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Prewriting Paragraphs

What is the prewriting stage?
The prewriting stage is when you think carefully and organize your ideas for your paragraph before you begin writing.

Six Prewriting Steps
1. Think carefully about what you are going to write.
Ask yourself the following questions:

What question am I going to answer in this paragraph or essay?

How can I best answer this question?

What is the most important part of my answer?

How can I make an introductory sentence (or thesis statement) from the most important part of my answer?

What facts or ideas can I use to support my introductory sentence?

How can I make this paragraph or essay interesting?

Do I need more facts on this topic?

Where can I find more facts on this topic?

2. Get out some paper.
Write out some answers to the above questions. Don't spend a lot of time doing this; just make a few notes to help you remember why and how you are going to write your paragraph or essay.

3. Gather some facts related to your paragraph or essay topic.
Look for and write down facts that will help you to answer your question. Timesaving hint: make sure the facts you are writing are related to the exact question you are going to answer in your paragraph or essay.

4. Add some new ideas.
Ask yourself these questions:

What else do I want to say about this topic?

Why should people be interested in this topic?

Why is this topic important?

5. Decide on the main idea of your paragraph or essay.
Choose the MOST IMPORTANT point you are going to present. If you cannot decide which point is the most important, just choose one point and stick to it throughout your paragraph or essay.

6. Organize your facts and ideas in a way that develops your main idea.
Once you have chosen the most important point of your paragraph or essay, you must find the best way to tell your reader about it.

Follow these steps:

Look at the facts you have written.

Look at your own ideas on the topic.

Decide which facts and ideas will best support the main idea of your paragraph.

Once you have chosen the facts and ideas you plan to use, ask yourself which order to put them in the paragraph. Write down your own note set that you can use to guide yourself as you write your paragraph or essay.