Prewriting [Lesson]
Brandi Morley
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this lesson, students will
- review the steps in the writing process (Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Publishing).
- generate ideas about a topic using three prewriting strategies (Listing, Freewriting, Clustering).
- reflect and discuss the various prewriting strategies as well as their importance to the writing process.
The Writing Process
The writing process is a recursive, fluid process that writers follow when constructing a text. Having a process allows the writer to break the writing tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks. Before publishing a final product, a writer may visit and revisit various stages of the writing process. As the figure below illustrates, the writing process includes five stages:
- Prewriting — The stage of generating ideas and planning.
- Drafting — The stage of writing a rough draft.
- Revising — The stage of refining style and organization.
- Editing — The stage of proofreading and correcting errors related to grammar, usage, and conventions.
- Publishing — The stage of sharing the final draft with an audience.
Prewriting
The focus of this lesson is prewriting, or brainstorming, which is the first step in the writing process. The purpose of prewriting is to generate ideas and plan before developing a draft. Ideas for writing come from many places: what we’ve read, what we’ve seen, what we’ve experienced, what we imagine.
You will have an opportunity to practice three different ways of generating ideas using prewriting strategies.
Listing
Listing is a way to jot down ideas related to a topic in a short amount of time. Simply make a list of ideas, details, and examples related to a topic. There’s no need to organize the list in a certain way. The goal is to get ideas on the page.
Example: The below list was brainstormed based on the topic of “Going to College.”
- Topic: Going to College
- Courses
- Schedules
- Professors
- Textbooks
- Dorms
- Off-Campus
- Safety
- Tuition
- Financial aid
- GPA
- Study Skills
- Distance learning
- Campus Involvement
- Time management
- Handling conflict
- Emergencies
- School events
- Roommates
- Attendance
Your turn!
Set a timer for 2-3 minutes.
Practice using the prewriting strategy of listing with a topic of your choice or a broad topic such as planning a vacation. List as many ideas that come to mind related to the topic.
Freewriting
Freewriting is a process of freely jotting down your thoughts and ideas related to a topic in phrases or sentences. “Correctness” does not matter at this point. The idea is to write down whatever comes to mind related to the topic.
Example: Using the same topic as earlier (“Going to College”), the following was generated in a freewriting brainstorm.
When I started college, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. It took me a while to figure out how to manage my time and study for my classes. Speaking of classes, I had to take all 8:00 a.m. classes my freshman year