Significance of Brainstorming: When one starts to write!

Writing an essay may not be exciting in the classroom. Naturally, this is because writing is for someone else or not choosing to do it. It has a set of requirements, and let us assume the assigned topic has a range of topics or even an open topic. This is where brainstorming can be very useful since the writing is not as natural as our own personal writing, we need all the help we can get. That is why we need brainstorming.

Brainstorming is mostly mental

We have to clear our thoughts to focus on the topic of the essay and only on the topic of the essay. And naturally, this could be difficult. We might feel the pressure of the essay requirements. It might cause us to push back. Writing an essay can make the writing process even more difficult.

Our state of mind might be full of doubts or roadblocks. We might say to ourselves that we have not been good at writing before. This might make us feel that we cannot write an essay well because we are not good at grammar, thesis statements, or organization.

The reality is that we can do so much because we have experiences, wonderful ideas, and imaginations. We might think there is no place for us in academic essays. However, that is not always the case. It really depends on the situation as many college teachers include more creative or personal essays at least at the beginning of the semester- and you can learn more from IB tutor in Delhi from IBGA.

So before you think of what you cannot do in your essay or how would be a terrible experience. Try to be open to the possibilities. This openness will allow so many new viable and exciting ideas to flow through. This openness will also make for much more effective brainstorming. When we brainstorm, being open to ideas will allow us to trust our instincts and find confidence in our thoughts.

Naturally, this can be difficult and needs practice but keep this in mind, everyone who comes into a high school or college classroom setting has valuable experience knowledge or interest that can be written about you are no exception to that. Everyone has something worthwhile to write about.

Brainstorming strategy

Free-writing

When we think about brainstorming there are a few strategies that can be used. One of the strategies is free-writing. Free-writing does not involve revising, judging, or removing what is written. It is a pure flow of ideas through writing. Naturally, this is not easy for all writers to do. It may take practice to turn off the filter in our mind, but it will give ideas and connections that we were not perhaps aware of.       

We have to keep in mind that ideas do not matter, but the ideas do. So let us understand it with the help of an example, which you will find that it does not sound great, “Internet allows us to do so much more efficiently and easily we do so much more and expected so much more from us so how can we take that to education when education is mostly thought of as in classrooms we could do online through digital mediums self-guided students distant professors not the best for all students.” 

The lines used for example do not have correct punctuation and it even has some mistakes. However, this is perfectly fine for a free-writing brainstorm. The ideas are what matters and free writing allows us to get so many of them out.

Asking Questions

Perhaps free writing is not your style and there is nothing wrong with that perhaps instead you would like to ask questions. This is a brainstorming strategy where we let the questions guide us. In this brainstorming strategy, we question ideas until they branch out to give us more ideas. Here is an example of how you can expand upon a single idea that pops into your head.

Before we go to an example you have to keep in mind that grammar does not matter, but ideas do. Once a single concept, item, action pops into your head, just interrogate it. Notice how questions in italics expand to the ideas of the original ideas. It is just like a plant spanning branches or perhaps roots.

Example: Topic: IB online courses, Who: Students everywhere. When: anytime. Where: the internet. How: Computers, What: any course and Why: cost-effective, time-saving, access to materials, and move at own pace.

Now we can understand that the ideas can expand into so many other possibilities. This method is much more controlled than free writing and can lead to many connected ideas.  Both the brainstorming strategies have pros and cons and work well with different types of writers. So the only way to find what works for you is to try them out.