Cubing is a pre-writing and revision strategy that can help students generate new ideas and develop more thoughtful essays. The cubing method gets its name because it involves categorizing ideas and questions about a topic into six sides or perspectives that form an imaginary cube. By systematically exploring different angles of a topic using cubing prompts, students gain a deeper understanding of the material that can strengthen the quality and depth of their essays.
The six sides of the cube typically represent the following perspectives that students explore through questions:
Description – What is it? What are its main features or characteristics?
Comparison – How is it similar to or different from…?
Association – What does it make you think of? What associations or connections come to mind?
Analysis – What are the parts or components? How does it work? What is the function or purpose?
Attributes – What are its qualities? What adjectives describe it?
Questions – What questions does it raise? What issues are raised? What more do you need to know or understand?
Teachers introduce cubing by having students select a topic or object to cube. Students then thoroughly brainstorm responses to prompting questions for each side of the cube. For example, if a student’s chosen topic was the city of New York, for the description side they would answer questions like “What are the defining features of New York City?” and “What makes New York unique compared to other cities?” Exploring multiple sides helps uncover deeper layers of understanding that may provide fodder for fresh thesis ideas and aspects to analyze in an essay. Students’ completed cubes can serve as rich pre-writing plans to draw from.
Cubing can be particularly effective during essay drafting and revision phases. Students can revisit their cube and consider adding, developing, or modifying parts of their draft based on underdeveloped or new perspectives that emerged from cubing. For instance, in a rough draft analysis of a short story, cubing may reveal the student overlooked exploring symbolism or motifs as an attribute. Or in comparing two historical events, additional associations outside their original understanding could suggest another avenue to analyze influence or impact.
Even after an essay is complete, cubing provides a framework for self-editing. Students can check that their essay meaningfully addressed perspectives from each side of the cube. Looking for gaps can prompt identifying areas needing strengthened support, examples, or depth. Cubing also encourages ensuring a balanced coverage of sides to achieve a well-rounded discussion. For a comparative history essay comparing the American and French Revolutions, cubing in revision may reveal giving short shrift to analyzing distinct attributes between the two events.
Some specific ways teachers guide students to apply cubing methods include:
Having pairs or small groups jointly cube a topic to get diverse perspectives before individual essay drafting.
Providing prompting questions for each cube side tailored to specific assignments, like a prompt for analyzing main functions for a descriptive text’s “Analysis” side.
Assigning one cube side for students to focus drafting the introduction on, such as formulating a “Questions” introduction around issues raised.
During peer review, having students evaluate if their partner’s essay sufficiently addressed each cube perspective.
In self-editing, prompting using a blank cube to reflect where an essay could expand a perspective mentioned but needing more thorough coverage.
Teachers also emphasize cubing is flexible and an ongoing process – students’ understanding will evolve and so may the content and focus of different cube sides. Overall, cubing cultivates important critical thinking habits for exploring multifaceted topics. When integrated into the writing process, it strengthens essays through generating new ideas, catching gaps, and achieving more comprehensive coverage that considers issues from various worthwhile angles.