009. Pre-Writing

Step 1: Explanation of Pre-Writing Steps

    Typically, before I start a paper, I tend to pre-write in the form of an outline. This is probably because all throughout middle school and high school, my writing career was littered with requirements to use an outline before writing and doing anything. So, I'll try and set up my introductory paragraph, my conclusion and then outline how many paragraphs and how many main key points and thoughts I want to do for the paper. I'll also set up my thesis, and make a rough draft of my introductory paragraph up front. Sometimes, depending on how comfortable I am with the prompt and the material itself, I'll even write the conclusion to give me an end point to the paper. 

Step 2: Developing A Pre-Writing Plan

    I usually set up my writing on a scratch piece of paper and kind of visualize it and what it might look like. In terms of paragraphs and openers and closers, I like to see the visual format of the paper and use "lorem ipsum" placeholder text to see what it might look like. After that, I start plugging in some pre-writing to get a good idea of what exactly it looks like. After figuring out my thesis and my body content, if I feel comfortable enough with the paper, I decide to go forward. 

Step 3: Reflecting On The Effectiveness Of My Pre-Writing

    After pre-writing, I usually tend to gauge just how effective the topic is and the content. If I'm satisfied, I move on through the actual writing process. During writing, I like to think back on pre-writing and see if I missed anything that I decided to do during pre-writing, that didn't make its way into the paper itself. More often that not, things that were decided on and agreed upon during pre-writing make it to the paper but there are always nuggets of content and ideas that slip through the cracks. Pre-writing is the best way to remember those pieces and place them in the final paper.