Pre writing strategies used by students at center for international cooperation and training electric power university

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

MAI THỊ THỦY

PRE-WRITING STRATEGIES USED BY STUDENTS AT CENTER
FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING,
ELECTRIC POWER UNIVERSITY
(CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC SINH VIÊN TRUNG TÂM ĐÀO TẠO VÀ HỢP
TÁC QUỐC TẾ, TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC ĐIỆN LỰC SỬ DỤNG TRONG
GIAI ĐOẠN TRƯỚC KHI VIẾT)

M.A. Minor Program Thesis

Field:

English Language Teaching Methodology

Code:

60140111

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hoàng Văn Vân

Hanoi, 2014


DECLARATION
I, Mai Thị Thủy, hereby declare that the thesis entitled
PRE-WRITING STRATEGIES USED BY STUDENTS AT CENTER FOR

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND TRAINING,
ELECTRIC POWER UNIVERSITY
is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Education at University of
Foreign Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. I
confirm that this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees.

Student’s Signature

Mai Thị Thủy

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In completion of the study, I would like to express my sincere thanks to many
people for their contributive suggestions as well as enthusiastic support.
Firstly, I would like to send my special appreciation to my supervisor Prof. Dr.
Hoàng Văn Vân for his enormous help and precious advice. I am extremely grateful to
Prof. Dr. Hoàng Văn Vân for his careful guidance in terms of basic theory that has led
me to this research. I would like to send my gratitude to him for his precise instruction
and endless feedbacks which have enhanced my arguments in the research. He has
thrown his full support behind me from the period of choosing appropriate topic to
finalizing the chapter conclusion.
Secondly, I am indebted to 50 students at the Center for International
Cooperation and Training, Electric Power University for having taken part in the data
collection process using survey questionnaire and interviewing.
Thirdly, warm thanks are given to all my classmates in K20D for their
contributive suggestions as well as experience sharing which has become a motivating
stimulus during the time of conducting the research project.
Last but not least, I owe my deep gratitude to my beloved family for their

whole-hearted encouragement and great support during my time of fulfilling this
thesis.

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ABSTRACT
It goes without saying that a good beginning is half the battle. Accordingly,
pre-writing strategies are considered an essential tool for students, especially third-year
students at Electric Power University who have not been familiar with academic
writing. In order to carry out this research project, 50 students were involved in this
study to bring various and critical viewpoints about the main aspect of pre-writing skill
illustrated by the term “strategies”. Using two research methods including quantitative
and qualitative and two instruments including questionnaire and semi-structured
interview, the study attempts to answer to the question: “What strategies are used by
students at the Center for International Cooperation and Training, Electric Power
University, at the pre-writing stage?” The results shared that the strategies students at
Center for International Cooperation and Training, Electric Power University use at the
pre-writing stage include brainstorming, outlining, talking it out, categorizing and
clustering. Meanwhile, they rarely or never use journaling, questions-asking, branching
and free-writing. It is also found that they are not really aware of the importance of
these pre-writing strategies. This explains partly why their writing is of poor quality.
The study‟s results suggested that teachers should be more flexible to convert such
useful strategies into activities in class to make sure students can understand prewriting strategies and apply them to writing skill effectively.

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iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION…………………………………………………………………… i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………… ii
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………… iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………....... iv
LIST OF CHARTS…………………………………………………………………. vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………… vii
PART I: INTRODUCTION
1.

Rationale……………………………………………………………………… 1

2.

Research aims and research questions……………………………………….... 2

3.

Significance of the study……………………………………………………… 3

4.

Scope of the study……………………………………………………………... 3

5.

Methods of the study………………………………………………………….. 3

6.

