Writing Types
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.