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Mapping & Clustering
Making A Map To Your Destination
A CRITICAL first step in the writing process is the making of a map to guide you through the task, thereby AFFORDING your readers a better chance of understanding where you are taking them and what you are trying to say. Without this map, a text can make the readers feel like we've been dropped into the middle of a strange big city without the stars or people to ask for help. If the writer hasn't drawn a clear map before the text is written, there's a good chance that the reader will be lost because there is usually no opportunity, when we write, for the reader to ask questions about what we've written.
Maps come in several styles, and the one you select will depend on your needs as the writer and the goals for the text. There are maps and clusters and webs of various kinds. We're going to briefly introduce you to all of these and then encourage you to play with them until you find a style which best suits your needs.
When you "map," "cluster," or "web," you are creating a set of INTERLACING bubbles to identify the ideas or topics you are going to address. Here is one student's cluster for her essay which describes a time when she was made to feel "stupid":
In the center she has written a short phrase - A time when I was made to feel stupid - that summarizes the general direction for her essay. This center bubble can contain the GIST of a writing assignment, your central question or topic, or--if you have no idea where you are going--simply a question mark.
Surrounding this center bubble are other bubbles that connect to her central idea. When you develop a cluster the idea is to let loose, come up with any example or topic related to that center bubble. When you make a cluster, try not to immediately DISCOUNT any possibility. Try to approach the cluster-making process much like the freewriting process and then worry later about which bubbles you will actually develop for your essay.
In this case, the student has developed sub-bubbles that identify Why feeling stupid hurts; and Emotions felt; and How did I feel?; and English class. Then, for each of these sub-bubbles, she has added sub-sub-bubbles which break these topics down into even smaller units. To the bubble "How did I feel?" for example, she has attached bubbles for Stupid, Embarrassed and Humiliated.
A cluster allows you to see all of the ideas for your essay at once. You can see and study the INTERRELATEDNESS of your ideas and begin to imagine an order for them before you write your essay. It is even possible to edit your cluster in the same manner as your freewriting. When you've roughed out your cluster, you can pull back, take a GANDER, and then add new bubbles or DELETE content bubbles which you don't want to include. (Note in the example that she has crossed out the Sad bubble connected to Emotions felt.) Then you can study your cluster and number the bubbles in the order you intend to develop them in your essay. In the example, she has decided to describe the event first (English Class), then describe how she felt (How did I feel?) followed by descriptions of the Emotions felt, and to conclude with a larger discussion of why these situations are painful (Why feeling stupid hurts). By numbering her bubbles in this way, she has created an outline for her essay.
Let's look at another cluster, designed this time to guide the student through an essay that examines his readiness for college. Note that this one is much more complex than the first one. Study the bubbles and think about what recommendations you would make for deletions and additions:
Note that each of the bubbles has received a number that represents its order in the essay. According to this cluster, the student will begin by telling us that learning skills are more important than degree. This will be followed by a discussion of how his education will help in everything I do - work...personal relationships. Notice, too, that he has numbered these bubbles 1A and 1B respectively, and that several of his other bubble areas are broken down in this way. Any system will do as long as you can make sense of it when it comes time to write.
Finally, note the crossed-out bubbles in the central-right section of the cluster. After pulling back and examining his cluster, the student has decided that these thoughts are COLLATERAL to what he is trying to say in this essay.
When your cluster becomes UNWIELDY, complicated, or too cluttered for you to organize, it often helps to convert the cluster into an outline. If you need to, simply write down the contents of the bubbles in list form on a separate piece of paper and THEN number the items in the order you wish to develop them.
TRY ANOTHER PREWRITING METHOD...
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