Clustering is a visually-oriented approach to prewriting.

Like freewriting and brainstorming, clustering allows your students to think on paper before they start writing.

In clustering, students put the assignment’s key topic in a circle at the center of the page. They then connect new thoughts to the initial topic with other circles and lines. What emerges is a network of ideas.

If I’m assigned the topic of CORRECTIONS for an Introduction to Criminal Justice course, I could start here.

I have asked three basic journalistic questions—Where, Who, and Why—to generate subtopics and help me figure out what I know and don’t know about the topic. Even though I haven’t done any research, I have a clearer idea of what I would like to pursue: the effects of the Department of Corrections on prisoners’ families.

Your students can combine the brainstorming and clustering exercises by brainstorming a list and then visually clustering the list’s items. 

Brainstorming is another crucial prewriting technique.

Brainstorming typically generates a list based on a particular topic instead of writing complete sentences or phrases as you would in free-writing. Like free-writing, brainstorming invites you to get your ideas onto paper before you edit them rather than editing them in your mind and then writing down what’s left.

Brainstorming gives you two assignments:

1. Generate an initial list of items related to the general subject.
2. Organize the items on that list for further development.

Here’s an example.

I’m going to write an essay about basketball. Here’s the list I brainstormed in about a minute.

Michael Jordan
NCAA Final Four
James Naismith
Lebron James
Jump Shot
And1 Mixtape
Team Chemistry
Box and 1
Zone Defense
Three-pointers
Analytics
Hall of Fame
Giannis
Kobe
Jordans (shoes)
One-on-one
ACL tears
Shaq
Hoop Dreams
Space Jam

Now it’s time to organize the list.

I could start with the four NBA players I’ve listed: Jordan, Lebron, Giannis, Kobe, and Shaq.

Another category could be features of the game: jump shot, box and 1, zone defense, zone defense, and three-pointers.

Finally, I could group the miscellaneous items associated with basketball: movies (Hoop Dreams and Space Jam), shoes, and video compilations (And1 Mixtapes).

My direction will depend on the kind of essay I’m supposed to write. If the essay is supposed to be argumentative, I have several topics for debate: the NBA’s most outstanding player (MJ vs. Lebron), the usefulness of analytics, or the best basketball movie.

If I write a compare and contrast essay, I can discuss different kinds of defenses (zone, man-to-man, box, and 1) or superstars (MJ vs. Kobe. vs. Lebron).

If my task is a research report, I can discuss why basketball leads to so many ACL tears or how analytics changed how basketball is played.

The important thing is that I’m getting my work through writing rather than having the process play out in my head.

Even if your students know their topic, they can brainstorm all the points they want to make as a step towards organizing their material effectively.

What is free-writing?

Free-writing is straightforward.

1. Choose a topic.
2. Set a timer for five or ten minutes.
3. Write without stopping until the timer goes off.

While easy to describe, free-writing is built on two profound premises:

We self-censor too many of our ideas when we write.

Writing can be a way of thinking, not just transcribing our thoughts.

Self-censoring

Ask your students how often they say this to themselves while writing: “I have an idea, but I can’t write it down. It sounds stupid.”

Evaluation is a crucial element of good writing. We’ll talk about it more when we get to revision. The problem is that this kind of self-talk is hard to calibrate. Sometimes you will write a sentence that sounds stupid. But this evaluation is based on the faulty assumption that you must produce a perfect draft on the first try.

Encourage your students to evaluate their writing only after they’ve done some writing. They’ll have plenty of time to evaluate their thoughts once they’re on the page.

While self-censoring a single sentence isn’t a big deal, it can lead to something worse: self-censoring an entire paper.

See if your students tell themselves, “I’m not ready to write this paper.” While this sentence is probably true, it’s also true that if “ready” means “Every single word is already mapped out in my mind so that all I have to do is photocopy my thoughts into Microsoft Word,” your students will never be ready to write their paper.

If you’re habitually writing down your thoughts before you judge them, you’ll have successfully started the writing process.

Writing as Thinking

Free-writing helps your students in two ways.

It neutralizes the students’ negative habit of deleting an idea before they’ve even written it.  

It also reinforces writing’s great power: it helps us think.

Once your students have gotten over the idea that you write an essay in your mind first then sit down and transcribe it, they’ll discover that sitting down to write is the best way to figure out what they want to say.

Students will have a crucial experience when they free-write. They will come up with an idea at minute 7 of a 10-minute exercise that they could not have predicted. By refusing to censor their thoughts and continuing to write, students will be able to figure out things they did not know before their writing began.

When you hear your students say, “I’m not ready to write because I don’t know what I want to say,” your response should be, “That’s the perfect time to start writing.”

And free-writing is a great exercise to help them begin.