Design of the study……………………………………………………………. 4

PART II : DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: Theoretical and Practical Backgrounds to the study.................... 5
1. The concept of writing ………………………………………………………….. 5
2. The importance of writing in second language teaching………………………… 6
3. Writing process …………………………………………………………………. 7
3.1. Pre-writing……………………………………………………………… 7
3.2. While-writing…………………………………………………………… 7
3.3. Post-writing…………………………………………………………….. 8
4. Previous studies on the strategies students use at the pre-writing stage………… 8
4.1. Free writing……………………………………………………………. 11

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4.2. Brainstorming/ Listing…………………………………………………. 12
4.3. Clustering/mind mapping……………………………………………… 14
4.4. Branching……………………………………………………………… 15
4.5. Outlining………………………………………………………………. 16
4.6. Questions – Asking……………………………………………………. 17
4.7. Journaling……………………………………………………………… 18
4.8. Talking it out…………………………………………………………… 19
4.9. Categorizing……………………………………………………………. 19
5. Context of the study……………………………………………………………… 20
5.1. Center for International Cooperation and Training, EPU………………. 20
5.2. Teachers………………………………………………………………… 21
5.3. Students………………………………………………………………… 21
5.4. Teaching materials……………………………………………………… 22

6. Summary…………………………………………………………………………. 23
CHAPTER II: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY……………… 24
1. Research site…………………………………………………………………….. 24
2. The participants ………………………………………………………………… 24
3. The research instruments……………………………………………………….. 24
4. Distribution of data……………………………………………………………… 25
5. Data collection procedures……………………………………………………… 26
6. Analysis of data…………………………………………………………………. 26
7. Summary……………………………………………………………………….. 26
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS………………. 27
1.

Results from survey questionnaire………………………………………….. 27
1.1.

Students‟ use of pre-writing strategies………………………………. 27

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1.2.

Students‟ frequency of using pre-writing strategies………………… 29

1.3.

effectiveness of pre-writing strategies for generating idea…………. 31

2. Results from interview………………………………………………………….. 32
2.1.

Students‟ knowledge about pre-writing strategies…………………… 32

2.2.

Students‟ awareness of the importance of pre-writing strategies……. 33

3. Summary……………………………………………………………………….. 33

PART III: CONCLUSION……………………………………………………….. 35
1.

Summary………………………………………………………………………. 35

2.

Recommendations…………………………………………………………….. 36

3.

Limitations of the study……………………………………………………….. 37

4.

Suggestions for further studies………………………………………………… 37

REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………….39
Appendix 01: Survey questionnaire ............................................................................ I
Appendix 02: Survey interview……………………………………………………. VII
Appendix 03: Data statistics for questionnaire…………………………………….. VIII

Appendix 04: Results from interviewing section………………………………….. X

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LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 1: Students‟ use of pre-writing strategies
Chart 2: Prewriting strategies students often use
Chart 3: Prewriting strategies students do not often use
Chart 4: effectiveness of pre-writing strategies for generating ideas

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
1. EPU:

Electric Power University

2. CICT:

Center for International Cooperation and Training

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PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
“Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man and writing makes an exact
man” is one of the most famous sayings of the philosopher and essayist Sir Francis
Bacon. Actually, writing is a ticket for human beings not only to enter everyday
communication but also to better college grades and greater academic achievement. In
addition, in teaching writing, like in the teaching of other three skills, the necessity of

conducting the pre-, while- and post-stages has been increasingly realized nowadays.
The while-stage has been supposed most necessary and important. Recent studies have
shown that pre-stage also plays an important role in the courses‟ success, especially in
the language classroom. Therefore, pre-writing stage, called the preparation stage, has
been needed to provide learners with context motivation and necessary sub-skills to
assist their writing. Moreover, it is to give full play to learners‟ prior initiatives.
Practically, there have been a number of studies on students‟ writing strategies
so far but now has been on strategies used by students at the pre-writing stage. That is
one of the reasons why I decided to conduct this project in order to find out something
meaningful to fill in the gaps.
In addition, although the necessity of examining writing strategies is
increasingly recognized recently, after entering the university, lots of students are
actually unfamiliar with academic writing. At university, students were taught to speak,
read and write through various approaches, methods and techniques in order to achieve
proficiency in the language. Specifically, the main objective of writing is to enable
students to write a composition during which they are guided through the process of
writing, pre-writing-planning, drafting, revising and editing. This is to ensure that
students are given proper guidance when producing a good piece of writing. Ironically,
writing is still the skill most students are least proficient in. They still find it difficult to
do any writing task, especially from very first steps of writing. Although a sizable

