{"id":54,"date":"2022-04-28T19:00:25","date_gmt":"2022-04-28T19:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppcc5\/?post_type=chapter&p=54"},"modified":"2022-05-04T21:50:57","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T21:50:57","slug":"brainstorming-techniques","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppcc5\/chapter\/brainstorming-techniques\/","title":{"raw":"Brainstorming Techniques","rendered":"Brainstorming Techniques"},"content":{"raw":"
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Idea Mapping<\/strong><\/h1>\r\nprovided by University of Minnesota\r\n

Idea mapping<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0allows you to visualize your ideas on paper using circles, lines, and arrows. This technique is also known as clustering because ideas are broken down and clustered, or grouped together. Many writers like this method because the shapes show how the ideas relate or connect, and writers can find a focused topic from the connections mapped. Using idea mapping, you might discover interesting connections between topics that you had not thought of before.<\/p>\r\n

To create an idea map, start with your general topic in a circle in the center of a blank sheet of paper. Then write specific ideas around it and use lines or arrows to connect them together. Add and cluster as many ideas as you can think of.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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\"Mariah's<\/a><\/div>\r\nNotice Mariah\u2019s largest circle contains her general topic, mass media. Then, the general topic branches into two subtopics written in two smaller circles: television and radio. The subtopic television branches into even more specific topics: cable and DVDs. From there, Mariah drew more circles and wrote more specific ideas: high definition and digital recording from cable and Blu-ray from DVDs. The radio topic led Mariah to draw connections between music, downloads versus CDs, and, finally, piracy.\r\n\r\nFrom this idea map, Mariah saw she could consider narrowing the focus of her mass media topic to the more specific topic of music piracy.\r\n
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Journalistic Questions<\/h1>\r\nprovided by Writing Commons\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Question<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

<\/td>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
1. Who?<\/strong><\/td>\r\nWho is doing this?<\/td>\r\nWho will do this?<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
2.\u00a0 What?<\/strong><\/td>\r\nWhat did they do?<\/td>\r\nWhat was it for?<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
3. Where?<\/strong><\/td>\r\nWhere did they do it?<\/td>\r\nWhere is it going to happen?<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
4. Why?<\/strong><\/td>\r\nWhy are they doing this?<\/td>\r\nWhy are they doing it?<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
5. When?<\/strong><\/td>\r\nWhen is it happening?<\/td>\r\nWhen is it going to happen?<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
6. How?<\/strong><\/td>\r\nHow did they do it?<\/td>\r\nHow do they hope to do it?<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n
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<\/a>Clustering: Spider Maps<\/h1>\r\nprovided by Writing Commons\r\n\r\nUse visual brainstorming to develop and organize your ideas.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nCluster diagrams, spider maps, mind maps\u2013these terms are used interchangeably to describe the practice of\u00a0visually brainstorming<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0about a topic. Modern readers love cluster diagrams and spider maps because they enable readers to discern your purpose and organization in a moment.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nWhen Is Clustering\/Spider Mapping Useful?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nAs depicted below, writers use clustering to help sketch out ideas and suggest logical connections. In this way, writers use cluster diagrams and spider maps as an invention tool. When clustering, they do not impose an order on their thinking. Instead, after placing the idea in the center of the page, they then free-associate.\r\n
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Remembering that the goal is to generate ideas, make the drawing visually attractive, perhaps using color or a variety of geometric shapes and layout formats. Typical cluster and spider maps resemble the following:<\/div>\r\n