Other Techniques

The following prewriting strategies represent other techniques you may use to help generate ideas. The important thing to remember about prewriting is to find a strategy that works best for you. In order to do that, you might try the strategies listed here to see which one best fits the way you work.

Asking Defining Questions

If you have a broad topic you want to write about, but don’t quite know how to narrow it, ask defining questions to help you develop your main idea for writing. For example:

I want to write about school taxes.

• Why do only property owners (and not renters) in New York State pay school taxes?
• What percent of overall school funding comes from school taxes?
• Do other states fund schools in the same way?
• Does the state lottery system, initially designed to fund schools, actually support schools?
• Is there a limit to paying school taxes when one gets older and no longer has children in school?

Once you have your questions, you can work with the list to group related questions, and then decide whether your writing can logically deal with a number of the questions together or only one. Use questioning to help develop a focus for your writing.
            
Noting Pros and Cons

Once you know your topic for writing, develop ideas by pretending you’re preparing for a debate. List all of the pros and cons you can think of related to your topic. When you have your lists of pros and cons, you can then decide whether to include one or both sides in your writing. For example:

Smoking Outside of Buildings

Pros:

• Conforms with state legislation for no smoking in the interiors of public places
• Inconveniences smokers, perhaps an inducement to quit?

Cons:

• Creates a wall of smoke that people need to walk through
• Businesses must purchase and maintain a place for smokers to discard matches and cigarettes
• Inconveniences smokers