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portion of time is being given to develop writing skills yet students are unable to
produce good pieces of essay writing. This problem becomes worse when there is no
support on how to prepare the draft before getting into the full writing phase.
What I notice in my students‟ composition is that ideas are left out or ideas
presented without being fully developed. Further, it can be seen that they lack cognitive
strategies of generating and developing ideas in the topic they chose to write on. Thus,

they lack the skills to elaborate on the points they are writing, and they lack cognitive
strategies to reflect on what had been learnt. White and Arndt (1991) suggested
questions will prompt to help stimulate thinking, to draw on experiences and to
develop and shape ideas. As such students have the opportunity to openly express their
ideas and thoughts and keep them actively involved in the lessons.
In recognition of importance of pre-writing stage in the writing process, the
current situation and the need of practicing pre-writing strategies in English classes, I
decide to carry out this study in order to find out what strategies they often use and
what they do not use in the hope of helping them improve the quality of their writing.
2. Research aims and research questions
The research aim is to explore the strategies used by students at center for
international cooperation and training, EPU at the pre-writing stage. In brief, this aim
can be realized by the following research question:
“What strategies are used by students at the Center for International
Cooperation and Training, Electric Power University, at the pre-writing stage?”
3. Significance of the study
As mentioned in the Rationale, it is a fact that many students struggle with
generating ideas as well as how to put their thoughts into a cohesive product. In order
to assist students in becoming better writers, educators need to thoroughly and
explicitly articulate how to effectively complete each stage of the writing process. One
of the most important facets of the writing process is the prewriting stage; students

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need to be taught on how to successfully produce ideas and once they have generated
those ideas, tools need to be provided on how to turn the raw ideas into a complete
draft. Therefore, this study can improve education because it will give students a
multitude of resources that they can use in order to be successful in beginning a writing
task. To overcome difficulties and frustration in generating a piece of writing, they can

be equipped with strategies to deal with their roadblocks improve their writing skills.
With this study, I hope to make a small contribution to teaching/learning writing
effectively, which may help students retain prewriting strategies and help the teachers
find appropriate approaches when teaching writing.
4. Scope of the study
In carrying out the study, I do not have an ambition to cover a big topic, but just
intend to concentrate mainly on strategies what are used by students at center for
International Cooperation and Training, EPU at the pre-writing stage.
The time limitation and ability is the small scale of research which is restricted
to 50 third – year students at the center for international cooperation and training, EPU.
5. Methods of the study
The research will use both quantitative and qualitative methods which are
realized through the following instruments:
 Document analysis: Reading materials of teaching writing in general, strategies
students use during teaching writing process and strategies they use at the prewriting stage.
 Survey questionnaire: 4 out of 10 classes were invited to take part in the
questionnaire-answering process. The selection process was taken according to
cluster sampling basis, which means that 4 classes will be chosen at random.
Questions are all in close-ended form to ensure the participants‟ willingness to
respond actively and truthfully.

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 Interview: 5 volunteers from these classes will be invited to take part in the
interview with the aim of checking data collected from the questionnaire and
gaining further insights into the research matters.
6. Design of the study
The research is divided into three parts.
The first part, Introduction includes the rationale for the study, aims of the

study and research question, significance of the study, scope of the study, method and
design of the study.
The second part is Development which consists of three chapters. Chapter one –
Theoretical and Practical Backgrounds to the study, looks at some issues related to
writing, teaching writing, the writing process, previous studies on strategies students
use at the pre-writing stage and context of the study. In chapter 2, Research Design
and Methodology, reports on the participants and instruments of the research. Chapter
3, Research Findings and Discussion, presents the results and discussions of the
results.
Finally, part three, Conclusion, sums up the main issues studied, points out the
shortcomings of the research and make some suggestions for further research.

