How to Brainstorm for an Essay - EasyBib
Brainstorming college essay ideas is also a way to overcome a fear of the blank page, which is a legitimate form of writer’s block. Usually, writers either feel like they have no ideas or so many ideas that committing to just one is causing anxiety. Either way, it’s debilitating. Don’t worry, though—a good brainstorming process will either produce at least a few viable ideas or help you pare down your list.
Finally, brainstorming and writing are creative processes, which means we can better understand what goes on in our brains—and develop new ways to spark creativity during both acts—by delving into literature on the subject. For starters, , creativity is often characterized by an interplay between divergent and convergent thinking, or the process of producing as many ideas as possible in a spontaneous, unfiltered way and then narrowing those ideas down in a logical, evaluative way. Fortunately, both types of thinking can be harnessed during the brainstorming process to help you choose your best possible topic.
For example, when I wrote my college personal statement, I knew right away that I wanted to write about writing. I spent most of my free time seriously crafting and revising fiction, and it was a part of my life that felt indistinguishable from me as a person. To know me, I felt that admissions readers had to know that I loved to write, what my writing meant to me, and how I wanted it to influence my future. Although I spent many hours refining how the essay would begin and unfold, the topic itself felt non-negotiable.
Academic Writing Tip: 8 Brainstorming Techniques
This is especially useful with complex essay topics, which you can break down into easy to follow steps.While all of the previous methods can work for either individual or group brainstorming, these next techniques work best with more than one person.Brain WritingGather 2 or more people together and present to them the same problem (the topic of the essay).
That said, students who enter the essay process knowing what they want to write about are few and far between. For this reason, we ask all our students to at least humor us with the brainstorming process, even if only to gather potential ideas for future supplemental essays. Moreover, many students are stuck between 2 to 3 potential topics, and engaging in brainstorming exercises tends to clarify the way forward.
For example, it’s very likely that your brainstorm will reveal forgotten memories or events. It almost always generates surprising connections. And at the very least, it will help you understand why you want to write about a particular topic, which is an essential piece of information to keep in mind as you move forward.
Before you try to brainstorm college essay ideas, set yourself up for success by evaluating where and how you work best. Do you like being in a quiet space, listening to instrumental music, or being outside? Do you enjoy physically writing your ideas down on a piece of paper, using a digital mind mapping tool, or speaking your ideas into a voice recorder? Maybe you need to be at your desk in your room with some instrumental pop in your headphones and a snack at the ready, or sitting outside at your favorite café with a coffee. Whatever your ideal set-up is, get it ready!
How do you brainstorm ideas to base your college essay on? - Reddit
Write one paragraph of your essay where you connect the dots between a specific example of your favorite show to demonstrate insight about the values the show expresses and then also to your own life. Take the notes above and satisfy the psychologist, anthropologist, social scientist, or philosopher in you, wanting to know why this shows matters and how you exemplify the same value in things you do. Show an admissions officer that your intellect is always buzzing, making connections between even what seems like nothing but entertainment to the choices and activities of your daily life.
How does one brainstorm for an essay
Biographies of famous folks have recurring themes as well as plot twists and turns. What you’re going to do is take your list of values and write some ideas, brainstorming about how your documentary or biography might look, if you had a few episodes or chapters, each focused on a value. Your goal is to experiment, dream, and imagine—not write an entire script.
Brainstorming: How to Generate Ideas for Your Writing - Grammarly
So how do you do this? In our opinion, brainstorming works best when it’s semi-structured. Instead of sitting down in front of a blank Google Doc and waiting for inspiration (spoiler alert: you’ll be there for a while), use targeted brainstorming questions and lists to help, like Nancie Atwell’s or Georgia Heard’s . Set a timer for each exercise if you’d like–10-15 minutes is usually sufficient, but feel free to go beyond that.
How to Brainstorm an Essay - YouTube
In general, brainstorming is the process of producing ideas, whether individually or in a group. Although it can be employed in a number of different contexts, from board rooms to PTA meetings, we’re going to focus on its relevance to the college essay writing process in particular.
3 Ways How to Brainstorm for an Essay! - YouTube
Oh, how we love this essay. What this writer does so well is to discuss the influence of the people in their life while still staying focused on themselves (Heads up: It’s really easy for students to end up focusing too much on other people. Those people sound great, but they aren’t the ones applying to college). We hear about great-grandparents, grandparents, and sisters, but this essay is still entirely about the writer. The essay structure is also effective in that those short, concise sentences peppered throughout give the reader clues about what’s coming next. While your college application essays are ABOUT you, they are FOR your reader, and giving them a head’s up about the essay’s progression is a good way to keep their focus.