Brainstorming And Outlining
Brainstorming includes the writing and thinking that happens before you actually start writing your paper or essay. It is an effective manner to come up with ideas on what to write, organizing the ideas and saving time when writing your actual paper or essay. On the other hand, outlining is the grouping of ideas into similar topics and themes. It comes after brainstorming.
There are different types of brainstorming.
They include:
- Note-taking. This involves taking down notes when you read, hear or think about something that may be important in your paper. Effective note-taking requires you to write different ideas collected from different sources on separate note cards or papers.
- Listing. Listing is also known as bulleting. When listing, write down your topic and then write everything you can think of that is related to your topic below it. After creating your list, cross out things that do not fit into categorizing your list.
- Clustering. Clustering is also known as mapping or webbing. It involves taking ideas and proving that they are connected to each other and your main topic. The most effective way to carry out clustering is by taking your list and writing similar topics under the sub-heading and then drawing a line that connects the sub-heading to your main topic.
- Free writing. Free writing is also known as brain dump. It involves writing for five or more minutes on your topic, without pausing, thinking or worrying about grammar and spelling mistakes or anything else. Free writing gives you a chance to cross out some bad ideas before you start writing. It also helps you come up with the best ideas.
- Looping. This is an extended form of free writing. The writer free writes and then reflects and analyzes what they have written and free writes again. Looping gives you a chance to end up only with the best of ideas on your topic.
- Journalistic questioning. Journalistic questioning involves the writer asking journalistic questions such as what, where, who, when, why and how. It gives context for ideas and helps create a structure for the paper.
There are two forms of outlining.
They include:
1. Outline for prewriting. This includes considering all your ideas, specifically those that you have come up with during brainstorming and grouping them into various categories. It includes:
- Formulating a thesis statement.
- Sorting the ideas into the same categories.
- Evaluation. Ensure that your categories support your thesis statement.
- Reverse outlining. This is a revision process in which you organize what you have already written and identifying areas that require more or less information.
2. Formal outline. This includes laying out main points for readers. It may serve as a final process to write your paper. It serves as a summary for your readers and allows them to understand the main points in your paper before going into the details. There are two types of formal outlines. They include:
- Topic outlines. It uses keywords and phrases and relies mostly on the concept of parallelism.
- Sentence outlines. It expresses each point as a complete sentence.
Both types of formal outlining should adhere to the following:
- Coordination. Each point should have the same relationship to your main point.
- Subordination. Each point in your outline should have a general heading and a more specific sub heading.
- Division. Each main point must have at least two sub-points.