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Invention Techniques. Invention or Prewriting. There are many strategies for coming up with ideas and developing essays. You should try the suggested techniques; develop your own strategies and find what works for you; recognize the process may be a little different for each paper.
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Invention or Prewriting • There are many strategies for coming up with ideas and developing essays. • You should • try the suggested techniques; • develop your own strategies and find what works for you; • recognize the process may be a little different for each paper.
Invention Techniques • Brainstorming: alone or in groups • Freewriting: writing without stopping • Reading and discussing: sharing ideas • Clustering: developing related ideas • Questioning: asking and answering questions • Outlining: making a formal list of topics and subtopics • Starting with Contexts and Rhetorical Situation: Aristotle’s Topoi, playing a role, writing for work, etc. • Using Tagmemics: employing a formal linguistic tool
Freewriting • Freewriting--designed to “free up” your thinking so you can generate ideas first without self-editing. • Write without stopping. Start with a topic or just write about anything that comes to mind. • Don’t worry about grammar, spelling, etc. • Keep writing for ten minutes or more. • Find an interesting idea or sentence in your text and circle it. • Write that on the top of a new page and start another freewriting (looping).
Tagmemics • Three ways of looking at a topic: • As a PARTICLE (the thing itself) • As a WAVE (changes over in time) • As part of a FIELD (in context, in relationship to other things)
Tagmemics:Particle • Static View • Describe the topic (person, place, or thing) in detail, with all its parts. • Consider its structure and uses. • Consider how you think and feel about it now.
Tagmemics:Wave • Dynamic--Changes over time. • Consider your topic in the past. • Consider its future. • Consider your changing perspective, your view in the past. • Consider your possible view in the future.
Tagmemics:Field • Contexts and Relationships • Compare and contrast: Think of your topic in relationship to others like and unlike it. • Classify it. • Find an analogy or metaphor for it.
Asking Questions • Who? • What? • When? • Where? • Why? • How?
Rhetorical Situation • Play a Role • Solve a problem • Define your purpose • Analyze your topic • Analyze your audience
Finding a Focus • Answer a specific question to form a thesis. For example, why do young people join gangs? • Your thesis will be an answer to that question: “Young people join gangs because….” • Nutshelling: state your thesis in one sentence. What are you trying to do or prove?