Pre-Writing Strategies
Published on Nov 19, 2015
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
FOCUSED FREE WRITING
Note taking and discussion
During a consultation, it's sometimes important for the client to take notes and to write down his or her preliminary ideas for the writing assignment. These notes serve as a starting point for the development of the paper.
Since there can be anxiety about the quality or soundness of one's ideas, some clients like to test out their ideas verbally before committing them to paper. It's also true that in talking through their ideas, clients may develop a better understanding of those ideas.
Like more traditional free writing experiences, these notes do not need to be grammatically sound or even in complete sentences. The idea is merely to get the ideas on paper.
Clients will sometimes come to their consultations with these notes already in hand. In that case, a consultant may wish to guide the client through mapping or outlining the paper.
Since there can be anxiety about the quality or soundness of one's ideas, some clients like to test out their ideas verbally before committing them to paper. It's also true that in talking through their ideas, clients may develop a better understanding of those ideas.
Like more traditional free writing experiences, these notes do not need to be grammatically sound or even in complete sentences. The idea is merely to get the ideas on paper.
Clients will sometimes come to their consultations with these notes already in hand. In that case, a consultant may wish to guide the client through mapping or outlining the paper.
Photo by Ben Andreas Harding
MAPPING
A visual pre-writing strategy
Since focused free writing looks to put the writer's ideas for the assignment on paper, a client may find that those notes have limited value for moving forward in the writing process.
Mapping is a strategy that helps the writer move forward by revealing relationships in the writer's ideas. Big topics lead to smaller sub-topics and form clusters.
As a visual rendering of the paper, mapping can reveal a paper's relative strengths and weaknesses. For example, mapping may reveal that what a client thinks of as a major topic in the paper is only a sub-topic of another major topic. Mapping then allows clients to look for balance and development in their ideas.
Mapping can also be oriented around the assignment requirements, with the client checking off requirements as he or she meets them in mapping out the paper.
Mapping is a strategy that helps the writer move forward by revealing relationships in the writer's ideas. Big topics lead to smaller sub-topics and form clusters.
As a visual rendering of the paper, mapping can reveal a paper's relative strengths and weaknesses. For example, mapping may reveal that what a client thinks of as a major topic in the paper is only a sub-topic of another major topic. Mapping then allows clients to look for balance and development in their ideas.
Mapping can also be oriented around the assignment requirements, with the client checking off requirements as he or she meets them in mapping out the paper.
Photo by Pega.WHORE.us
OUTLINING
Ordering topics and sub-topics
Outlining works well for writers who have a firmer grasp on their major topics and sub-topics, and the relationships between those topics and sub-topics. This strategy is arguably most effective when those relationships are clear to the writer.
Outlining sets up the paper's hierarchal structure, so it may be useful for a consultant to ask questions about the client's decisions in ordering the outline.
Like mapping, outlining may reveal any imbalances in the development of the major topics and sub-topics.
Outlining sets up the paper's hierarchal structure, so it may be useful for a consultant to ask questions about the client's decisions in ordering the outline.
Like mapping, outlining may reveal any imbalances in the development of the major topics and sub-topics.
Photo by ekkiPics
