6 / Basics of Good Writing
which to write. The idea of journal writing may suggest a goal of creative writing,
such as short stories or poetry, but that is not necessarily the case. Journalists, copy-
writers, even students who must respond on a regular basis to written assignments
find that keeping a journal helps them stay in shape, so to speak, to write the most
vigorous articles or papers.
Brainstorming. Brainstorming also helps focus personal reflection. Brainstorming
involves offering ideas freely, without fear of criticism, allowing one idea to sug-
gest another and another. You can brainstorm alone, but obviously the process is
more effective in a group. As one idea generates another idea, you come up with new
approaches to old ideas. The trick to brainstorming effectively is to allow the mind
the freedom to make connections between ideas, no matter how strange the connec-
tions may seem at the time.
List Making. As a result of brainstorming, you may be able to generate lists that
suggest writing topics and supporting ideas; however, lists evolve by other means as
well. Generating lists helps you look critically at ideas and their relationships. You
can create all kinds of lists:
• lists of main ideas
• lists of supporting details
• lists of examples
• lists of arguments
• lists of reasonsAll these topics can be parts of a composition. A list that is revised and arranged
in logical order is, for all practical purposes, an outline. In many of the prewriting
activities in Parts II and III, you find that generating lists is a primary way to pick
out main ideas and then to find appropriate supporting ideas. As a prewriting activ-
ity, list making helps you collect your thoughts, plan and arrange them in logical
order, and clarify the direction of your paper. The result is organized, unified writing.
But more on that later. [See Step 7 later in this chapter.]
Graphic Organizers. Some writers work better with graphic organizers than with
lists. Graphic organizers are drawings or maps that show how ideas connect. Using
them will help you generate ideas and begin to put your thoughts on paper. Consider
the example in Figure 1.1.
Daily Experiences: What You See and Hear. Other kinds of prewriting activities
occur almost as a coincidence of living. Sometimes you may be stimulated to write
as a result of something you have seen: a film, an art exhibit, an accident, an animal
in distress, a busy highway, a lonely farm pond, a thoughtful gesture, a construction
site, a rare flower, a criminal act, a rude driver, a mime, a tornado, or a champion
swimmer. For example, a film might have a powerful message that leaves you sad,