Brainstorming
Need Essay Ideas? Try Brainstorming for Writing Topics
For many students, generating ideas for their papers is the hardest part of the essay writing process. Brainstorming is one technique many students use.There will always be at least one student in class who never seems to struggle with any step of the essay-writing process. He's the one who always has a good answer to questions, and his papers always seem to earn high marks. But for every student who seems to make writing papers look like a breeze, there appear to be handfuls of students who find at least one step of the process difficult. They may still earn high grades, by ordering custom essay help.
Several of these students might find that choosing a topic is the hardest part of writing an essay. Once they have an idea, they have no problems actually composing an essay. So what can these students do to come up with ideas? There are many prewriting techniques that can with the process, things like clustering or freewriting. Brainstorming is yet another way students can come up with essay ideas.
What is Brainstorming?
While brainstorming began as a group technique in which many people worked together to problem-solve, the term has since evolved to include individuals working alone to come up with not just solutions to problems but to generate ideas as well.
Brainstorming is thought to be a way of tapping into one's subconscious. The idea is that a writer is full of ideas, but she just hasn't thought of them yet. Brainstorming is believed to be a great way to get those ideas and thoughts down on paper.
How to Brainstorm for Writing Ideas
One way to brainstorm is to simply write a topic at the top of a blank sheet of paper. It can be done on a computer or with a pencil and paper. The idea is to write words and phrases as they come to mind, whether they seem relevant or not.
For example, if a student wanted to brainstorm the topic "Texting and driving" for a possible argumentative essay, he might come up with these ideas:
- dangerous
- harmful
- stupid
- that important to talk?
- against the law
- some people can text without looking
- distracting
- cell phones
- traffic
- oncoming traffic
- not paying attention to signsrunning red lights
- stop signsroad rage
- talk on the phone
- wait to text until later
Just like freewriting, the method involves writing as quickly as possible, without hesitation. While brainstorming, the writer shouldn't question his ideas or scratch things out but instead just keep going. Five to ten minutes per session is a good amount of time.
If the student finds that there are ideas he is interested in and wants to explore further, he can brainstorm again. For instance, in the previous example, the student might want to explore more of his ideas surrounding how "some people can text without looking." So he could do another brainstorming session for more ideas.
Once a brainstorming session is complete (or several sessions, as the case may be), the student then can pick through ideas, tossing out obviously worthless ones (although sometimes ones that seem silly at first simply need another glance!) and either settling on a topic or brainstorming the good ones for more ideas.
Brainstorming to Help Students Write an Essay
Obviously, brainstorming will not lead to a completely written essay, but it's not meant to. Brainstorming is simply another technique that students can use to either generate ideas or explore their thoughts on a topic. Some forms of prewriting don't work for all students, but instructors hope that all students will find some sort of prewriting that works for them. Brainstorming is just another form of prewriting that works for some students who need to get started on their essays.
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