Transcript The Writing Process

The Writing Process
Five Steps to Successful Writing
? What are the Five Steps ?
PREWRITING: Getting Started
Writing begins with looking for something to write about. How do writers find ideas? Often, an
everyday experience or a personal interest sparks an idea. But many writers also have special ways
or techniques, they use to find and explore ideas.
Strategies for Finding a Subject:
1.Take an Inventory of Personal Interests
•What subjects do I know a lot about?
•What are my hobbies?
•What unusual experiences have I had?
2. Keeping a Journal
•A journal is a daily notebook in which you record your thoughts, feelings,
and observations.
3. Reading, Interviewing, Discussing
4. Keep a Learning Log
•This is a section of your journal where you can write down ideas or
information about other subjects that interest you.
PREWRITING
Choosing & Limiting a Subject
Guidelines for Choosing a Subject
Strategies for Limiting a Subject
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Choose a subject that interests
you.
Choose a subject that will interest
your readers.
Choose a subject that you know
something about or can research
with reasonable effort.
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General: Sports
More Limited: football
Limited: preparing
for a game
Focus on one person or one
example that represents the
subject.
Limit your subject to a specific
time or place.
Focus on a particular event or
person.
Choose one effect or one purpose
of your subject.
PREWRITING:
Considering Your Purpose, Occasion, Audience, and
Genre
Purpose: is your reason for writing or speaking. For example, the purpose of an
article in a computer magazine may be to explain how a software program works
or to inform readers about a new laptop model.
Writing Purposes
Possible Forms
Expository
to explain or inform; to focus on your subject
matter and audience
Factual writing
scientific essay, research paper, business letter,
summary, descriptive essay, historical narrative,
news story
Creative (literary)
to create; to focus on making imaginative use of
language and ideas
Entertaining writing
short story, novel, play, poem, dialogue
Persuasive
to persuade; to focus on changing your readers’
minds or getting them to act in a certain way
Convincing writing
letter to the editor, persuasive essay, movie or
book review, critical essay (literary analysis),
advertisement
Self-expressive
to express and reflect on your thoughts and
feelings
Personal writing
journal entry, personal narrative, reflective essay,
personal letter
Occasion: is your motivation for writing. It’s what prompts you to communicate,
and it usually can be stated using one of the following sentences:
•I feel a need to write for my own satisfaction.
•I have been asked to write this by [name a person].
•I want to enter a writing contest.
Audience Profile Questions
Audience:
Who will be reading
your work
• Who will be reading my work?
• How old are they? Are they adults? Teenagers?
Children?
• What do I want the audience to know about my subject?
•What background do they have in the subject?
• What interests and opinions might they have?
• Are there any words or terms I should define for them?
Genre: is the form of your writing
• Each genre has characteristics that make it different from the others, and readers expect
these characteristics to be present.
• For example, if you are reading a play you would expect to see dialogue and stage directions.
PREWRITING: From Ideas to a Plan
After you’ve chosen and limited your subject – and you have considered your audience and purpose – you
should collect specific details that develop your writing. Supporting details are the facts, examples,
incidents, reasons, or other specific points that back up your ideas.
Brainstorming: is the process of writing everything that comes to mind when
thinking about a particular subject.
• Set a time limit, such as 15 minutes.
• Write the subject on a piece of paper and record ideas underneath it.
• Brainstorm for details – facts, examples, reasons, connections, and associations.
• Build on each idea as you jot it down on the paper.
•Keep your mind open.
Clustering: is a visual form of brainstorming in which you not only jot down details
as you think of them, but also make connections among those details.
• A cluster can look like a wheel. At the hub, or center, is your
subject. Each idea that supports or explains your subject is
connected to the hub by a line, like a spoke in a wheel.
Sometimes supporting ideas become hubs of their own, with
new spokes coming out of them.
Inquiring: is another strategy for exploring a subject by asking yourself questions
concerning that subject. Who, what, where, when, why, and how questions can
provide answers and help generate ideas that are helpful in developing details.
Subject: Studying Insects
Who:
are some of the experts in the field studying insects?
What:
specific details do people look for when they study insects?
What:
tools are used?
Where: are the best places to look for insects?
When: did people first begin to study insects?
How:
are insects captured, named, and observed?
Why:
is gaining knowledge about insects helpful to people?
Here’s a sample Inquiry Chart
DRAFTING: Creating a Rough Copy
Drafting is the stage in writing where all your ideas from prewriting are put into complete
sentences, forming an introduction, a body, and conclusion. Your first draft is just a rough
sketch that allows you to see how your details and ideas fit on paper.
