Prewriting techniques definition

Prewriting techniques and outlines

Q1. Identify two prewriting techniques discussed in this course that a writer can use to develop relevant supporting points. Provide an example to support your response.

It is important for one to prepare before embarking on the actual process of writing an essay or article because it is essential for a good piece. There is a set of techniques, which one can apply, but let us look at two of them.

The first technique is brainstorming. This involves writing down whatever comes to your mind as quickly as possible. It is possible for your brain to overflow with ideas and therefore writing them down ensures that you preserve all the ideas. One can as well seek assistance from a friend to get more ideas on the topic. For instance, you are given a topic on “war in Africa”, you could come up with the following.

Brainstorming for War in Africa; Gorilla warfare, is this the tactic used? Dictatorship, poor and hungry people, Militia groups, destruction, machine guns.

The second technique is freewriting. It is a strategy of putting down on paper what comes to one’s mind in more organized form than brainstorming. It entails long sentences without much effort on grammar. It is an open way of getting ideas, as this will lead you to the core area of the topic. An example on freewriting on the same topic “war in Africa” would be:

Freewriting for War in Africa; I only know a few parts of Africa. From what I have been hearing from the media, there is a lot of misery going on there. I will read more resources on this topic before I start writing.

Q2. Explain two benefits of using an outline to help further develop and organize the supporting points of an essay. Provide two examples to support your rationale.

Having an outline leads to focused arguments. An outline will keep a writer focused on the key issue on the topic without straying away. Reading through the outline before starting writing and during writing draws the writer’s attention on the topic. For example, someone writing about childcare will find it helpful to use subpoints alongside the main outline, such as infant care, toddler care, pre-school care and school care.

The second benefit of using an outline is that it ensures structure and organization of an essay. An outline provides an introduction, body and conclusion. Outlines guides what comes first and what comes last in free flowing way. For example, writing on leaderships will require you to start by defining what is leadership, qualities of a good leader is and finishing with how can become a good leader and a conclusion.

Q3.State two possible outcomes of a writer neglecting to first create an outline before composing an essay. Provide an example to support your rationale.

Lack of an outline could lead to a slow writing speed. This is mainly because the writer will take time to think of ideas while writing. The time, which could otherwise be used to argue ideas, is spent in brainstorming and organizing the content of the essay.

The second possible outcome is lack of content flow. A writer may end up mixing ideas because the ideas were not prepared prior to writing. It is not possible not map out your ideas without an outline. For example, someone writing about driving will not be able to know what comes first, safety precautions or traffic rules and how to conclude.