Despite all of the increasing technological advances, writing is still a main
form of communication. Beginning in grammar school and continuing through high
school and college, thousands of students spend hours preparing essays for
class. The majority of students usually begin drafting those essays merely by
staring at a blank sheet of paper and contemplating what to write. However,
writing essays can be simplified by using four types of prewriting: free
writing, clustering, specifying, and outlining. The first type of prewriting is
free writing. It is used to help writers select a topic to write about. The key
to free writing is to disregard correct spelling and punctuation, and just write
down everything that comes to mind. To begin free writing, simply choose a
subject and start writing about it. Take nature, for example. The word
“nature” evokes many diverse images. Ranging from outside surroundings,
personal relationships with nature, the beach, a beautiful sunset, a peaceful
waterfall, or even the many environmental concerns that we are faced with today.
Environmental concerns could stem out an excellent idea that could lead to a
topic such as the need to recycle. Images of nature can inspire creativity,
which leads to a variety of different topics. The next type of prewriting is
clustering. Once a topic has been selected, clustering helps to accumulate the
essential support for the paper. Clustering begins with a sheet of paper that
has only one topic written and circled in the center. Anything that relates to
the topic is then written down with a line branching off from the original
topic. This process is continued until enough information is brainstormed. If
the original topic is movies, the support branches would include different types
of movies such as comedy, drama, romance, action, and horror. Then a list of
different movies that fall into each one of these categories extends out from
the first support branches. A paper is not complete without ample support, and
clustering is a great way to gather it. Another type of prewriting is
specifying. It is used to change a topic idea to a more specific thesis
statement. Simple questions such as who, what, where, when, and why will add
more description and detail to the writing. To specify, the topic idea is
written down on paper and simple questions are asked to make it more specific.
For instance, the topic "Camping is exciting" can be specified into a
more descriptive sentence such as: “Many new and different experiences such as
hiking, cooking over an open flame, and sleeping under the night sky are fun to
experience when camping in the mountains with friends." The thesis is the
most important aspect of an essay, and specifying helps develop a strong thesis
statement to be supported throughout the paper. All papers must be organized in
a logical order, and outlining is used precisely for this. For example, a
process essay tells the steps of how to do something, so chronological order is
the best way to organize this type of essay. An outline places the thesis on top
and then presents the framework of the essay. The outline for a process essay
about how to cook a grilled cheese sandwich would designate the introduction, as
Roman numeral one, and then a consecutive Roman numeral for each step of the
process. For example, heating the skillet would be Roman numeral two, and
gathering the ingredients would be Roman numeral three, and so on. A final Roman
numeral would designate the conclusion. Writing will always be a main form of
communication. Therefore, students throughout their years of school will still
have to compose numerous essays. However, writing those essays can be simplified
through prewriting. With the increase in technology, there is an increase in
communication. Through Telephones, fax machines, computers, e-mail, and the
Internet, communication is made much easier and is used worldwide by many
people. However, for students, writing papers will always remain. Although
computer assistance is available, papers will always have the need to be
organized and thought out. Using free writing, clustering, specifying, and
outlining to plan a paper will make writing essays much simpler, and will better
ones performance as a writer.