Brainstorming Effectively for Your Essay

The writing process is more than just the words you put down on paper. To write an effective essay, you must first brainstorm and develop your ideas to better execute your essay. Brainstorming can be a valuable step in the essay-writing process. Great brainstorming can fuel your essay writing and make the process of writing a great essay significantly easier. Here is how you can brainstorm effectively for your next essay.

Gather background information

Gathering background information on your topic is the first step in the brainstorming process. With basic background information, you can easily decide what direction you want your essay to take. You may not know the best way to approach your essay if you do not first gather a basic understanding of the topic. Determining your thesis and claims will be nearly impossible and massively misinformed if you do not take the time to find basic information surrounding your topic. The more background knowledge you have on a topic, the more possibilities you may find for writing an interesting and captivating essay.

Use a Graphic Organizer or Outline

Thinking of ideas for your essay is valuable, but if you do not organize your ideas it can become difficult to implement them in your writing. Graphic organizers and outlines are invaluable tools in the brainstorming process because they help you turn your thoughts into captivating writing. Even if you are not quite ready to start planning your paper, visual aids can be a great way to plan where your ideas can fit when it comes time to put your words on paper.

An idea web is a great place to start when you need to figure out how new ideas can relate to things you already know. Start with your topic or guiding question in the middle and start connecting new bubbles with new thoughts or ideas to the central idea. Even if you do not use all of the connective bubbles, you will have a visual tool to use to see all of the directions your essay could take.

Brainstorming is not only about figuring out what you will say, but how you will say it. Starting with a rough outline will help you organize your ideas and figure out what information fits best where. When you brainstorm the layout of your essay, you want to think of unique but effective ways to organize your thoughts. By outlining your essay’s structure during the brainstorming process, you can make your essay flow right from the beginning. An organized essay is more effective at presenting your ideas to your reader. Starting the essay writing process by brainstorming the most effective structure for your essay will show you exactly where each piece of information fits best.

Determine What you want your audience to learn

Before writing your essay, you will want to determine what it is you want your audience to learn by reading your essay. Setting goals for your writing can help you create a roadmap and find direction for your piece. When you determine what you want your audience to learn, you can break down how you want to achieve that task. When you decide what it is you want your essay to teach the reader, it becomes much easier to brainstorm ways how you can achieve that task.

Determine how you want your audience to feel

When it comes to brainstorming for your essay, you should determine early on how you want your essay to make your audience feel. Intentionally presenting your claims and arguments can help you persuade the audience to take a certain position on what you have to say. When you consider how you want your audience to feel, you can write with the correct tone and voice throughout your entire essay. Managing how you want your essay to affect the audience will give you direction during the writing process. Use the topic of your essay and the style of essay you are writing to determine an appropriate and effective emotion to evoke from your audience. Once you decide this, you can easily execute an essay that does exactly what you want it to.

Give Every Idea a Chance

Brainstorming is about flooding the page with possible ideas that can come to fruition when it comes time to write your paper. When brainstorming, it is important to allow for a free flow of thought. This is not the time to edit your ideas, it is the time to explore all of the possibilities. Even if an idea doesn’t make a lot of sense now, throughout your brainstorming it could develop into an interesting and valuable addition to your essay. Even bad ideas can help lead your thinking to great ideas. Brainstorming is a process of thinking through all of the options at hand for your essay. Every idea must be given an opportunity to grow into something useful for your essay.

Consider starting your brainstorming session with a free write. Give yourself a set amount of time to write down ideas and don’t stop until your time is up. You will be forced to put down as many ideas as possible to fill the time. You never know what ideas from that page can later inspire a great paper.

Talk it Out

Sometimes ideas need volume to come to life. Having a conversation with classmates about your essay can help you think of ideas to use in your essay. The things your classmates say may inspire a new idea that you did not have before. Talking through a topic can help you put thoughts into words and better develop your ideas. Sometimes all an idea needs to turn into a great essay is a discussion. Be sure to write down all of the ideas that come to mind when you talk out your essay ideas. You can deepen and develop basic ideas by talking them out with others. You never know what ideas can be sparked by simple comments and conversations with others who are knowledgeable about your topic.