LESSON 2:

Pre-Writing Concerns in Campus Journalism

Free writing is probably the most common and talked-up strategy for getting our writing going.
Free writing is when we write continuously without stopping. It is often used in conjunction with a timer
– the Pomodoro. Do you know what is Pomodoro? Well, The Pomodoro Technique is a time management
system that encourages people to work with the time they have—rather than against it. 
Free writing is used to generate ideas, unstick a problem, and discover new perspectives. But free writing
is often advocated for hesitant writers who feel anxious – at the start of a project, in the middle, and at the
end. Free writing produces a great deal of material in a very short space of time and the unexpected
quantity of stuff helps the nervous writer to get over the I have nothing to say or I can’t write
anything feelings.

In Pre-Writing there are useful strategies.

First is Listing. Listing is just a simple list of ideas. This is a great prewriting activity for students who
really don’t know what to write about. I think it’s easiest to put the topic or key word from the prompt at
the top of the page. That makes it easy to stay focused on the prompt. Listing allows students to create as
many different lists as they like.
For example, if your prompt is to write about a time when you learned something, students may create
lists that are titled, “school,” “family,” and “sports.” This will help them narrow their topic.
Then what? Once students have a list, they have choices! The natural next step is for students to choose
an item from the list that they feel some energy or excitement about. Use it for freewriting, brainstorming,
or even clustering.

The second is Clustering. Clustering is gathering ideas and thoughts into categories. Look at the prompt
and determine some big categories that might fall under the topic. We students can write the ideas in
circles (like a cluster). It’s helpful to label the clusters or color code them.
We students can use this technique after some brainstorming or freewriting. This will allow us to create
categories and pull ideas more easily.

The third is Free Writing. Free writing (sometimes spelled as one word) is simply writing about an idea
for a specific period of time. It can be a stream of consciousness or in response to a prompt. We can use
freewriting as a way to dive in and explore a prompt or topic. Then we can set the time (start with maybe
5 – 7 minutes) and write continuously. We shouldn’t worry about spelling, grammar, or organization —
they are just getting their thoughts down on paper.

The fourth is Looping. Looping is the perfect prewriting strategy to use after we freewriting. When using
this technique, we can choose an idea from our freewriting to explore on a deeper level. To use this
technique, we need to go back to freewriting and choose a word, sentence, or phrase that interests us or
makes a good topic. Write that word, sentence, or phrase at the top of a new page set the timer, and write
about that topic until the timer goes off.

These are just of the many prewriting strategies we can use when struggling to write. Remember to keep
all the ideas that come up with, even if we can’t see ourselves writing about the subject. In six months,
that idea may spark an “a-ha” moment in our head that leads to our best writing yet.
1. Sections of a Campus Paper

2. Choosing a Topic
3. Researching
4. Pitching a Story 5. Interviewing and Quoting Sources
6. The Print Media: From Topic to Article