Transcript Writing as a Process

Writing as a Process
Or, “From Blank Page to Finished
Product in a Few Simple Steps”
Staring at the blank page…
 Before
you write down a single
word, you need to
PREWRITE.
Prewriting
This is done before you begin to
write your masterpiece. It
includes:
Choosing the topic
 Figuring out your purpose for writing
 Considering the audience who will read your
writing
 Selecting a type or style (genre) of writing
you’re going to do

Prewriting = TPAG
(topic, purpose,
audience, genre)
Now What?
 Once
you know the kind of
writing you need to do, who
will read your writing, and what
you will be writing about, you
are ready to actually start
writing!
There are
basic steps when writing
The 5 Basic Steps of the
Writing Process:
1. Brainstorming
2. Organizing
3. Drafting
4. Reviewing
5. Publishing
1) Brainstorming
Write down every idea that is related to
your topic/purpose/audience/genre;
don’t worry about putting things in
order.
 You may need to do some
RESEARCH to gather information and
ideas
 You may want to use a GRAPHIC
ORGANIZER
Brainstorming =
Writing EVERYTHING
2) Organizing
 Once
you’ve spent a few minutes
writing down topic-related ideas,
you need to choose the best
ideas and put them in some kind
of order.
 An OUTLINE can be extremely
useful at this point.
Organizing =
Choosing your best
IDEAS
3) Drafting
 When
you draft, you’re writing down
ANY ideas that come to you
 Use your organized brainstorm to help
guide your thoughts.
 Write QUICKLY – Don’t stop! Keep
the flow going! Don’t worry about
mechanics or conventions at this
point, just get the ideas down
Drafting = Writing
(quickly!)


A.
B.
4) Reviewing
After each draft, the writer needs
to review the draft for errors.
There are two separate but
equally important ways to review
that should be done
independently from each other:
Editing
Revising
4A) Editing
Checking the mechanics of your
writing. Things to look for:
 Complete sentences
 Spelling
 Capitalization
 Punctuation
EDITING TRICK
 Edit
sentence by sentence, but
work BACKWARDS through
your piece. This will help you
notice mistakes your brain
automatically fills in for you
when you read forward.
Editing =
Repairing broken
rules
4B) Revising
Looking over the ideas you’ve
written. It includes checking for:
•Flow
•Enough information
•Order
•Too much information
•Details •Too many words
•Clarity
Revising =
Fixing Ideas
and Flow
Reviewing Trick #1
 Edit
your work BEFORE you try
to revise your work.
 If you try to revise first, you will
keep getting distracted by
mechanical errors (misspelled
words, incorrect punctuation,
etc.), and you won’t be able to
concentrate on the FLOW.
REVIEWING TRICK #2:
 Read
your writing OUT LOUD
to someone else. Humans
often hear mistakes more
readily than they will see
mistakes. This can help with
both revising your ideas and
editing your errors
Do the Time-Warp!
Once you have reviewed your draft, redraft (re-write your piece, fixing mistakes
and improving flow).
 After you have re-drafted, re-review your
work.
 Do this at least twice for every piece of
writing – at least 2 drafts, at least 2
reviews.

5) Publishing
Professional writers say they never
finish a piece; they just run out of
time.
When you have reviewed your work
at least twice, it’s time to think
about turning in your work.
 Create a clean copy
 Submit
Publishing =
Turning It In
Good luck with
your writing!