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PART 2 : DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL BACKGROUNDS TO
THE STUDY
1. The concept of writing
It goes without saying that writing seems to have taken on different definitions
for different groups of people in order to suit their different needs and purposes for
writing. After studying various sources of document data, the researchers have
perceived writing from many different aspects.
Byrne (1988:1) considers writing “the act of forming graphic symbols” such as
letters or combination of letters. According to this definition, any act that results in the
forming of letters with or without a meaning can be defined as writing.
On the other hand, Lannon (1989) views writing as “the process of transforming
the material discovered by research inspiration, accident, trial and error, or whatever
into a message with a definite meaning – writing is a process of deliberate decision”
(p.9). In this way, writing must convey a message with a meaning.

Another definition by Tribble (1996:3) considers writing a language skill
involving “not just a graphic representation of speech, but the development and
presentation of thoughts in a structured way”.
Besides, writing is defined by several contrasts (Sokolik, 2003:8). Firstly, in her
opinion, writing is both “a physical and mental act” in the sense that it requires writers
to commit words or ideas to some medium and at the same time to invent ideas, think
about how to express them, and recognize them into statements and paragraphs.
Secondly, writing aims at expressing and impressing. It is, actually, the representation
of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols (known as
a writing system). Here, writers typically try to express their ideas or feelings;
meanwhile they need to impress their readers in certain ways. Thirdly, writing is a

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process and product. Writers have to generate ideas, organize, draft, edit, read, re-read
to produce a product – a paragraph, an essay or a report.
In a nutshell, researcher is actually impressed with one of the most famous
sayings of the philosopher and essayist Sir Francis Bacon that “Reading makes a full
man, conference a ready man and writing makes an exact man.”
2. The importance of writing in second/foreign language teaching
The importance of teaching writing to the second language learner has been
emphasized by a number of authors and researchers over the past years. Writing plays
an important role in our life. Through writing we can share ideas and feelings, and
attempt to persuade and convince other people. Raimes (1983: 6) believes that writing
is a crucial language skill; it helps the learners to learn. Students can improve
grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary when writing. Then, they become very
involved with the language: try to make an effort to transfer all their mother tongue
into English as a second language.
The teaching of writing enables learners to acquire knowledge of the new

language they are learning and using (Franco, 1996: 120). It is not only related to the
use of a range of right vocabulary but also the use of style, format, and organization in
English. In other words, writing helps students acquire how a new language is used.
According to Clark and Routledge (1997), five factors causes us to write: the
distance between communicators; the need to avoid face-to-face interaction;

the

opportunity to take time and care over wording; the opportunity to integrate verbal and
visual and means of communication; the need to keep evidence of the communication;
and finally in some cultures, to add weight to the message. It is important to note that
there is a relationship between the ability to write and social power. Writing ability
enables a writer to play an effective role in society. In this way, writing becomes an
important means of social interaction with people in different situations.

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White, (1995: 225) mentions that the importance of teaching writing has grown
because writing as an activity has evolved through its connection with commerce.
Some written documents deal with these kinds of commercial activities even in the
world of electronics, which depends on written messages used in the occupational field
and in both commercial and personal relations (Gains: 1999: 81). This importance will
increase in a world where commerce is conducted electronically.
The use of real messages and material used in an occupational field related to
the learners' needs will help to increase their motivation as they can readily perceive
the relationship between what they are learning and what they need. Tomlinson (1983:
7) argues that writing should be directed forward in both teaching and learning, and
emphasizes the importance of combining what is taught and why it is taught with the
learners' writing needs.

3. Writing process
3.1.

Pre-writing

Firstly, as searching from Oxford learners dictionary: pre-writing is the work
done before writing, the preparatory work needed before a piece of writing is begun,
e.g. the formation of ideas, organization of material, and discussion
According to Raimes (1983), prewriting is the first stage of the writing process
and the point at which we discover and explore our initial ideas about a subject.
Prewriting helps us to get our ideas on paper, though not usually in an organized form,
and brainstorm thoughts that might eventually make their way into our writing. The
objectives are to produce as many ideas as possible. Activities that are involved in
prewriting process are collecting ideas through reading, free writing, brainstorming,
mind mapping and listings (Raimes, 1983).
3.2.

