One of the most common mistakes I see students make is skipping prewriting. Students will often claim that prewriting "takes too long" or "wastes time" because they don't truly understand its purpose or its value.
Yet, when done properly, prewriting can provide a substantial amount of ideas for a paper, including the structure and content needed for an effective draft. Many times this great information can be generated in as little as 10-15 minutes.
Furthermore, because there are so many techniques for prewriting and because there are no right or wrong answers at this stage of the process, prewriting can be tailored to an individual's learning style and preferences.
Based on these points and our class discussions, please respond to the following questions by posting a comment:
- Have you used prewriting before? If so, in what ways? If not, why haven't you?
- How did this week's classes and readings add to your understanding of how prewriting can benefit a writing project? Be specific.
- What prewriting technique or techniques do you prefer? Why?
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ReplyDeleteThroughout my high school career, I often used prewriting in my long writing assignments. I would disregard the need for such a small paper to use the technique. Instead, I rushed my paper's as a true procrastinator. Finishing that last freshly squeezed sentence moments before heading to bed.
ReplyDeleteThe class discussions are not through for the week. Be that as it may, I have already taken in a bit knowledge about the subject. Mostly, to show the effect each component has on you're finished composition. After all, to write a proper essay you must first be able to write a proper paragraph. This includes articulating you're sentences in a proper manner as well.
I consider brainstorming to be the main process in my prewriting. Make you're topic you're own, discuss the matter as you see it. Start with the idea's you would like to convey. Read through you're own idea's and ponder on them for a moment. Then continue to sort and make a frame for your future draft.
jamir smith
ReplyDeleteI have used prewriting before in almost everything I have done because it’s one of my favorite tools for writing. I have used it in ways such as webbing, and most of all bullet points. I used bullet notes the most because I find it easier. It’s gets my mind going and my ideas out on my paper.
This week’s classes have made my understanding on prewriting so much easier because it opened me up to other techniques and how to use them, also their specific use and purpose of them. For example using the web technique and how it branches your writing giving you so many ideas.
Although I like webbing, I really prefer the bullet notes. It’s easy, organized and can be separated and elaborated into sentences and paragraphs.
1. Yes I have tried to use prewriting before I wrote down all the topics that I wanted to be my paragraphs then I wrote down ideas to support my topics. Now I don’t really use prewriting because I never seem to write and talk about what I planned on writing about.
ReplyDelete2. Because its early in the week and the class has not spoke that much about prewriting I can’t speak about what the class has adding to my understanding. I can speak on the book; the book has help learn more way on prewriting. I always thought that prewriting was just writing down your plan for your essay but after reading the book I realized that it is that and more. For example the book says that I can keep a file for my ideas and use a different file for my facts. The book also showed me that going to a chat room about your topic can help with your essay.
3. The prewriting techniques I prefer are keeping files with different kinds of information in them. I also think that the writing down a sentence that you think of so you won’t forget is also a technique that I will prefer to use.
By: Steven Foulkrod
ReplyDeleteI have used prewriting before but only when it was required by teachers. Such as for some of the history classes that I had in high school the teacher would make us write down everything that we knew about a certain topic in an organized way for are prewriting. Yet there have also been papers that I have decided to skip the prewriting step on. I decided to skip the prewriting step when it was I optional mostly because I didn’t feel like taking the time to do it. If it wasn’t being graded then I honestly didn’t care enough to do it. In class we did a couple of things that helped to show some of the importance of prewriting.
One of the things that we did during class would be when we were coming up with ideas for the teaching methods exercise we came up with several different methods that teachers could use in order to help keep their students learning. That helped me to understand the ways that prewriting can be used in different things. Such as we could have easily made a list of all the different things that we know for a topic and then from that list create a quick prewrite of what we want. This can be very helpful when creating a paper because it makes everything more organized and ideas won’t be spread all over the paper in an unconnected fashion. There is really only one basic way that I prefer to prewrite like.
That one basic way would be to make a list of everything that can be helpful to writing the paper or project that I am doing. After making this list I try and organize it as best I can in a way that would fit my papers needs. From there I just go about writing the paper.
