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Pre-Writing Strategies

At the end of this module, the student is expected to:

1. Describe a written text as connected discourse
2. Distinguish between and among techniques in selecting and organizing
information:
a. Brainstorming list
b. Graphic organizer

The Writing Process

Learning to write is a sequential process. Output is important but with the
goal of it in mind, effective writing is considered quality writing. (Dagdag,
et.al., 2010)
There are two main characteristics that must be present in writing a text: the
content and the form. It is said that “writing without form is like a human
body without skeleton; writing without content is like a skeleton with no
flesh.” (Mt. Edgecumbe 2)
According to Dagdag (2010), there are six steps in the writing process. These
are the following:
1. Pre-writing – this is also called the invention or brainstorming stage. It is
not easy coming up with something to write. In this stage, you narrow
your topic into the most important and relevant. Ask yourself these things
before getting to writing: “Why should you write about this?” and “why
should anyone read it?” You may come up with as many ideas as possible
within a given time frame. Some examples to take note in pre-writing are
listing, fast writing, spidering and mapping.
2. Organizing – this stage is vital in incorporating coherence in the
transition of your writing. After exhausting all possible ideas related to a
topic, you may now focus in arranging these ideas and thoughts into a
sensible order.
3. Writing – with a form in place and the content that would go with it, this
is the stage where these ideas would be expressed in complete sentences
and paragraphs.
4. Revising – this is the stage where you polish the order of your ideas and
filter the information needed to get your point across. This is where you
start to look for any mechanical errors and correct them.
5. Editing – the stage where you go over your written work and check it for
basic errors such as spelling, punctuation and grammar.
6. Writing the final draft – after your work has gone through revisions, you
would now have to write your final draft, which you are ultimately
content with.
Course Module
 These steps comprise the basic writing process. Following each step would
ensure quality written output, regardless of your topic and content.

Pre-Writing Strategies
Pre-writing is defined by Tiongson (2016) as the first stage of writing that
“pertains to different techniques that help you discover ideas before writing
the first draft of a paper.”
Writing a paper on a single topic widens our knowledge about a generally
unknown or unfamiliar concept, thus opening new ways of thinking about it.
Pre-writing opens the writing process and will help you form an effective
plan in writing and researching about a topic.
Tiongson (2016) suggests that during this stage, you must keep an open
mind. This stage is for discoveries and free writing, without the hold of
criticism. Unleash all the possible ideas that could come from a topic.
In writing your paper, you must first identify what kind of paper you are
tasked to write. What is it for? Who will benefit from it? What are the
instructions given in writing this paper? Analyzing the instructions carefully
would help in figuring out what your writing is supposed to be.
You must determine the purpose of writing your paper. Narrow down your
choices into specific topics. The reason why you’re writing the paper must be
clear to you so that you can also properly identify your target audience.
According to Tiongson (2016), your purpose in writing may be answered by
the following questions:
 What do you want to accomplish?
 Why are you sending this message?
With a purpose, ask yourself how you plan to achieve this purpose. Would
you need to support your argument with evidences? Would you need to
defend your stand’s weaknesses?
After setting your mind on a way to achieve your purpose, you must
determine your target audience or your readers. Think of your reader’s
needs. Present your ideas clearly or in the manner in which your readers
would find easiest to understand.

The Journalists’ Questions

In journalism, the most important questions to answer are the 5Ws and 1H:
the who, what, when, where, why, and how. These basic questions can start
the exploration of your topic.
The KU Writing Center (2011) gave the following generic questions to these
six basic questions:
1. Who? – Who are the participants? Who is affected? Who are the primary
actors? Who are the secondary actors?
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2. What? – What is the topic? What is the significance of the topic? What is
the basic problem? What are the issues?
3. Where? – Where does the activity take place? Where does the problem or
issue have its source? At what place is the cause or effect of the problem
most visible?
4. When? – When is the issue most apparent? (past? Present? Future?)
When did the issue or problem develop? What historical forces helped
shape the problem or issue and what point in time will the problem or
issue culminate in a crisis? When is action needed to address the issue or
problem?
5. Why? – Why did the issue or problem arise? Why is it an issue or problem
at all? Why did the issue or problem develop in the way that it did?
6. How? – How is the issue or problem significant? How can it be addressed?
How does it affect the participants? How can the issue or problem be
resolved?

Using Pre-Writing Strategies

It is hard to find a topic worth writing about. The following pre-writing
strategies would help you in finding one. Tiongson (2016) added that in
choosing a topic, you must select one that interests you or one that you are
familiar with for you to have the motivation to start and elaborate on it.
 Brainstorming – is also called listing. This is one of the most common
methods of discovering a topic. All you would need is to list or jot
down as much ideas as you can within a given amount of time. It is
suggested to start from general ideas and from there, write down all
the possibilities. Tiongson (2016) explained that brainstorming does
not aim for a coherent line of thoughts but a quantity of options to
choose from as your writing topic. After listing all of them down, make
sure to pick the one that best suits your purpose or reason for writing.
It may also be the most interesting out of the group or simply the o ne
you are most knowledgeable. The selection of topics may be broad but
you may also find unlikely connections between each to create
another possible topic.
 Clustering – is also called mind mapping or idea mapping. This is a
technique in finding a writing topic wherein you find the relationships
between ideas. To start this method, you must first put a subject forth
and enclose it in a circle or underline it for emphasis. With that
subject, think of other ideas that would link to the single subject and
connect them using lines. These new ideas would also make you think
of other related topics and you must also do the same to link them.
These new ideas borne from a main idea are called subtopics.
Clustering would show the relationship between ideas and how a
variety of ideas could fit together. Once you have expanded on a single
subject, forming a web of ideas, you would have learned the
development or dissection of topics.

Course Module
  Freewriting – the most unrestrained method in finding a suitable
topic. According to KU Writing Center, this is the process of pouring
out all your thoughts nonstop in an exact order, language and form as
you think them. You can only focus on a specific topic but you cannot
edit all of these ideas. In this method, you have to force yourself to
keep on writing with a single focus as its purpose is to generate as
many ideas as you can without minding about technical errors such as
in grammar and spelling. After freewriting, you get to highlight the
most outstanding and interesting ideas. Writing fast through
freewriting will make you come up with spontaneous ideas. Journal
writing may help in enhancing your skills in freewriting.


Activities and Exercises

References
Tiongson, M. A. et.al, (2016), Reading and Writing Skills. Rex Book Store, Inc.
Dagdag, L. et.al, (2010), Winning Strategies for Study, Thinking, and Writing
Skills
Introduction to Pre-Writing. Retrieved from:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/673/01/
Resources for Writers: The Writing Process. Retrieved from:
http://cmsw.mit.edu/writing-and-communication-
center/resources/writers/writing-process/
Stages of the Writing Process. Retrieved from:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/980/02/
Prewriting Strategies. Retrieved from: http://writing.ku.edu/prewriting-
strategies