6a Try brainstorming.

One of the best ways to begin exploring a topic is also the most familiar: talk it over with others. Consider beginning with a brainstorming session. Brainstorming means tossing out ideas—often with other people, either in person or online. You can also brainstorm by yourself.

  1. Within a time limit of five or ten minutes, list every word or phrase that comes to mind about the topic. Jot down key words and phrases, not sentences. No one has to understand the list but you. Don’t worry about whether or not something will be useful—just list as much as you can in this brief span of time.
  2. If little occurs to you, try coming up with thoughts about the opposite side of your topic. If you are trying, for instance, to think of reasons to raise tuition and are coming up blank, try concentrating on reasons to lower tuition. Once you start generating ideas in one direction, you’ll find that you can usually move back to the other side fairly easily.
  3. When the time is up, stop and read over the lists you have made. If anything else comes to mind, add it to your list. Then reread the list, looking for patterns of interesting ideas or one central idea.