Meet the Best Ways to Brainstorm Your College Essay

You’ve listened to your professor’s lectures, taken all notes, and discussed all details of the project with your tutor. You’ve managed to set up your workspace at home to make it as inspiring and possible, you have a bottle of water at hand to stay hydrated, and some healthy snacks to fuel your brain. You also know how to write a high-quality essay for college, and you don’t even need to hire a writer for an essay. You know exactly what to do. But the problem is that you don’t find yourself writing it. You’re just staring at the blank page and a blinking curser. Perhaps, it’s writer’s block that prevents you from crafting that paper. If it’s an admission essay that you have to accomplish, it may be caused by the anxiety of working on a project that is going to define your future. In this article, we have listed some of the fun ways to brainstorm for college and university essays.

Word Storm

This technique requires you to create groups of word clouds in order to be able to visualize this or that idea. This will fuel up the process of creative writing and help you overcome the deadlock. Use a pen and paper or, if possible, a marker and a whiteboard. Write down a simple word in the middle of your board (choose the one that is the most related to your topic). Now make sure to come up with all possible associations that pop up in your head as you think of the main word. Finally, when you clearly see some connection between the words, ensure to group them together.

Comparison

List all the similarities, contrasts, analogies, and oppositions. For instance, if you’re writing an essay about virtual classrooms, you might start with a contrast between virtual and in-person classes. When you make sure to focus on that contrast, you will have an opportunity to see both the pros and cons of the issue more clearly. Indeed, virtual classes have many cons (lack of personal communication, technology issues, sense of isolation, etc.). If you keep them in mind, you will have a better opportunity to specify why online classes still ensure an interesting learning journey for students.

Figure Storming

This brainstorming method is the other technique that works well in a group. You all have to think of an individual from history that every member of your group knows. Your task here is to figure out what that individual would do to handle the problem that you currently have. The best thing about figure storming is that you all start exploring different perspectives in a new, unusual way.

Consider What Interests You

You will find it easier to accomplish a college essay if you ensure to write about something that you have some personal interest in. If your professor provides you with a chance to choose subjects that you’d like to explore, it is important to take this opportunity to do n in-depth research of the topic that you find particularly interesting. If you have already worked on coursework that you found interesting, think back on its topic to raise more questions in your current project.

Reading

While you may think that reading doesn’t help when it comes to brainstorming, it can actually jumpstart the process. When you’re done with two or three paragraphs of your paper, ensure to copy them and write down your point of view on it. If you’re stuck in the middle of the process, this simple technique may help you either get started or keep on writing.

Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is the other method to organize your ideas in an essay. It works well for most college students since it emphasizes the visual elements. Ensure to begin with one idea or word and imagine that some other idea or word is linked with it just like branches of a tree. It is recommended to use mind mapping when you have to deal with complex paper topics that you have to break down into bite-size steps to ease the process.

Group Brain Writing

If you don’t think that you can cope with the brainstorming stage on your own, it’s time to get a partner. Make sure to gather two or more fellow students online and discuss the topic via Zoom. Each member of your virtual group will write one idea on an index card or piece of paper. Then you will show your cards and see what kind of associations you all have. Feel free to add improvements or comments to the ideas of each other. When every member of the group is ready with the comments, you will collect all the ideas and write them on your piece of paper.

Believe it or not, but location plays a crucial role when it comes to brainstorming. Trying to come up with some juicy ideas when your cousin watches TV right next to you is not a good idea. However, you might consider listening to some of your favorite songs or sit in a quiet café. Think about where you seem to find most of your inspiration, and pick the place where you know you will be 100% productive.

Like it or not, brainstorming is a fundamental part of the process of writing a supreme quality essay, book review, research paper, or any other academic piece of writing. It serves as a solid basis from which you have to build your essay. All the techniques mentioned above will facilitate the creative process and help you produce a piece of writing that will stand out clearly against the rest of the stories.