Ideas and Planning Week 6 10th November 2023
Getting and Developing Ideas
1. Brainstorming
Think about your reader and the purpose of your essay and list ideas as they come to mind,
whether general or specific. You might list words, phrases or sentences or a combination of
these.
2. Mind-mapping or clustering
Once you have completed a brainstorm, you may decide to form a "mind map” - a visual
representation of your ideas. From your brainstorm notes start to group some of the ideas into
several major categories and subcategories.
Draw a circle in the middle of the paper and write the purpose of your essay. Draw lines out
from the circle and label them with the major areas of thought. Draw branches from those lines
and include the subcategories. Continue this process, adding relevant details.
3. Free-writing
Like brainstorming, this technique is a way to free up the mind, to allow it to develop ideas.
Choose one of the ideas from your brainstorm or your mind-map and write continually for a few
minutes on that one idea. Keep your ideas coming!
4. From mind map to outline
Organizing information for long reports is a difficult task. Having decided on the purpose, the
next step is to develop an overall plan. If you have created a mind map, you can use it to help
to produce an outline.
Organizing Ideas
Write your title at the top of the page. Then list major categories as headings, with details
beneath.
You can use words, phrases or whole sentences as your headings.
Organize: Group related ideas together.
Order: Arrange material in subsections from general to specific or from abstract to concrete.
Label: Create main and sub headings.
Outlining
Unlike a mind map, an outline is a linear way of organizing information and may not appeal to
all writers. But it can be a very effective way to help you to categorize ideas into major
categories and supporting details.
Restrict your ideas/information/scope
1. Develop a preliminary outline
2. Evaluate your material; which is primary material and which is secondary material?
An Outline (key ideas)
Title ____________________
Introduction
Introductory statement____________________
Thesis statement ____________________
Other material ____________________
Body …
Topic Sentence ____________________
1. ____________________
