English Composition

English Composition Study Guide

©2018 of 84 A freewriting activity on the subject of World War II might look like this: WWII happened during the 40s. The war took place in Europe and Asia. America did not enter the war until after Pearl Harbor was bombed. The Nazis and Adolf Hitler in Germany started the war there. They occupied other countries like Belgium and France. Jewish people were put in concentration camps and killed. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed in Japan. Women left the home went to work in factories – Rosie the Riveter. The TV show the Waltons took place during WWII. FDR was president. Churchill was PM in England. Victory Gardens. The Greatest Generation is a book about people alive during this time. Baby Boom took place afterwards. D- Day is the end of the war in Europe. Saving Private Ryan took place during the invasion of Normandy? Resources were scarce at home. Food and gas were rationed. The blitz refers to bombing campaigns in England. There was a lot of destruction and families were broken up as parents moved their children to somewhere safer. The king stayed in London. Most Americans heard about the war by radio or at newsreels before movies. It is evident that the writer doesn’t focus on any one subject, but jumps from idea to idea. The writer adds question marks to indicate that she is unsure of the information she wrote down, but she did not get distracted by trying to remember details. There is no logic or order to the ideas. The author of this free write included a lot of details about the people not fighting the war. It may be a good idea for her to right about the home front rather than a particular battle. Writers use freewriting as a springboard for ideas. This activity can lead the writer to find characters, imagery, scenes, and other story ideas for a creative writing assignment. It can also help writers develop support for an argument by writing out all their feelings on the topic, which can later be used as support for an argument. In responding to a piece of literature, the freewriting strategy can help by allowing the writer to jot down all her thoughts regarding a piece of writing, which can later be used to analyze the prose or poetry. Freewriting is a useful prewriting strategy for a variety of writing types. Looping Looping is a type freewriting technique that writers use to focus the ideas from one free write to another. The writer might do several short free write sessions, each on an increasingly narrower subject. For example, the writer of the above passage might read the first free write then decide to do a second one focused just on America in WWII. Then, she may do a third free write specifically on American women during WWII. Each free write brings out new ideas and insights. A second looping technique is to have a friend read the first response and circle a topic that interests him. A friend can also add topics to the prewrite. The writer would then do another free write session on those topics. This technique can lead writers to exploring ideas that they may not have had on their own. Achieve Page 31