Brainstorming for Journal work

Braintorming is a very useful way to approach a journal project work. It is used when you are not sure what to write about. Brainstorming can also be used to guide the project in a certain direction when you know the journal topic that you wish to explore. It helps you to gather your thoughts and ideas before you begin the work. The end result of brainstorming should be lists of words or phrases that are somehow related to the topic. These lists may be helpful in the preliminary writing process.

Class Emerald did some brainstorming as they began their Religion journal work. The first step is to create a mind map of the topic. Here is a photo of the mind map they made.

This helped them explore the reasons why young people find it difficult to pray, and helped them organise the words and phrases into categories which then helped them formulate the questions for their survey.

Why brainstorm?
One person's idea may spark another person's thoughts that sparks another person's and may ultimately lead to a better answer than any one person would come up with on their own.

What are the advantages of brainstorming?
It encourages creative thinking.
Everyone has a chance to contribute.
Everyones ideas are accepted.
It makes everyone a part of the team.
It is exciting and easy to do.