Brainstorming in Essay Writing
What an essay writer wants to say in his essay, he says it neatly. The technique he uses to format his sayings is called “Brainstorming in Essay Writing”. It allows him to think freely about the subject and helps him to find solutions to problems easily. That’s why brainstorming is the first step in writing a successful essay.
In this article, we discuss why brainstorming is important in composing an effective essay and what is the way to do it, with a simple example.
How to Brainstorm for an Essay
Many people argue that brainstorming is not necessary for essay writing. They feel it is going round the wheel. Other writers do not think so. Brainstorming in essay writing is of great importance. If not for any other benefit, it serves as a reminder while writing.
Brainstorming in essay writing is like someone who gathers all the ingredients he needs for the cooking and puts them together and at his reach. He looks at the ingredients always and decides which to come first. This is applicable in essay writing. An essay writer pens down every idea or point that comes into his head as he ponders on the essay topic. As he ponders on the topic, many ideas flood his head. He is likely to forget some of the ideas if he fails to write them down.
It is important to note here that not all the written down or brainstormed ideas make it at the end into the body of an essay. Selections are made at the end of the brainstorming, formally or informally.
Formal selection is the listing and the arrangement of the brainstormed ideas in the ways they should appear in the body of the essay. They are selected and arranged paragraph by paragraph. On the other hand, an essay writer can decide to random-pick his brainstormed ideas and develop them. That is, he looks at the list of the points as he writes and makes selections.
— Let us see an example using this essay question: “write an essay on ‘My favorite meal“.
BRAINSTORMED IDEAS
Abacha, cassava, tapioca, wet, dry, sauce, red oil, garnishing, garden egg, dry fish or fried fish, methods of preparation, local spices, aroma, celebration, utazi leaf, indigestion, digestion, appetizing, mouth-watering, efuru, melon spice, potassium, why some people dislike abacha, amazing secret, tomato, onions.
These ideas or points were what came to the writer’s head as he pondered on this essay topic. We can go on to select these ideas and arrange them accordingly the way they will appear in the essay paragraphs. Or, we can look at them and pick them randomly as they will suit the essay body. See the first and second paragraphs of the essay topic:
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MY FAVOURITE MEAL
Abacha is my favorite meal. It is a popular delicacy known as African salad. Tapioca, wet or dry is extracted from cassava. I don’t know for any other person, what attracts me to this delicacy is the aroma and the manner of garnishment.
The aroma of the local spices like efuru, ogiri, ugba, and ncha made of potassium or palm ashes make it always appetizing and lure people to demand it. The sauce which is made from these local spices is used in the preparation depending on the locality and the people. For the garnishing; garden eggs, onions, tomatoes, fish (dried or fry), green vegetables, ugha, etc are used. This is the reason this delicacy is irresistible. Like, some people accept the offer not because they eat it but because of these irresistible ingredients. Once you turn your back, they pick the meat, fish, or vegetables and dump the real meal (Abacha).
The listed ideas used so far in the paragraphs were highlighted for our attention. It is important to note here that an essay writer is not limited to brainstormed ideas. As he writes, other ideas may come. He may use or include the new ones and removes the old ideas or uses both.
Brainstormed ideas act as a soft reminder. It is a data bank for an essay writer. It makes the journey smooth in the middle of essay writing.
About the Author
A teacher, writer and blogger, started allparagraph noting students search online for paragraphs on various topics, short and simple essays, edifying stories and other materials of study. In composing these lessons we have tried to use as simple language as possible, keeping young students in mind. If you find any text inappropriate, please let us know so we can make it more useful through necessary corrections and modifications. Thank you!