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Collecting Details
A bouquet is made up of many colorful flowers, and a piece of writing is made up of many wonderful details. What ideas do you want to put in your thought bouquet?
© Thoughtful Learning 2025
Gathering Details
Use these strategies to collect details for your writing:
- Read books, magazines, news stories, letters, poems, and much more!
- Interview people who know about your topic. (See“Learning to Interview,”on pages 280–283.)
- Brainstorm ideas about what you read, hear, and learn. See the next page for several ways to brainstorm new thoughts and organize them for writing!
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Organizing Details
Gather strange, beautiful, and colorful ideas just like flowers. Then organize them in a pretty bunch.
- Make a list. Write a topic at the top of on a page. Underneath, list whatever ideas come to mind. Then reorganize your ideas, putting details in the best order.
- Ask yourself the 5 W’s. Ask Who? What? When? Where? and Why? about your topic. Answer these questions.
- Create a mind map. Write your big idea in the middle of a page. All around it, write other ideas, connecting them to the big idea. Then focus on one of your new thoughts and connect more details around it. A cluster, or mind map, is a picture of what you think. (See page 288 for a cluster.)
- Fill out a collection sheet. Pour your thoughts into the boxes in a collection sheet or gathering grid. You’ll be amazed at all your ideas! (See page 162 for a sample grid.)
