COR JESU COLLEGE, INC.
COLLEGE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS
Sacred Heart Avenue, Digos City
Province of Davao del Sur
Module 2: Pre-Writing
Welcome to Module 2!. Here you are going to scrutinize the things to do in pre-
writing stage. Break a leg!
Prewriting is the first stage during which the writer needs to consider three main
factors: topic, audience, and purpose.
A student may have to deal with two different types of topics: assigned topics or
chosen topics. If the topic is assigned the directions for the assignment will limit and
determine the approach to take. Instructions must be read carefully and directions must
be followed exactly. If the student is free to select a topic, it is important to reflect on the
value and meaning of the finished product. A writer should select something he is
interested in and knowledgeable about, but he should also anticipate the desired effect
he hopes to achieve and the reader's reaction he is looking for. Any topic can generate
an interesting discussion, if one considers the following possibilities: selecting an
uncommon topic or using a new and original approach for an old topic.
At the end of this module, the pre-service teachers shall be able to:
1. identify techniques in pre-writing for creative writing; and
2. present plans as an important part in the creative writing process.
This is comprised of the following lessons:
EL 121 – CREATIVE WRITING 1
Module 2 Intensive Planning for Writing
Lesson 2
Learning 1. Identify other elements to include in the process of planning for
Target/s writing; and
2. Point out the relevance of these other elements in the process of
planning for writing.
Reference/s Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. (n.d.)Prewriting. Retrieved April 2,
2022 from [Link]
Welcome to Lesson Module 2 Lesson 2! This is a bit taxing because you will get
through planning but if you’re done with it, I bet you would really find it beneficial. This is
another milestone to your expertise. Wow!
BRING IT ON!
ACTIVITY Brainstorm with your group and identify a common folktale in
your province. Distribute tasks to your co-members and
exhaust your means to bring the folk tale alive in a form of a
narrative. Each one must have interviewed one Key Informant (KI) to gather the
narratives from the people. To make your narrative credible, be sure that your KI must
have heard from his/her grandparents who likewise heard it from their grandparents.
Combine all what you have gathered then come up with a unified narrative of the said
folktale.
HOW DID YOU BRING IT ON?
ANALYSIS In the process of bringing on alive the narratives of the folktale
that you have chosen, please answer this one question: How
specifically you facilitated yourselves in bringing the narratives of the folktale
on? Please specify step-by-step.
EL 121 – CREATIVE WRITING 2
ABSTRACTION
Prewriting is the first stage of the writing process, typically followed by
drafting, revision, editing and publishing. Prewriting can consist of a combination
of outlining, diagramming, storyboarding, and clustering (for a technique similar to
clustering, see mindmapping). Here are some other important elements that you have to
consider in intensive planning for writing:
Motivation and audience awareness
Prewriting usually begins with motivation and audience awareness: what is the student
or writer trying to communicate, why is it important to communicate it well and who is
the audience for this communication. It helps you put your thought out onto the paper on
what you want to write about. Writers usually begin with a clear idea of audience,
content and the importance of their communication; sometimes, one of these needs to
be clarified for the best communication. Student writers find motivation especially
difficult because they are writing for a teacher or for a grade, instead of a real
audience. Often teachers try to find a real audience for students by asking them to read
to younger classes or to parents, by posting writing for others to read, by writing a blog,
or by writing on real topics, such as a letter to the editor of a local newspaper.
Choosing a topic
One important task in prewriting is choosing a topic and then narrowing it to a length
that can be covered in the space allowed. Oral storytelling is an effective way to search
for a good topic for a personal narrative. Writers can quickly tell a story and judge from
the listeners' reactions whether it will be an interesting topic to write about.
Another way to find a topic is to freewrite, a method first popularized by Peter Elbow.
When freewriting, you write any and every idea that comes to mind. This could also be a
written exploration of your current knowledge of a broad topic, with the idea that you are
looking for a narrow topic to write about. Often freewriting is timed. The writer is
instructed to keep writing until the time period ends, which encourages him/her to keep
writing past the pre-conceived ideas and hopefully find a more interesting topic.
Several other methods of choosing a topic overlap with another broad concern of
prewriting, that of researching or gathering information. Reading is effective in both
choosing and narrowing a topic and in gathering information to include in the writing. As
a writer reads other works, it expands ideas, opens possibilities and points toward
options for topics and narrates specific content for the eventual writing. One traditional
method of tracking the content read is to create annotated note cards with one chunk of
information per card. Writers also need to document music, photos, web sites,
interviews, and any other source used to prevent plagiarism.
Besides reading what others also make original observations relating to a topic. This
requires on-site visits, experimentation with something, or finding original or primary
historical documents. Writers interact with the setting or materials and make
observations about their experience. For strong writing, particular attention should be
given to sensory details (what the writer hears, tastes, touches, smells and feels). While
EL 121 – CREATIVE WRITING 3
gathering material, often writers pay particular attention to the vocabulary used in
discussing the topic. This would include slang, specific terminology, translations of
terms, and typical phrases used. The writer often looks up definitions, synonyms and
finds ways that different people use the terminology. Lists, journals, teacher-student
conference, drawing illustrations, using imagination, restating a problem in multiple
ways, watching videos, inventorying interests – these are some of the other methods for
gathering information.
