Brainstorming

Brainstorming Can Help You Discover...

• Your topic

• Your topic's audience

• Your main points

• Counterarguments

Brainstorming Tactics

Data Dump

Set a timer for 5 minutes and write down any and all ideas that may relate. No editing! This may be in paragraph form, list form, doodling or drawing. When you're done, circle the top ideas that you want to work with.

Mindmapping

This follows a more visual approach by drawing a network of ideas and how they relate to eachother. For a digital version (example below) that links to your Google Drive, try Mindmup 2.0. If you're dealing with pros and cons, like the example below, check out procon.org.

What Next?

Once you have a list that has been evaluated and organized, you can do some research to make sure that topic will generate credible sources for you. Then, you can put that list together into a more comprehensive outline. Doing this will help to prevent getting stuck during the actual writing phase and needing to perform major reorganization to your essay.