The Brainstorming Blueprint: Plan Before You Write

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Before you jump into writing an essay, you need a plan.

That’s where brainstorming comes in. It helps you gather ideas, organize your thoughts, and pick the best topic before you even start writing.

Think of brainstorming like being a detective. You need to ask questions, follow clues, and dig up interesting facts before you solve the case—your research paper!

Brainstorming is important because it helps you do the following.

Focus on a topic that interests you.

Come up with lots of ideas quickly.

Pick the best idea to research.

Make writing your essay easier and more fun.

Break it down into three simple steps.

Step 1: Pick a Topic

Think about something you’re curious about. It could be an animal, a famous person, a sport, or even your favorite food.

Write that topic in the center of a piece of paper and draw a circle around it.

Step 2: Ask Questions

Now, pretend you’re a detective investigating your topic.

• What do you not know about it?

Write down questions you want answers to, like the following.

If your topic is dolphins, you might ask how dolphins communicate or what they eat.

If your topic is volcanoes, you might wonder how they erupt or where the biggest volcanoes are.

Draw lines from your topic circle and write each question in its own smaller circle. This creates a mind map, a picture of all your ideas connected together.

Step 3: Choose the Best Question

Look at your mind map and pick the question that interests you the most. That’s the one you’ll research!

• Ready to put your brainstorming skills into action?

Keep going to the next section!