Purdue University North Central Writing Center

Some Thoughts About Pre-Writing

Writing has essentially three steps:

1.      Pre-writing--perhaps the most important step.  If done carefully, the actual writing is much easier.

2.      Writing

3.      Re-writing

Prewriting includes some or all of the following:

Þ    Choosing a topic (or narrowing down and focusing a given topic idea).

Þ    Formulating a clear topic sentence about the focused subject.

Þ    Brainstorming, Chunking, Freewriting about the focused subject.

Þ    Choosing and ordering the material from the list of ideas, which, in some cases, can lead to a more organized outline.

An approach to focusing on a topic is to ask questions about the subject:

            Example:            Assigned topic--My Favorite Place

                                    Questions:        What is my favorite place?

                                                            Why is it my favorite?

                                                            What does it look like?

                                                            How do I feel when I am there?

                                                            What details made it a special place for me--

                                                                        colors? people? sounds? smells? things?

Some ways of narrowing a topic:

1.  Simply, randomly divide a large topic into smaller parts

            Example:  Topic---Music

                                    Musical types

                                    Musicians

                                    Music’s moods

                                    Musical instruments                              

2.  These topics can be narrowed further by focusing on limiting factors:

            Example:  Music

                        a particular type--Rock music

                        a particular place--Rock music in America

                        a particular person--American rock music singer Bob Seger

                        a particular experience--the first time you saw Bob Seger in concert

Adapted from Rita Racktenwald’s The Writing Center’s Choice Book.  University of Louisville, 1982.