Discussing information
After reading and observing, often writers need to discuss material. They
might brainstorm with a group on topics or how to narrow a topic. Or, they might discuss
events, ideas, and interpretations with just one other person. Oral storytelling might
enter again, as the writer turns it into a narrative, or just tries out ways of using the new
terminology. Sometimes writers draw or use information as basis for artwork as a way to
understand the material better.
Narrowing the topic
Narrowing a topic is an important step of prewriting. For example, a personal narrative
of five pages could be narrowed to an incident that occurred in a thirty-minute time
period. This restricted time period means the writer must slow down and tell the event
moment by moment with many details. By contrast, a five-page essay about a three-day
trip would only skim the surface of the experience. The writer must consider again the
goals of communication – content, audience, importance of information – but add to this
a consideration of the format for the writing. He or she should consider how much space
is allowed for the communication and how What can be effectively communicated within
that space?
Organizing content
At this point, the writer needs to consider the organization of content. Outlining in a
hierarchical structure is one of the typical strategies, and usually includes three or more
levels in the hierarchy. Typical outlines are organized by chronology, spatial
relationships, or by subtopics. Other outlines might include sequences along a
continuum: big to little, old to new, etc. Clustering, a technique of creating a visual web
that represents associations among ideas, is another help in creating structure, because
it reveals relationships. Storyboarding is a method of drawing rough sketches to plan a
picture book, a movie script, a graphic novel or other fiction.
Developmental acquisition of organizing skills
EL 121 – CREATIVE WRITING 4
While information on the developmental sequence of organizing skills is sketchy,
anecdotal information suggests that children follow this rough sequence: 1) sort into
categories, 2) structure the categories into a specific order for best communication,
using criteria such as which item will best work to catch readers attention in the
opening, 3) within a category, sequence information into a specific order for best
communication, using criteria such as what will best persuade an audience. At each
level, it is important that student writers discuss their decisions; they should understand
that categories for a certain topic could be structured in several different ways, all
correct. A final skill acquired is the ability to omit information that is not needed in order
to communicate effectively.
Even sketchier is information on what types of organization are acquired first, but
anecdotal information and research suggests that even young children understand
chronological information, making narratives the easiest type of student writing.
Persuasive writing usually requires logical thinking and studies in child development
indicate that logical thinking is not present until a child is 10–12 years old, making it one
of the later writing skills to acquire. Before this age, persuasive writing will rely mostly on
emotional arguments.
Writing trials
Writers also use the prewriting phase to experiment with ways of expressing ideas. For
oral storytelling, a writer could tell a story three times, but each time begin at a different
time, include or exclude information, end at a different time or place. Writers often try
writing the same information. but using different voices, in search of the best way to
communicate this information or tell this story.
Recursion
Prewriting is recursive, that is, it can occur at any time in the writing process and can
return several times. For example, after a first draft, a writer may need to return to an
information gathering stage, or may need to discuss the material with someone, or may
need to adjust the outline. While the writing process is discussed as having distinct
stages, in reality, they often overlap and circle back on one another.
Variables
Prewriting varies depending on the writing task or rhetorical mode. Fiction requires more
imaginative thinking while informational essays or expository writing require more
organizational thinking. Persuasive writing must consider not just the information to be
communicated, but how best to change the reader’s ideas or convictions. Folktales will
require extensive reading of the genre to learn common conventions. Each writing task
will require a different selection of prewriting strategies, used in a different order.
Technology
EL 121 – CREATIVE WRITING 5
Technological tools are often used in prewriting tasks, including word processors,
spreadsheets and publishing programs; however, technology appears to be more useful
in the revision, editing and publishing phases of prewriting.
Writing tests
Teaching writing as a process is accepted pedagogical practice, but there is increasing
concern that writing tests do not allow for the full writing process, especially cutting short
the time needed for prewriting tasks.
RECORD IT ON!
Based on our discussion about the lesson on Intensive
APPLICATION Planning for Writing, write a 3-5 paragraph essay about your
take-aways, lessons learned, realizations, and insights. Beware of plagiarism. Any
plagiarized output is automatic 5.0 and no more resubmission. Satisfy also the criteria
set for this assessment. Please be guided accordingly.
Criteria :
Snappy title (3-5 words) – 5 pts.
Interesting and catchy introductory paragraph – 10 pts.
Substantial 3-5 body paragraph – 25 pts.
Relevant and appropriate concluding paragraph – 10 pts.
Closure:
Congratulations! You have just done Lesson Module 2 Lesson 2 in your creative ways.
Surely, the next lesson is going to be that easy for you. Keep going!
EL 121 – CREATIVE WRITING 6
EL 121 – CREATIVE WRITING 7