English Composition

English Composition Study Guide

There are two main purposes of the prewriting stage: • Narrowing down the topic. • Developing a thesis statement. Narrowing down a topic: Most topics that teachers assign for writing projects are too large for one essay. Consider a topic like World War II. There are many smaller subjects and implications covered by this larger topic. A single essay could not effectively cover all these smaller subjects. Instead, writers can use questions in the prewriting stage to help them see the smaller subjects within a topic. Subject: World War II Smaller Subjects What was WWII? Definition Where was WWII fought? Description Who was involved in WWII? Additional information What were the causes of WWII? Background information How did WWII compare to other wars? Compare/contrast What happened after the war ended? Historical perspective What were the key battles? Additional details It would be easy to continue adding questions to the list. Answering any one of these questions would be a good way to start an essay. The prewriting process allows students to get all their ideas on a topic on paper to find the one that interests them most. Prewriting Activities The most important aspect of prewriting is writing. Prewriting is NOT staring into space waiting for inspiration to hit. By starting to write at the beginning of the process, the question of what to write is answered quickly. Freewriting Freewriting involves writing out any random thoughts on a subject for a set period of time. During this time, the writer is not concerned about format, spelling, punctuation, or sentence structure. The only rule is that one must write throughout the entire time period. The pen should never leave the page. Often times, setting a timer is helpful. When a writer is out of new ideas, she can continuewriting about the previous idea until inspiration strikes for a new topic. The idea is that if the writing stops, so will the flow of new ideas. After the time is up, the writer reads what was written to see what direction her ideas have taken. Often times an idea for a writing topic has already been developed within the freewriting, or after reviewing the freewriting, the writer is left with new ideas and a direction for the upcoming writing.

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