• Write an introduction that will capture your reader’s interest and express your main
idea.
• After you write your introduction, use your organized prewriting notes as a guide.
Depart from those notes, however, when a good idea occurs to you.
• Write fairly quickly without worrying about spelling or phrasing. You will have the
opportunity to go back and fix your writing when you revise.
• Stop frequently and read aloud what you have written. This practice will help you
move logically from thought to the next.
• Return to the prewriting stage whenever you find that you need to clarify your
thinking. You can always stop and freewrite, brainstorm, or cluster to collect more
ideas.
•Write a conclusion that drives home the main point of the composition.
REVISING: Making it better
It is important to go back and revise your draft to improve it for clarity and unity.
STRATEGIES
QUICK FIXES
Check for Clarity and Creativity
• Are your ideas interesting, fresh, and original,
rather than ones that people have heard over and
over?
• Does the text satisfy its purpose?
• Insert a personal experience or example.
• Think of an unlikely comparison between your
subject and something else.
• Talk with others to get ideas.
Elaborate by Adding Details
• Does your writing seem fully developed?
• Are your ideas fully supported?
• Have you used details that would help bring a
scene or idea to life for a reader?
• Use one of the prewriting strategies
• Tell who or what with appositives or add
adjectives or other descriptive words
• Show, don’t tell.
• Take a mental snapshot of a scene and write what
you see.
Rearrange Out-of-Order Items
• Check the organization of words, sentences, and
ideas. Does one idea lead logically into another?
• Use your computer to rearrange and reorganize
your sentences or paragraphs so the reader can
easily follow your thoughts.
• Use transitions to show the relationships between
ideas.
Delete Unnecessary Words or Details
• Does every detail in your draft really relate to your
controlling idea?
• Delete, or remove, them. Also delete any extra or
unneeded words and repetitive sentences.
Substitute Words and Sentences
• Are all parts of your draft clear enough for a
reader to follow easily?
• Are your words lively and precise?
• Ask a “test reader” to tell you where you need to
provide more or clearer information.
• For a dull, general word, find a richer and more
vivid synonym.
DRAFTING
Guidelines for the Writer
• List some questions for your peer. What aspects of your
work most concern you?
CONFERENCING
• Try to be grateful for your critic’s candor rather than being
upset or defensive. Keep in mind that the criticism you are
getting is well intended.
Guidelines for the Critic
• Read your partner’s work carefully. What does the writer
promise to do in this text? Does he or she succeed?
Conferencing: meeting with
others to share ideas or identify
and solve problems.
• Point out strengths as well as weaknesses.
• Start your comments by saying something positive like,
“your opening really captured my interest.”
• Be specific. Refer to a specific word, sentence, or
section when you comment.
• Be sensitive to your partner’s feelings. Phrase your
criticisms as questions. You might say, “Do you think your
details might be stronger if…?”
EDITING: Fixing all the mistakes
Editing for Wordiness
• You should use word power, like other kinds of energy, efficiently.
• The fewer words needed to get the job done, the more energy-efficient the writing is.
Word Guzzler
Mr. Franklin determined that his whiskers needed to be removed from the
surface of his face, and so he removed from its storage drawer the implement
that he needed to shave.
Word Efficient
Mr. Franklin saw that he needed a shave, so he got out his razor.
Using a General Editing Checklist
• When you edit you should go over your work at least THREE times, each time looking
for a different kind of problem.
 Are sentences free of errors in grammar and usage?
 Did you punctuate each sentence correctly?
 Did you spell each word correctly?
 Did you use capital letters where needed?
 Did you indent paragraphs as needed?
Proofreading: is the process of carefully rereading one’s work and marking corrections
in grammar, usage, spelling, and mechanics using the proofreading marks.
• Focus on one line
at a time.
• Exchange your
work with a partner
and check each
other’s work.
• Read your writing
aloud, very slowly.
• Use a dictionary
and a writer’s
handbook to check
spelling, grammar,
usage, and
mechanics.
PUBLISHING: The end is in sight
Final Copies
 Should be typed
 12 point font
 Times New Roman or Arial font
 Double-spaced
 Be proofread a final time (Spell check
does not count since it doesn’t recognize all
mistakes).
 Contain a cover with the following:
 Title in quotations
 Your name
 Class Period
 Teacher’s Name
 Assignment Due Date
 Clipart/Picture (optional)