        A.

                        B.

                           II.        The second major reason for poverty is cultural issues.

                        A.

                        B.

                         III.        The final major reason for poverty is disasters.

              A.

              B.

Conclusion:  Fundamentally, poverty is the inability of getting choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. Usually poverty take place when society uses inappropriate economic structures.  It depends not only on income but also on Cultural Issues.  The other chief cause of the poverty is disasters. Still, extreme poverty is a global challenge; it is observed in all parts of the world, including developed economies.

 

     

These guidelines will help you formulate your outline:

1. On a blank sheet of paper, centering it, put the title of your essay.  (See the above example.)
2. Next, key the word “thesis,” followed by a colon and write your entire thesis as a complete sentence.  (See the above example.)
3. Set the three main ideas of the body paragraphs with capital Roman numerals, followed by periods, for example I., II., and III.   (See the above example.)
4. Word process sub-ideas with upper case letters, followed by periods, such as A., and B. (See the above example.)  Sub-ideas must be divided into at least two parts, such as A or B.  If you have more than two sub-ideas, you need to have C., D., and so on.
5. If you have sub-ideas of sub-ideas, you need to use Arabic numerals, such as 1. and 2.  Furthermore, for more sub-ideas use lower case alphabets and lower case Roman numerals.  Below is an example of the system of using alphabets and numbers for sub-ideas and their sub-ideas.