“Digital Invention: A Repository of Online Resources for College Composition Instruction”
by Mary K. Stewart | Xchanges 10.2/11.1
Teaching Invention
The pages in this section link to and explain available online resources that can help you tailor invention activities to your specific students and delivery format.
Classical Invention Resources
To teach classical invention, I suggest four strategies: Aristotle’s topoi, stasis theory, questions of audience and purpose, and conducting outside research.
| Strategy | Definition | Recommended Websites |
|---|---|---|
| Stasis Theory | The writer asks questions to determine facts, meaning, seriousness, and plan of action to find a starting point for the argument. | Purdue, Prewriting Questions Purdue, Stasis Introduction |
| Classical Topics | The writer asks questions of definition, comparison, relationship, testimony, and circumstance to explore a topic. | Dartmouth, Aristotle’s Topoi Purdue, Prewriting Questions |
| Questions of Purpose and Audience | The writer identifies purpose and audience and uses that information to generate ideas / narrow the topic. | Purdue, Prewriting Questions CSU, Understanding Purpose |
| Conducting Outside Research | The writer explores existing information and uses that context to generate ideas. | Chapel Hill, Dictionaries & Encyclopedias CSU, How to Find a Topic |
Prewriting Resources
I recommend the following prewriting strategies: freewriting/looping, discovery draft, talk into a tape recorder, brainstorming, journaling, and mapping.
| Strategy | Definition | Recommended Websites |
|---|---|---|
| Freewriting/Looping | The writer writes or types non-stop for 10-15 minutes; looping is starting a new freewrite based on a word or phrase in a previous freewrite. | Paradigm, Freewriting Dartmouth, Informal Strategies |
| Brainstorming | The writer informally lists or jots down ideas. | Dartmouth, Informal Strategies Chapel Hill, Listing/Bulleting |
| Mapping | In this visual prewriting strategy, the writer uses associative free thinking and articulates the relationship between ideas through drawing. | Chapel Hill, Clustering/Mapping/Webbing |
Tagmemic Invention Resources
I recommend three tagmemic invention strategies: tagmemics, cubing, and journalistic questions.
| Strategy | Definition | Recommended Websites |
|---|---|---|
| Tagmemics | The writer looks at the topic from three perspectives — particle, wave, and part of field. | Dartmouth, Tagmemics Purdue, Prewriting Questions |
| Cubing | The writer describes, compares, associates, analyzes, applies, and argues for/against the topic. | Chapel Hill, Cubing |
| Journalistic Questions | The writer asks Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? So What? | Chapel Hill, Journalistic Questions Purdue, Prewriting Questions |
For additional resources on thesis development, audience, the writing process, writer’s block, and procrastination, please see the full original webtext.