When you are asked to write an essay, you don't simply sit right down and churn out one or two words right away. There are many steps you've got to go thru before it is possible for you to start a compelling essay. Some writers actually have their own pre-writing rituals to get their minds in the right condition to write. We don't all share these rituals, but there are a considerable number of pre-writing activities that all writers, amateur and seasoned, will find advantages in.
Free-writing
When you are writing something others will have to read, you've got to watch a lot of things your style, tone, language, grammar, and so on. But when you're free-writing, you don't have to concentrate on any of that. Simply write down the first thing that comes to mind. It could be a huge mess inside your head. That's fine. It might not mean anything to you now. No problem. You may realize later on that out of that jumbled mess are a few good concepts you can write about.
A variation of free-writing is looping. It starts with free-writing but you've got to give yourself a time limit, say 10 minutes. Once your time is up, read thru what you have written and pick one or two good concepts that you would like to free-write about in the next 10 minutes. When you're done, go over the second paragraph and pick a more recent, more exact idea.
Idea-Mapping
If you would like a rather more organised system, you can create idea maps on a piece of paper or on a blackboard. This provides you a physical representation of the relationships among the different beliefs about your essay subject.
An idea map starts with one idea, represented by the most vital word about your chosen subject. Encircle this word and, outside of the circle, write down other important terms or phrases that are related to the main word. It's important to leave blank spaces between circles so that you can draw connections between the ideas and insert new words in between.
Free-writing
When you are writing something others will have to read, you've got to watch a lot of things your style, tone, language, grammar, and so on. But when you're free-writing, you don't have to concentrate on any of that. Simply write down the first thing that comes to mind. It could be a huge mess inside your head. That's fine. It might not mean anything to you now. No problem. You may realize later on that out of that jumbled mess are a few good concepts you can write about.
A variation of free-writing is looping. It starts with free-writing but you've got to give yourself a time limit, say 10 minutes. Once your time is up, read thru what you have written and pick one or two good concepts that you would like to free-write about in the next 10 minutes. When you're done, go over the second paragraph and pick a more recent, more exact idea.
Idea-Mapping
If you would like a rather more organised system, you can create idea maps on a piece of paper or on a blackboard. This provides you a physical representation of the relationships among the different beliefs about your essay subject.
An idea map starts with one idea, represented by the most vital word about your chosen subject. Encircle this word and, outside of the circle, write down other important terms or phrases that are related to the main word. It's important to leave blank spaces between circles so that you can draw connections between the ideas and insert new words in between.
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