Invention is one of the prewriting techniques used in writing essays. It refers to the creation of new ideas in relation to the question given or the use of old ideas to come up with new ideas in writing. This is a very important strategy as it encourages critical thinking and creativity in essay writing. Many students, who write compositions, prefer this prewriting technique because apart from encouraging critical thinking, it also enables them to write about subjects that are unique and intriguing.
Hence, the participation of old ideas in prewriting entails the consideration of other writers’ ideas towards the subject to be written. The writer formulates new ideas, by taking the old ideas and using them together with his own ideas, creating an entirely new idea. As much as some might consider this as plagiarism, it is not, because the writer does not copyright other people’s ideas but rather use them to formulate his own ideas.
In writing, there are several stages that are involved in order to come up with a well written essay. These stages make up the writing process and provide a framework for writing an essay. The stages include; prewriting, writing, revising, editing and publishing. Under each stage, there are several sub stages and they all ensure the essay written is perfect. In this case, the prewriting stage is the first stage in the writing process.
Therefore, it refers to the process of coming up with an idea/ideas in writing through a variety of methods such as invention, brainstorming and free writing. These methods of prewriting provide a ground for the writer to know what idea/ideas to explore in his writing. Depending on one’s choice, any of the methods mentioned above would do well in the deciding of the appropriate idea to include in writing.
Brainstorming involves the exploration of ideas that come up in relation to one’s initial idea. In this case, the writer writes down a sentence, or a phrase then constructs other sentences that would help in the building of the initial and main idea.
Thus, the writer would use a variety of sentences then counter check the sentences to select the ideas that are in line with what he wants to write by leaving out those that are irrelevant. Under free writing, the writer writes down sentences in an open or focused manner. That is the writer does not decide on one idea from the word go but in a piece of paper, writes down many ideas then later on decides on one idea that suits his content.
Therefore, when inventing an idea, there are a few strategies that should be put in place. A brief invention involves a quick thought of an idea, written down then the writer comes up with other ideas that would support it. This can be made possible by involving prior ideas of other writers and the use of the computer can act as a good way of getting information.
Using this form of an invention is particularly helpful, as the writer finds it easy to come up with other ideas that would assist in building up the main idea. Pre-writing technique under the writing process is a skill that every writer should employ in writing and the invention strategy works well especially in terms of originality.