Pre-Writing I've Used In The Past

Last year I was in a ap Literature class, so we had to write complete essays in less than 40 minutes, which was quite stressful! Because of that I have don't have a lot of experience with pre-writing, because the only pre-writing I would ever do is jotting down some quick notes before beginning my essay. Still, I think that basic outline method is still very helpful to me when preparing for a whole essay. I start by listing the main sections of my essay: Intro, Thesis, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusion. Then I fill each one of these sections with a few notes. Of course, if my essay is a narrative, I probably don't have to be so technical, but it still helps me organize my thoughts. I have also used the 'idea web' method in the past when I have been assigned an essay that doesn't have to be written immediately. I think this can be a great method if you have a lot of different points to make or things to mention throughout your essay. I find that if you just start writing, you usually forget important details and when you try to add them in afterwards, your paper ends up sounding forced. So pre-writing has been very helpful to me in the past, even though what I have done is very brief!