Pearson
Adult Learning Centre: Weekly Feature
Brainstorm First
by Renuka
In
the past several weeks, I’ve had the chance to work with students who
were practicing their essay-writing skills. With Certificate Exams less
than a month away, I have decided to share the technique of
brainstorming.
The key to writing a strong essay is to organize one’s ideas and
express them clearly. Making a brainstorm is the first step in
generating and organizing ideas for writing.
Once you know your
topic, take a few minutes to write down as many ideas as you can
related to the topic. During the brainstorm, don’t edit or judge your
ideas. Simply write them all down. As you begin to write them, you may
trigger new thoughts on the same topic.
Next,
take a look at your brainstorm and cross out any ideas that seem to be
off topic. Sort through the remaining ideas, grouping ones that are
similar. Choose three ideas or groups of ideas to write about, one for
each of the three body paragraphs. Although you may have many other
ideas, it is important to focus on just some of your ideas in order to
maintain a well-organized essay. Select the order in which you
wouldlike
to present your three ideas and use them to write your thesis
statement. Then, you’re on your way to writing a well-organized essay!
(May 22, 2011)
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