Listing

Listing ideas is a good way to figure out what you know and what you need to find out. A list can be a source of ideas and a springboard to new ideas. A list can help you see the emerging organization of your ideas and your paper.

Tips for listing ideas

• Write ideas in the order in which they occur to you—a technique sometimes known as brainstorming.
• Rearrange ideas freely. Delete some ideas and add others.
• Group ideas under general categories:

  • most important/least important

  • arguments for/arguments against

  • good points/bad points

  • what I know/what I need to know

  • what they say/what I say

• Expand the ideas with more exact phrasing, adding examples or counterexamples.
• Look for a tentative thesis, a specific claim, lines of reasoning, examples, or supporting evidence.

Try working alone, but also try working in a group—your writing group from class or just a group of friends.

Listing about funding for college athletics

Listing about violence on television

Listing about performance-enhancing drugs in sports

Related topics:

Reading

Annotating texts or visuals

Talking and listening

Clustering

Freewriting, keeping a journal, and blogging

Asking questions