5 Brilliant Ways to Brainstorm Ideas for Your Essay

One of the most exciting and intimidating aspects of academic progress is the growing degree of freedom you have. By the time you reach college, you no longer receive ready-made topics to choose from but must come up with the titles yourself – even if within the guidelines. Brainstorming topics might be as big a challenge as writing the entire essay. To make this task easier for you, here are the Top 5 tips from PaperHelp rating. 

1. What would X say about it?

This little trick helps you to find a fresh approach and think outside of your own personal box. Look at the topic with someone else’s eyes: those of your classmates, your family member, a person from the past or the future, or someone from another country. What would they have to say on the matter? What would they find interesting? What would strike them as odd? This technique is great not only for brainstorming essay topics, but also for problem-solving, because it gives you a new perspective.

2. Come up with bad ideas

This may sound counterintuitive and silly, but it is quite helpful. Especially for the perfectionists that are often blocked by their fixation on writing the best possible essay. Think about the essay topic that deserves an instant “F”; think about what your teacher would hate. This little exercise relieves the pressure and unleashes your creativity. Try it and you will see that, among the terrible ideas, there are some fresh and unconventional ones, which have a potential for a great essay. 

3. Free-write for a set period

Skip the brainstorming bit and just start writing. Jot down anything that comes to your head when you think about the topic. For example, your essay must be about environmental protection. You might write something as silly and obvious as “Environment is where we live. It is our home. We wouldn’t throw garbage on the floor of our house, yet we dump it on the landfills, which I think is a bit hypocritical. Decent people don’t do that”. It’s okay. Don’t stop. Set a timer for 5-15 minutes and go on until the time is up. Among the rubbish, there’s bound to be a seed of a worthy idea.

4. Answer the question you care about

Dig down in your own concerns and fascinations. There must be something pertaining to the topic that annoys you, puzzles you, seems out of place, scares you – stirs any feelings in you. There must be a question you need to be answered. Why not answer it yourself? It doesn’t mean that your perspective should overturn the world of academia. The point here is that you will write about something you care about and this will ensure that your answer won’t be boring. After all, eliciting your personal reaction to the things you are studying is the whole point of essay writing.

5. Use your third idea

The principle behind this advice is simple: your first idea is the most obvious one. This is the kind of idea that anyone would come up with. Your second idea is something less obvious. Still, probably, it is quite common – that is what smarter people would come up with after some more thinking. Starting from your third, the ideas are increasingly more likely to reflect your unique approach, be original, suit your experiences and skills – that is, be entirely your own. While first ideas tend to be more or less safe and conventional, the successive ones are more likely to be outside-the-box. The application of this principle can be much broader than just writing. However, it is perfect for college essays, because your instructor is probably tired of hundreds of cookie-cutter essays and will appreciate fresh titles and interesting approaches.