While-writing

While writing is very personal, or subjective, it creates an object space, a place
apart from the individual and we measure it against objective standards derived from

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the context. It creates space both for the individual (subject) and the idea (the object) to
coexist so that we can both judge the merits of the individual voicing the idea and
contend with the idea on the objective form of a page. ( Kimberly and Abels, 2003).
3.3.

Post-writing

According to Lannon (1989), post-writing is what students do after they have all
ideas in their papers sorted out properly. The aim is to make students‟ paper as clear
and easy to read as possible, not to correct grammatical, punctuation and spelling error.
4. Previous studies on the strategies students use at pre-writing stage
Strategy is a plan that is intended to achieve a particular purpose. A pre-writing
strategy is a device that helps writers get organized before they begin writing. The
point of the pre-writing strategy is to accumulate all ideas about the topic on paper, and
then writers can choose the best one's and use them in writing.
Peacock (1986: 57-58) understands the pre-writing stage as one which prepares
the learners before they start the writing process by helping them to start writing with
confidence and understand the objective of their writing. In this respect pre-writing
helps in exploring the topic, the vocabulary needed and the sentence structures to be
used. It also helps the learners to communicate their ideas on the topic before writing,
and to plan for writing. Adegbija (1991: 228) explains that this stage helps the learners
to focus their minds on the writing task. It enhances their prospects of producing a
well-ordered, well-organized, fluent and coherent text if they prepare themselves with
the linguistic tools for communicating exactly what they intend.
This stage is very important because the writer sets his/her goals, and generates
and organizes his/her ideas. The writer prepares to write the text by choosing the ideas,
suitable expressions, vocabulary and styles. The pre-writing stage concerns the process
of generating ideas, and thinking how they will be related to one another (Caudery,
1997: 11). Writing a text necessitates some thinking before launching into it. The
writer needs time to develop his/her thoughts through generating and preparing the

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ideas, diction and expressions which may fulfill the aim of the text. Murray (1982: 15,

19) emphasizes the importance of the prewriting (preparation) stage in producing a text
according to the process, because this stage often takes as much as 85% of the writer's
time.
Moreover, pre – writing is any activity in the classroom that encourages students
to write. It stimulates thoughts for getting started. Pre – writing activities help students
prepare raw materials for the composing stage, and organize them in the best way
(Coffin et al, 2003); therefore, they develop students‟ fluency (Byrne, 1988).
In order to improve pre-writing skill for students, teachers often introduce a
variety of strategies for getting started with a writing task to students and encourage
them to work out which strategies are the best for them (Kroll, 1991).
However, different researchers in the field of teaching writing to both first and
second/foreign language learners suggest different strategies students use at the prewriting stage. Fletcher (1996) says that he does not use each strategy of these following
strategies each time he writes. Students will probably find that some of these strategies
work better than others. They will have to try them out and see which ones work best
for them among 6 following prewriting strategies:
 Talking it out

 Asking questions

 Brainstorming

 Free – writing

 Clustering

 Branching

Ede (2001) lists below are some of the most common types of prewriting
strategies to explore initial ideas about a subject:
 Free – writing

 Tagmemics (Particle, Wave, Field)

 Brainstorming

 Journalistic technique

 Clustering

 Outlining

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Starkey (2004) points out that the six prewriting strategies explained below may
be used both to generate new ideas and to clarify those students-writers already have.
Some strategies are better suited to a longer writing process while others may be
adapted for when students have just a short period of time to complete a writing topic.
 Brainstorming/Listing

 Free-writing

 Reading good writing

 Outlining

 Questions

 Concept Mapping

Cameron (2008), on the other hand, maintains that in order to write effectively,
students should use the following strategies:
 Listing:

