ABSTRACT
Language-based and referent-based strategies are the two most fundamental approaches to writing. All writing engages with one of them, and most writing includes a combination. Here the authors explore them separately to show how each can be a powerful tool in student's writing. Language-based strategies encourage the reader to think in ways which are nonlinear, and to make unconscious connections. They coax the associative modes of thinking which are pivotal to creative endeavour. These exercises are fun to do, they play games with language, but they can also produce challenging and unusual texts. The objective of the exercises, however, is not to encourage you to write traditional rhymed verse. This type of writing now seems somewhat anachronistic because it was mainly predominant in pre-twentieth century poetry, though it is retained in some popular forms such as rap.
