Brainstorming Ideas



             Brainstorming ideas is a key aspect of the writing process when considering a rhetorical situation. From here, beginning a writing piece can be done. Before beginning to create ideas it is important to schedule work time to organize every feature of a work of writing. There are multiple ways to brainstorm ideas and different processes work for different people, just like the overall writing process. Keep these brainstorming ideas in mind when creating a work of writing, and decide what styles work best in the preferred writing process used.

Free Writing
             Free writing is an easy way to get started when one has nothing to start with. This is a process for generating ideas by writing continuously for several minutes without pausing (Lunsford et al 26). It will help an author open up important areas that need to be included in that specific writing. For more information see “Free Writing”.

Questions
             As an author, a way to get the brain motivated is to ask and answer questions from different points of view. This way, the information can be portrayed in a way that best speaks to the audience because the author has looked at the situation from multiple points of view. For example, answering the simple questions “Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?” and working these answers into a writing can add the necessary information it needs to be complete (Lunsford et al 26). Asking other questions to dig up other ideas is also useful.

Diagrams and Charts
             Diagrams and charts as well as other graphics are used to brainstorm and generate ideas as well. Venn diagrams compare two things. They can help an author decide what differences and similarities should or should not be included in their writing. Bubble charts, like the one to the right, can also organize information with the center bubble being the main topic or thesis and the surrounding bubbles being smaller ideas that are still important and need to be added in the writing. The example to the right has the center bubble, the main topic, as spiders, and the branched bubbles are all different ideas relating to spiders. By using these brainstorming techniques and author can visually see what is important and what could possibly be left out.

Looping
            L ooping is another great example that is similar to freewriting, but it has a little twist to it. You being this by establishing a subject and then you free write about the subject for about five to ten minutes. After this you look back through what you have written and identify the most important or interesting part of the text and write one more sentence summarizing that idea. Then you take the sentence that you wrote and free write for another five or ten minutes about it, you can repeat this process as many times as necessary. Freewriting and looping are both great techniques to get a strong base for your paper but there are still many other great ways to generate ideas. (Lunsford et al 26). See “Looping” for more information.

Clustering
       Clustering is a fantastic way of getting the words that are locked up in your head out onto the paper while making sure you understand how everything connects to one another. When clustering you want to take a fresh sheet of paper and write down just one word or phrase that best describes your topic and then you circle the word. After that you want to write down as many other words and ideas that relate to the topic, then you circle them and connect them back to the main word. Once that’s done you look back at all of the circled words and try to find patterns between them or where your ideas seem to be going. (Lunsford et al 260. See "Clustering" for more information.

Drafting
             Drafting is a brainstorming style that usually comes after the first couple brainstorming processes but before the final work. It is a first layout of the previous ideas put together for the first time. Drafting occurs multiple times, revising it to be better each time. Every revision adds new information that is needed and eliminates unnecessary information. When a draft has been revised enough, an author will recognize that the writing is ready to be finalized. Other input from peers, teachers and others are also great ways to help revise a writing piece. Different ways to draft are to begin thinking in mind before writing, or write first and see where it goes from there (Lunsford et al 27).

Brainstorming
             Brainstorming can be done many different ways depending on what works for a specific author. In the end, the purpose of brainstorming is to create a process that includes important information and eliminates unnecessary information. It is used to make the best writing work an author can create.