 Clustering

 Free-writing

 Categorizing

 Talking about the topic
Process writing, in fact, requires a different approach to the design of
instructional activities. The activities need to fulfill functional requirements and to
embrace the different stages observed in the writing process. They may focus on the
prewriting/rehearsing/revising phase. To help student-writers develop ideas, generate
plans, serve initial stimulus for writing and provide motivation, Lahl (2008)
recommends that specific strategies below can be found effectively helpful.
 Brainstorming

 Clustering/Mind mapping

 Journaling

 Free-writing

 Questions-Asking

 Outlining

Some of the crucial prewriting strategies are significantly advantageous in

provoking thought, generating information and stimulating background knowledge.
Baroudy (2008) suggests that the following prewriting strategies are very useful for
students at the prewriting stage:


Cubing

 Clustering

 Brainstorming



Free writing

 Looping

 List writing /scratch outline



Journal keeping

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It can be seen that different writers offer different strategies. But a closer look at
them will show that they have things in common. What they share will be presented in
the following pages.
4.1. Free writing

Cameron (2008) says that free-writing can be a good way to explore a topic.
Students need many sheets of paper and a timer. To begin, they write a topic at the top
of a page, and for 5 minutes write without stopping. They do not worry about spelling,
grammar, or punctuation, and do not stop to read what they have written or make any
corrections. If they reach a point where they can‟t think of anything to write, they still
do not stop. Instead, they can write the last thought over and over until they have
something else to write. At the end of the five minutes, they read over what they have
written and underline any parts they think have interesting ideas, or ideas that might be
useful to their paper. Then students write these in point form at the top of a new sheet
of paper, and then free-write again for another 5 minutes. What they will have at the
end of several free-writings will not be something that can be turned into an outline for
a paragraph.
In addition, Starkey (2004) said that when free writing, writers should never
stop to look back, to cross something out, to wonder how to spell something, to wonder
what word or thought to use, or to think about what they are doing. The only rule to
follow in free writing is simply not to stop writing.
Similarly, Fletcher (1996) said that free writing is simply the practice of writing
whatever comes into writers‟ head without stopping to judge the output. To begin,
record whatever is going through their mind at the moment, without worrying about
grammar, spelling, organization or even making basic sense.
Furthermore, Baroudy (2008) said that free writing is a tool which writers use
simply to get their ideas out onto paper. The point is not to write a full-blown draft, but
just to focus attention on the topic and let what ideas come, come. There is no need at

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this point to over-think anything that students write down, but rather, just keep writing.
Like other prewriting techniques, free writing asks students to focus on ideas, not
grammatical or mechanical correctness (spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, etc.).

All the three writers agreed that free writing is a writing technique in which the
writers get their ideas out onto paper without stopping to judge the output or without
regarding to spelling, grammar, or topic. They only have to write all the ideas come
from their minds or they write freely and unconsciously

(Dorothy E. Zemach and Carlos Islaln, 2006:37)
4.2. Listing/brainstorming
In brainstorming, the writer creates a "storm" of ideas, not passing judgment on
any of them or censoring any idea that comes to mind, no matter how apparently
absurd it is. Many teachers use graphics to help students organize thinking. These are
called mind mapping or thinking maps, webs, fishbone maps or graphic organizers,
they have proved to be particularly effective at increasing students‟ understanding and
retention of information. Perhaps this is because these visual devices make it possible
to see connections between aspects of the information that are not obvious in a linear
form, such as outline or a narrative. The structure of these frameworks resembles the
structure used by the brain to organize information. Remember that the various aspects
of a memory, or of a learned fact, are not stored in a single, specific location in the
brain, but are stored in networks. Images are stored in the visual cortex, sounds in the

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auditory cortex and so forth. This may be why visually mapping information has
proved productive for enhancing students‟ storage and retention of information: It
mirrors the structure used by the brain. These organizers have a number of uses. They
can be used during prewriting to help students brainstorm aspects of a topic they might
include in their composition (Wolfe, 2001). When they recall how powerful visuals are
storing and recalling information process it is not surprising that they play a role in
many visual organizers used such as mind maps. By the time the students are ready to
write, they are much more likely to really understand the ideas and are much better

prepared and motivated to write through process writing
On the other hand, Wells (2009) divides braining into 2 types: ideas map and
idea list:
Brainstorming Method 1: Idea Map: Drawing a map of your ideas is helpful in
many ways. The center of the map is a circle with main idea. Then the supporting ideas
are around the circle.

