Conclusion

In this tutorial, we:

• Defined "heuristics" as "rule of thumb" strategies that can help you to generate ideas in the initial stages of working on a writing task.

• Discussed the importance of understanding your writing assignment.

• Identified three types of "unconscious" heuristic strategies (brainstorming, freewriting, and nutshelling), and four types of "conscious" heuristic strategies (Journalist's Questions, Aristotle's Topics, Tagmemics, and Synectics).

• Explored strategies for gathering ideas from readings, and for organizing rough notes.

• Examined the development of a specific thesis from a general topic.

If you are unclear on any of these areas, please use the navigation menu at the left to visit those sections for review.

Congratulations on completing the Pre-Writing Strategies online tutorial! We hope that it gave you some new ideas and techniques for tackling your next writing project. If you want to test your understanding of the tutorial, keep on going to the quiz!

Proceed to Take the Pre-Writing Strategies Quiz