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The Traits of Prewriting
So far in your prewriting, you’ve gathered many ideas and found a focus for them. Now you need to organize the details that support your focus.
■ Ideas
You have selected a meaningful topic, gathered information about it, and formed a focus.
■ Organization
You need to decide on the best arrangement of the details you have collected—a master plan that holds your ideas together.
Organizing Your Details
Use a list, a cluster, an outline, or some other graphic organizer to organize details. Find the best method of organization for your writing situation:
1. Match organization to the form of writing.
For example, if you are writing a personal narrative, you would naturally organize your writing chronologically or by time.