Explore a subject by listing
Listing ideas, or brainstorming, is a good way to figure out what you know and what questions you have. 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.
Click Submit after each text box to submit your answers to your instructor’s gradebook. You may review your answers by returning to this activity at any time. (An activity reports to the gradebook only if your instructor has assigned it.)
Tips for listing ideas
- Write ideas in the order in which they occur to you.
- 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 and add examples or counterexamples.
- Look for a tentative thesis, a specific claim, lines of reasoning, examples, or supporting evidence.
Listing for your own writing
Click the Next button or the forward arrow to continue.
This is the end of the module "Freewriting and listing."