(Wells, 2009)
Brainstorming Method 2: Idea List: The top of your list is the topic. Then, list the ideas
in the order that they come. Writers can use many lists to find supporting points for
each main idea.
Topic: Ideas of brainstorming done on teenage rebellion
 teenage rebellion – cause of:

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 parental absence

 misunderstanding with family members

 money problems

 confusion at physical changes taking place

 no one to turn to
 approaches – to address teenage rebellion
 availability of parents

 family counseling

 teaching survival tips



sex education

4.3. Clustering/mind mapping
According to the website: clustering is defined
as a technique that allows writers to map out their thoughts and connect them visually.
By beginning with a general subject written in the center of a blank page, writers can
branch out into subtopics, and from the subtopics into supporting details. Connect each
word or phrase to related items by drawing arrows between them, and soon writers will
have a topical map of their entire writing project. Clustering is an ideal prewriting
method for situations with time constraints, such as timed writing assignments.
On other hands, Cameron (2008) suggested the following definition of
clustering: “Clustering is the process in which writers take their main subject idea and
draw a circle around it. Then, they draw lines out from the circle connecting topics that
relate to the main subject in the circle.”
There are many definition of clustering given by many experts but after a long
time researching, I found that David Owen (2009) has given the most sufficient
meaning of clustering when he described detailed steps to make a cluster: clustering
also known as the Bubble diagram, the mind map or webbing. This method of
prewriting performs the same function as listing, but in a visual/ schematic form. The
writer places the topic in the middle of page; draw a circle around it and then branches
off from this central idea by producing the sub-topics, tangential ideas, tentative
concept and the like. As clusters radiate further from the center, ideas become more
specific. In addition to illustrating relationship between ideas, the clustering method is

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an effective way to narrow the scope of a topic. Thus, in refining the focus of the topic,
the writer will begin to notice how these random associations form part of a larger
design; in other words, some sort of logical pattern should emerge from the seemingly
in choate mass of circle in the paper.

(David Owen, 2009)
4.4. Branching
According to Fletcher (1996) defines branching in a different way: Branching is
the same thing as mind-mapping, but starting at the top of the page and working
downwards in what looks like an upside-down family tree.
On the other hand, David Owen (2009), branching is a similar to clustering
except that it is a bit more structured. Key ideas are written down and circled or boxed,
usually at the top of the page, with complementary ideas branching off of the main
ideas.
Vividly, two authors have different opinions about branching. Nevertheless,
both of them have a common with position which branching should be placed and its
significance.
As far as many researchers pointed, branching plays an important role in prewriting because students know just how frustrating it can be to try to guess what they

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are going to write. Additionally, that is a good map for them to look again above and
see how naturally each level corresponds to sections, headers and paragraphs.

(David Owen, 2009)
4.5. Outlining
As can be seen from other studies on this topic, writers have a common opinion

that outlining is giving main ideas in the outline, but their ways of giving definition are
not same.
According to Starkey (2004), outlining is more structured than free writing or
clustering. As with clustering, outlining allowed you to bring your ideas together into
specific subtopics and details. Using bullet points or letters and numbers, write your
subtopics flush with the margin, and indented under each one, write your supporting
details. With the same view, Ede (2001) agreed that outlining is a way of writing down
the first sentence of every paragraph you think you might write.
According to Lahl (2008), an outline is a sequential list of the main ideas that a
writer plans to incorporate in a composition, essay, book or other written text. Roman
numerals assigned to each main idea correlate with the number of chapters in a book or
with the number of paragraphs in an essay.
In general, outlining plays an important role in writing; it will help writers as
well as readers understand writers‟ opinion easier and faster.

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