Prewriting strategies:
Listing: Writers can first jot down all possible ideas or examples that come to mind. Then the writer may read
through the list and eliminate some concepts and group the others in appropriate categories.
Clustering: Writers can make a diagram of their ideas by writing down main ideas and then connecting them to
supporting points by drawing lines or “branches.” This strategy is particularly helpful for visual learners; seeing a
“picture” of the paper can help writers to see relationships between ideas, which may make it easier to organize
a paper.
Freewriting: While this strategy doesn’t work for everyone, some writers find it helpful to simply let ideas flow
onto paper, particularly when they feel overwhelmed by the task at hand. After freewriting for a short time,
focusing only on the topic, not punctuation or proper structure, writers can look through what they wrote for
important concepts and key words and phrases to use in the paper.
Resources
Understanding Writing Assignments
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/688/01/
The Writing Process
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/701/1/
Prewriting
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/695/1/
Organizing an Argument
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/693/1/