Brainstorming is the process of generating as many ideas about the topic as you possibly can. All ideas which you can think of about the topic should be written down. Then, before you start writing, you should weed out or delete those which you think are not necessary to be part of the whole piece.

All writers getting stuck at times is well known. The sudden inability to put words on paper is every author's bogey. Doing this process may be the answer to what we call the "writer's block" or "mental block".

Are you always stuck somewhere when writing? Here are some tips in brainstorming that will get you going.

There are various ways to brainstorm. You can use mind mapping, bullet points, or column heading. Since Task 2 involves writing a discursive essay in which you will be presenting "for or against", "advantages or advantages", or "agree or disagree" arguments, it would be most appropriate to use the last one-the column heading which looks like this one below.

Topic: Parents should be told of the sex of their child. Do you AGREE or DISAGREE?

AGREE (FOR)

(1) - parents's right to know
- to prepare
- enhance parents bonding since they know what to call him/her
- to satisfy natural curiosity

DISAGREE (AGAINST)

(1)- lack of surprise element
- great disappointment
- might lose feeling if the sex is not the one the parents want
- threat of abortion

Generating ideas like these make your essay writing a lot easier. You could plan on how your arguments will be organized especially if you will be using the point by point way of destroying the other argument. In this way, you can easily point out which argument will break the other. You can simply number each point on the left, and then you give the same number to the point on the right side which will break the argument on the left.

Example: You assign number 1 to the first point (parents's right to know) in the left column. If you think the first point (lack of surprise element) in the right column would break the other argument, then same number should be assigned to this, and that is number 1.

Doing this makes your essay unified and coherent.