What is the difference between freewriting and prewriting

The ideas are meant to be unstructured and messy in a freewriting exercise. While we have talked about freewriting as part of the prewriting process, it can be used in other ways.

Freewriting can be done multiple times at multiple stages of your writing process to keep the ideas flowing. It can also be done when your ideas get stagnant and you need to reset. Tip: If you want to freewrite on your computer, turn off your monitor.

One of the most important things to remember about freewriting is that it is disengaged from your actual essay — what you write in a freewrite activity should be read and re-read to pull out the meaningful and relevant bits to inject into what you end up writing for your assignment.

Smoker, T. Comparing memory for handwriting versus typing. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society , 53 22 , Use that technique if you get stuck to push yourself in new and interesting directions for your paper. Writing is a process whose finished product is a sentence, a paragraph, an essay, etc.

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.

Audience's experience and knowledge of the subject needs to be considered for communication to be effective: too technical and specialized information may be above the reader's level of comprehension; a too basic or simple approach will bore the reader. The question to ask is: What does the reader have to gain from reading this essay? The purpose will be to inform, to entertain, or to persuade. Often these purposes will be combined in a paper, each purpose occurring in function of another.

The main purpose of prewriting activities is to find the focus of the paper. Focus is the point on which all energy is concentrated. If the topic is too broad, the paper will be vague, superficial, and likely disorganized. To determine if the topic is limited enough, consider the audience. You may want to take a general approach if your audience does not have specific knowledge of the subject. Freewriting is a great prewriting technique.

It will come in handy if you have a general topic but are not sure what you want to say about it. Get a pen and paper or open up a blank computer document and set yourself a time limit.

Start writing about your general topic, recording thoughts as they come into your mind. Do not edit as you go, or even look back at what you have written. Just keep moving on as thoughts occur to you. The purpose of freewriting is to develop ideas spontaneously and naturally. People say Hamlet is a play about revenge, but is revenge successful if he dies at the end?

Is killing Claudius enough to make Hamlet happy? Did he succeed at anything, or did he just destabilize Denmark further? Fortinbras seems like a better king—at least he is interested in government. Or was he? Is he more upset about the murder or the usurpation? Does he want to rule or just to get revenge? Is his quest for vengeance the act of a justice-seeking prince or are revenge and rulership at cross-purposes?

There are a few good things to notice about this freewrite. First, the paragraph has many more questions than observations or answers. This is perfectly fine. Freewriting is not a place to work out answers to questions, but rather to figure out exactly what question you want to ask.

The other thing to notice is the general trajectory of the paragraph. The different questions are connected to each other, albeit very loosely. Again, this is fine.

Freewriting does not need to be rigidly organized as long as it stays relatively close to its general topic.

Often, freewrites will end up producing a unified line of thought even without you trying to connect everything. In fact, those second questions can be refined into more specific answers to the first one. He sounds sincere, though flowery.