1. I have used prewriting before by using brainstorming. I would put the main topic in the middle and branch out ideas and thoughts.
ReplyDelete2. This weeks classes made me regret not using prewriting in high school more. Prewriting is a way to write papers better and not stall out. Prewriting creates a blueprint and pieces that you use for constructing your paper.
3. Free writing and listing are my favorite techniques to use. Free writing allows you to put all of your knowledge about that topic onto paper in front of you so your able to go back and take information from it to use in your paper. Listing is like free writing but it is more organizational and allows you to group topics of the main idea.
By Abbey Lockett
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to writing i often don't use pre writing. The only instances in which i used them was when it was mandatory to do so. When it was mandatory to do prewriting before the actual essay, i more often than not choose the listing method.
This weeks classes have influenced my understanding of prewriting. Before, i used to believe that prewriting was just a waste of time especially when you think you know what your going to write about.However, i was proved wrong, like i often am. Prewriting gets you thinking so that you can get into details better and maybe a better subject to write about. Also, it helps organize my thoughts so i know where each piece of information and thought should go.
I like the listing technique. It's easier than the more verbal techniques for me because its just writing down all you know about the certain subject. Freewriting seems as if it will be another preference of mine. Seeing as how freewriting and listing are very similar to each other. So hopefully in the future i will master prewriting and continue to learn how to make a more organized and concise essay
In the past I haven't really used pre-writing at all. My methods included sitting around for an hour or two planning out my entire essay. I may have written down a thought or some quotes here and there but nothing major. I would then proceed to write the whole paper, making changes as I saw fit. Then after I was finished if there was something I was uneasy about I'd go back to it.
ReplyDeleteThis weeks class has shown me that pre-writing can help you make sure that you have enough ideas before you get started on your papers. Sometimes while writing I would get stuck and have to sit and wait until I found a way to expand an idea, or sort of gloss over it because I didn't have enough content.
I'm not sure which pre-writing technique I prefer. Listing seems like it might be good, but honestly I'd probably use some sort of fusion of all of them. I tend not to be very strict in my approaches to things so I could easily see myself incorporating all of them in my approach.
1. Since i was about 10 i've used prewriting as a technique to help me form a rough draft for an essay assignment. Growing up in Texas we have what we call Texas Assesment of Knowledge it is a state wide tests that students from 4-11 grade take, and we are required to pass in order to graduate. So when in the fourth grade i was given my TAKS test , on the writing part we were given a prompt and were expected to write a essay. Our booklets provided us with a space for us to do our prewriting, and this is when I can recall my first encounter with prewriting.
ReplyDelete2. During this week in class we worked on a assignment on developing a paper about the prom. In the past pre writing to me was just basically writing a rough draft. In class and in Strategies for Successful Writing I was exposed to other techniques of prewriting, such as webbing, free writing,drafting and brainstorming. When given the topic on prom we used the prewritng technique called "webbing". This technique was effective and caused us as a class to come up with a subjects and expounded on each category. Prewriting benefits writing projects by not having us students directly jumping into a paper, it allows us to collect our ideas and put them all together.
3. I personally prefer the webbing as a prewritng technique. I like this specific method because Im able to see my ideas and map off of them. Also it gives me specific little bubbles as topic paragraphs.
1.I have used prewriting in other English classes in the past, such as first drafts, brain storming, and making webs.
ReplyDelete2.I don't remember exactly what that weeks class was, but I do know that from this class I have taken a different understanding of how to prewrite, I will always now do a form of prewriting somehow one of the many that you have showed us, like making lists, and annotating and taking those notes and making lists. I think it will benefit a writing project because I will be more organized and be able to write a better paper.
3.I like to brainstorm and write out idea's i'm thinking and then group them together and do more research about them to see where they would fit in my paper and what I could cut or add more to
1. I use to use a wed when I was prewriting, I would put a the topic i was working on in thw middle of the wed, and have point off of it. or the hamburger method.
ReplyDelete2.It made me rethink about writing papers, and how I should prewrite before I try to just type up a paper really fast. prewritting sets a base for you to work off of.
3. I like just jotting down notes, but I also like using the hamburger method that i learn in middle school and high school. It is much clearer.