3. Stress the “pre-writing” process.
“Pre-writing” is the process through which a writer asks questions of the material and devises (or
brainstorms) strategies for analyzing the material. You might ask the students to summarize a particular
reader’s argument or describe a debate within the scholarship or formulate a thesis or draft a compelling
introduction to a topic. Pre-writing is a great way to overcome writer’s anxiety and get ideas flowing.