Mount Mary College

English Department

2900 North Menomonee River Parkway

Milwaukee, WI  53222

(414) 258-4810, ext. 395

 

 

Dr. Kristi Siegel

Mount Mary College

2900 North Menomonee River Parkway

Milwaukee, WI  53222

siegelkr@mtmary.edu

 


Pre-Writing ...

Using a Cluster Diagram for Prewriting and Organizing an Essay (The Kippi Example)

Note: To read the narrative about Kippi click here first: narrative

  • The cluster diagram below is presented as an example of one type of pre-writing.  Pre-writing (writing and thinking about a paper before writing it) fills your "well" and creates learning.  Every time you skip the pre-writing process, you miss an opportunity to create a richer paper.  Even people who state that they dashed off a paper in a few minutes often have been thinking about the paper for some time.  For example, I do a lot of "mental" pre-writing in my car, which explains why I am such a bad driver.  Even with a fair amount of pre-writing, do not think of pre-writing as merely an initial process.  Often, during writing, you will need to go back and fill the well several times.

  • There are many different pre-writing techniques.  Some of the most common are listed below:
    • Brainstorming (jotting down one idea after another)
    • Freewriting (writing quickly about the general topic; the idea is to keep writing rather than focusing on correctness or sense).  One method of freewriting that works well for the overly conscientious sort is to turn off your computer monitor so that you are unable to see your errors.
    • Using a journal (keeping a journal as a source of ideas"
    • Reading (without resorting to "theft," reading the ideas of others can often generate your own ideas)
    • Outlining (listing and organizing your ideas; a technique that works best when some "pre-thinking" has already taken place
    • Using prompts (sets of questions that help you think about your topic from different angles)
  • One pre-writing technique that is especially helpful for visual learners is called clustering.  In a cluster diagram the central events or components of an essay are presented visually; more detailed events branch off the main events to provide a visual overview of the entire narrative or report.  Although in this example the main events are numbered chronologically, it isn't necessary to do so and may, in fact, hamper the writer's ability to re-order these events to "fit" the thesis or to present the material more dramatically.

 

The Cluster Example:

 

 

 

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