Brainstorming
Now we begin the process of writing out your persuasive argument. The first step in this process comes right after you know your goal. This step is known as brainstorming. While brainstorming is primarily done in groups, in this lesson, we will look at brainstorming in an individual setting.
Individual brainstorming is the method by which you brainstorm on a solitary basis. This type of brainstorming is used extensively in free writing and speaking, word association, and the spider web concept of brainstorming, which is when you diagram your thoughts. Studies have actually found that individual brainstorming is superior to that of group brainstorming, especially when writing. This is why it is so popular and effective for writing persuasive arguments.
Brainstorming has four primary rules that you should follow:
- You should always focus on quality. In brainstorming, there is the concept of quantity creating quality. This means that the more ideas you generate, the greater the chance that you will come up with a quality idea. It is the law of averages. Therefore, once you have created your list of ideas, you should expand only on the quality ones.
- You should withhold criticism of your ideas because some actually may be good ideas, but you don't realize their potential. Criticizing those ideas will only discourage you. When you don't criticize your ideas, you are much more likely to create out of the box ideas that could prove to be highly effective.
- You should also look at unusual and out of the box ideas as something that are most welcome in your list of ideas. With unusual ideas for your persuasive argument, you are generating new ways to look at things that can possibly create better solutions.
- You should also take various ideas and improve on them and combine them. You can take several good ideas and put them together so you can create one very good idea. This is often suggested in the concept of 1+1 = 3, which builds ideas by association.
When you are ready to brainstorm, you should have a pen and a piece of paper in front of you. At the top of the paper, write the goal you have in mind. Then, start writing down ideas of how you will achieve the goal of convincing other people to agree with you. You don't have to worry about facts and figures in this case, or how the people are going to respond to your points. Instead, just focus on the ideas and let them flow out of you in a stream of creative energy.
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