PREWRITING FOR PAPERS

When trying to develop an idea into a workable topic and thesis, sometimes it helps to engage in prewriting. Prewriting takes a variety of forms, but the goal is to generate ideas and content that you can sift through in order to write a paper. The material produced in prewriting should not be seen as a first draft, but rather as raw materials that you can shape into a paper.

For this assignment, pick a text or series of texts that you would like to write about and start typing in your word process, expressing why you want to look at these texts, what issues interested you about the texts, and any potential "deep thoughts" you might have about the texts. Write for about a page, recording any idea that pops into your head. If you run out of ideas, write, "I am out of ideas" until one pops in.

Most people who use this method then circle key ideas or facts that they can then mold into a topic and thesis. You don't need to do that for this assignment, but generating an unedited page of ideas is required.