Essay Prewriting Activity

The following scenarios will allow you to practice a few of the most common invention techniques for prewriting. These are some common strategies that will help you get your creative juices flowing.

“Free writing”

Free writing is simply writing as much as you can about your topic without stopping. Use sentence form, but don’t worry about spelling or grammar. Just write to get the ideas flowing.

Suggested Topic: Favorite movie.

In the space below, write freely about your favorite movie. What makes it your favorite?

Listing/Brainstorming

Listing or Brainstorming is the act of quickly generating a list of items for consideration.

Suggested Topic: Famous artist

Your Art History teacher wants you to write an essay about a famous artist—any artist of your choosing. You will need to go to the library to do research, but you have no idea how to begin selecting an artist.

For one minute, make a list of all the famous artists you can think of:

Next, circle the artist’s name that most appeals to you then make a second list that identifies the reasons why this artist is the most appealing.

Clustering/Webbing/Mapping

This type of prewriting activity involves creating a set of interlacing bubbles to identify the ideas or topics you are going to address.

Topic: Essay about the value of a college education

For English class, your assignment is to write a persuasive essay about the value of a college education. Using the diagram below (or a similar one of your own making), start in the center circle with the topic then fill in as many of the other circles as possible with ideas that show a relationship to the topic. Add more circles as needed. Draw connecting lines to ideas that are closely related.

The Five W’s and the H

Reporters approach every story getting essential information-- the who, what, when, where, and why of the story they are covering.

Topic: Workplace Safety memo

Your manager at work has asked you to write a memo that you will distribute to other employees about a new workplace safety program. Use “The five W’s and the H” to gather ideas for your writing.

Who? (Who is involved or affected?)

What? (What are the details of your topic?)

When? (When does the topic take place, or when did it? How does the time it happens affect the topic? Does the topic involve changes that take place over time?)

Where? (Where does the topic take place? How does the location affect the topic?)

Why? (Why does this topic exist, or happen? Why is it important? What are some of the causes and effects within the topic?)

How? (Actions/Conditions related to the topic)

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