There are probably an infinite number of methods, but five of the most
popular ones are described below. Read about each one to see which works
for you or do them all, one after another, to get your mind working a
bit differently and approaching the topic from different angles. Experiment
and try to have some fun.
Freewriting. Set a timer for five to ten minutes (you can always
keep going after the beeper's gone off but an initial time limit is
great for keeping you focused). Look at the topic and mull it over,
roll it over your tongue, inhale it, let it bounce around the neural
pathways of your brain for a second or two. Now ready? set? write! and
don't stop! Keep your fingers typing or your pen moving on paper for
the entire duration. Get it all out; a sort of intellectual diarrhea
or stream-of-consciousness writing where you write what you think as
you're thinking it. Don't worry about grammar, spelling, or forming
sentences. Some of it won't make sense and that's okay. If you find
yourself drawing a blank at some point, then just write, "I'm drawing
a blank" to keep the flow going or try and articulate why you think
you can't get very far with the subject. No rules for this idea-generation
technique except that (1) you have to think <don't groan> and
(2) you can't censor yourself or read over what you've done until the
timer has sounded (if you're doing this on a computer, a neat trick
is to darken the screen to prevent this kind of senseless cheating).
BZZZZTTTT! Time's up: now you can finally look over your stuff. Freewriting
is great because sometimes you'll find you'll be able to lift off entire
sections and use them in your first draft.
Brainstorming. This is actually quite similar to freewriting
in how to treat your thought processes (remember, still no censoring)
but the organization--the way you jot down ideas--is a bit different.
Instead of an endless, non-punctuated, free-flowing paragraph, you only
note down key words or short phrases in list-form under your subject
or broad topic. Set the timer, take a deep breath, and go crazy. If
you get stuck, look at one of the list words and see if that doesn't
trigger something new or if there's a general term (loaded abstractions
like "power," "education," "culture," or "knowledge" are good examples)
that keeps popping up and needs some fleshing out or isn't self-containing
or self-explanatory. Assume nothing is self-explanatory--at this stage
stating the obvious is the best way to tap into original territory.
When you're done, use your word processor's cut and paste features (or
arrows or color coding for you paper planners out there) to re-organize
your terms and find relationships and common threads that might form
subheadings.
Brainstorming
from the University of Richmond Writer's Web provides a great example
Brainstorming
a Paper Topic from the Undergraduate Writing Center at the University
of Texas-Austin asks the question "What are you interested in?" to
spark the list
Clustering/Webbing/Mapping. Basically the same as brainstorming
but for more visually- or paper-oriented students. Rather than a list
of concepts, you start with a central word written in the middle of
an unlined piece of paper. As related concepts pop in your head, you
indicate them as branches, arrows, in bubbles, or however you like to
cluster. Some branches will lead to dead ends, others will flourish.
At the end of a successful cluster session, you'll focus on the blossoming
areas and will even be able to draw arrows between concepts to
show their relationships. Again, no self-censorship allowed but don't
beat a dead horse either. If one spark dies, return to the central or
other provocative point you have scribbled in the lower right hand corner
and try again.
Clustering
from the University of Richmond Writer's Web
Concept
Mapping tips from the Learning Skills Program at the University
of Victoria
Concept
Maps: A Valuable Learning Tool from the University of Melbourne,
Australia is described mainly as a study aid but is equally applicable
to research paper writing
A Mapping
Diagram at the bottom of Cleveland State University Writing Center's
page on Invention provides a general illustrated template of the structure
of any web or map
Map
Bank from the University of Illinois provides over a half dozen
illustrated examples of real clusters done by real people
Cubing. The general strategy of looking at your topic as you
would a three-dimensional object with many sides. Sometimes you'll hear
it called the Many Parts Strategy because it asks...no, pushes....you
to consider your topic from a minimum of six different angles or avenues.
For a more thorough description of the process, visit:
Cubing
from the University of Richmond Writer's Web, again
Tagmemics
which is a more specific brand of cubing in case you need direction
on which "angles" of your topic to actually pursue
Heuristics. An impressive word that basically just means a learning
aid or problem-solving technique that uses "self-education." Self-education
is a bizarre but appropriate concept here because what you essentially
do with any heuristic is interview yourself, tap into your own
wealth of knowledge with the right drills in the right places, as it
were. This is done by using questions as prompts.
One popular heuristic is the list of journalistic 5 Ws (and one H!):
who, what, when, where, why, and how.
The University of Michigan OWL has another great example with the
following set of five questions:
-
What am I writing about? (topic)
-
What am I trying to say about my topic? (controlling idea)
-
Why am I writing about my topic? (purpose)
-
Why should my reader(s) be interested in my controlling idea?
(audience)
-
What knowledge do I have that makes me the right person to write
about this topic? 4
For another heuristic, try Thought
Starters / Asking the Right Questions from Purdue's own OWL files
Or for yet another heuristic variation, developed by Kenneth Burke
and described by the Paradigm Online Writing Assistant, read about
a technique known as Dramatism.
