Freewriting: making your teaching more writing intensive and making writing about learning and

thinking

What is freewriting?

Freewriting is a tool or strategy that can be used by anyone – lecturers, tutors or students – and for
a range of purposes. Essentially, the purpose of freewriting is to unlock creativity and ideas in a low-
stakes, not-for-marks writing task that is specifically timed and framed. For example, if you are trying
to write a paper for publication and you have done some reading and have lots of ideas but are not
sure where to start with the writing, set yourself a freewriting task. Choose an aspect of your paper’s
topic that you would like to make some notes on, and write for five minutes. The only real rule is
that your pen should not stop writing for the whole of the five minutes. Don’t concern yourself with
writing in ‘perfect’ grammar or even in full sentences. Write the ideas down in whatever form they
emerge and don’t stop yourself until time is up. Then read what you have written and begin to work
out for yourself which ideas are worth keeping and which are not, and you can expand and develop
your paper from there.

Freewriting is low-stakes, which means it should only be used as an exercise for learning and
thinking, rather than a task for marks. Attaching marks to freewrites tends to defeat their purpose of
being exploratory and concerned with the free flow of ideas and thoughts rather than perfectly
grammatical sentences and paragraphs.

Key to a successful freewriting session are the following ingredients:

 A set amount of time – 3 or 5 or 7 minutes, but longer tends to be too long

How can it be used in teaching and learning?

Freewriting can be a valuable tool to use with students, as it can be used to encourage them to write
frequently in lectures and tutorials, and outside of them; to promote the use of writing as a method
of discovering what they know and think, and where their gaps are; to make writing in an academic
setting less pressured, and more relaxed and even enjoyable, which will hopefully lead to less stress
around their more high-stakes writing assignments.

Freewriting can be used in relation to revision and recall of lectures; to promote and activate critical
thinking and questioning; and to work through essay writing and assignment writing tasks.
Here are some ideas of how to use freewriting in your lectures or tutorials:

Idea 1: freewriting to promote revision and basic recall of lecture topics

At the end of a lecture, or after a certain topic has been lectured and discussed, ask your
students to get out their pens or pencils and a piece of paper and pose a question on the board
related to the topic, like ‘what did you understand about X?’ or ‘what are the three main points
we have just discussed in relation to topic X?’. Ask them to write for 3 or 5 minutes, explaining
that this task is about them writing down what they think and remember in whatever order it
comes out and without worrying about sentences or grammar. Time them and stop them when
time is up. Ask them to share their ideas with a neighbour for a few minutes and then ask the
class for feedback. This task promotes your students’ own writing, prompts not only memory
and revision of the lecture topic, but also thinking about their response to it, and promotes peer
support and interaction. It also gives you feedback on where there may be gaps you could
address in further classes.

Idea 2: freewriting to promote critical thinking and reflection

Set your students a freewrite task in class, at the end of a lecture topic, or at a similar point when
they will be able to think more reflectively or critically about what they have been learning. The
topic should ask them to think or reflect in some way. For example, they could be asked to write
down at least three questions they have thought of while they have been learning the topic or
that occur to them thinking about the topic – you could model a couple as examples on the
board before they start. Or, you could ask them to write for five minutes on whether they agree
or disagree with an aspect of the topic if the content lends itself to that sort of question, and ask
them to say why or why not using what they have learnt in class. Ask them to write for 5
minutes, time them and stop them when time is up. You can either take in their writing and read
a selection – not for marks but for information – and students can be asked to write
anonymously so that their writing cannot be judged. This will give you useful information on how
much they understand and what they think about what they have been learning. You can
alternatively ask them to share their thoughts with peers and give collective feedback in class.

Idea 3: freewriting as essay preparation (1)

If you have set an essay or assignment that students have to write, you can use freewriting at
various points to help your students think about and write about aspects of the topic.
Freewriting here can be so useful in terms of helping them to analyse and explore the topic and
find ideas for research and reading.

For example: go through the essay topic in class, and discuss the topic with them, breaking it
down and explaining your expectations of their assignments. Then set them a five minute
freewrite on one aspect of the task. Ask them to write anything and everything they can think of
related to that mini-topic in whatever order it comes out. Then get them to pair off or work in
small groups, sharing their ideas for a few minutes and then ask for collective feedback. This
could further stimulate discussion on the essay topic, and also help them to see where they can
find their keywords for their reading and research.
 Idea 4: freewriting as essay preparation (2)

If you have set an essay or assignment that students have to write, you can use freewriting to
help your students think about and write about aspects of the topic. Freewriting here can be
useful in helping students to write about and think about what they have done their research
and reading on.

For example: Ask your students to write for 5 minutes on what they have read and learnt
about a mini-topic or sub-topic related to the overall essay topic. You could ask them to do
one freewrite or two freewrites on two linked mini or sub topics. Ask them to write down
everything they can think of from what they have been reading and researching on the topic in
5 minutes. However, unlike part 1 of this idea, it may not be helpful to just leave them here as
they may be writing down ideas that show they have done poor or misguided research. The
next step of an exercise like this would be to get them to swop their ideas with a neighbour
and scaffold a process of peer feedback. This can be quite simple: ask them to respond to their
partners based on whether the ideas are linked to the topic or not, and whether what their
partner has written makes sense. Get them to ask each other about where they think these
ideas could fit into the overall topic, and what plan they have for their essays. Again, you could
take in their freewrites if they are anonymous and read a selection for feedback on where they
are, or you could walk around and listen to some of the discussions, and offer advice if
needed, but this would also give you a sense of what students are readings and thinking.

There are many ways in which freewriting can be used in large and small lecture halls, as well as in
tutorials. The most important things to remember when using freewriting is that the exercises need
to be timed and focused, students must use all of the time for writing and must be encouraged to do
so as freely as possible, and the exercises must be low-stakes and aimed at learning, thinking and
development, and not at assessment.

Useful references

Elbow, Peter. 2000. Everyone Can Write: Essays Towards A Hopeful Theory Of Writing And Teaching
Writing. Oxford: OUP.

Elbow, Peter. 1998. Writing With Power: Techniques For Mastering The Writing Process. Second
edition. Oxford: OUP.

Elbow, Peter. 1998. Writing Without Teachers. Second edition. Oxford: OUP.

Elbow, Peter. 1989. Toward A Phenomenology Of Freewriting, Journal of Basic Writing, 8: 2, 42-71.

Fox, Deborah and Charles Suhor. 1986. ERIC/RCS Report: Limitations of Free Writing, The English
Journal , 75: 8, 34-36.

Hinkle, Steve and Ann Hinkle. 1990. An Experimental Comparison of the Effects of Focused
Freewriting and Other Study Strategies on Lecture Comprehension, Teaching of Psychology,
February 17: 1, 31-35. doi: 10.1207/s15328023top1701_7.