The Writing Process
Objectives
• Introduce you to the essay form and to some
basics of writing.
• Explain and illustrate the sequence of steps
in writing an effective essay.
• To be focuses on prewriting and revising
strategies that can help with every essay you
write.
What is writing?
• Writing is a process that involves the
following steps:
1. Discovering a thesis-often through prewriting.
2. Developing solid support for the thesis – often
through more prewriting.
3. Organizing the thesis and supporting material
and writing it out in a first draft.
4. Revising and then editing carefully to ensure
an effective, error-free essay.
***Important:
• Learning this sequence will help you give
confidence when the time comes to write.
• You will know that you can use prewriting
as a way to think on paper and to gradually
discover just what idea you want to
develop.
• You will understand that there are four
clear-cut goals:
1. Unity
2. Support
3. Organization
4. Error-free sentences
• You will realize that you can use revision to
rework an essay until it is a strong and
effective piece of writing.
• You will be able to edit your writing so that
your sentences are clear and error free.
Prewriting
• During this writing stage you may have
trouble getting started with writing.
• You may not be able to think of an
interesting topic or thesis.
• Or you may have trouble coming up with
relevant details to support a possible thesis.
• Even after starting an essay, you may hit
snags-moments when you wonder,
What else can I say? Or Where do I go
next?
5 Prewriting Techniques
• The 5 prewriting techniques will help you
think about and develop a topic and get
words on paper.
1. Freewriting
2. Questioning
3. Making a list
4. Clustering
5. Preparing a scratch outline
Technique #1: Freewriting
• Freewriting means jotting down in rough
sentences or phrases everything that comes
to your mind about a possible topic.
• Freewriting will limber up your writing
muscles and make you familiar with the act
of writing. It is a way to break through
mental blocks about writing.
• Since you do not have to worry about
mistakes, you can focus on discovering
what you want to say about a subject.
• Your initial ideas and impressions will often
become clearer after you have gotten them
down on paper, and they may lead to other
impressions and ideas.
***Through continued practice in free-
writing, you will develop the habit of thinking
as you write.
Activity #1
Think about an electronic device you use
everyday; it could be your cell phone, radio,
computer, iPad. iPhone, etc. See if you can
write for ten minutes about why you couldn’t
live without it. Don’t worry about spelling
and punctuation; just get your thoughts down
on paper.
Technique #2 Questioning
• In this stage you generate ideas and details
by asking questions about your subject.
• Such many questions include:
• Why
• When
• Where
• Who
• What
• How
** Ask many questions as you can think of.
.
• Asking questions can be an effective way of
getting yourself to think about a topic from
a number of different angles.
• The questions can really help you generate
details about a topic.
Activity #2
• To get a sense of the questioning process,
use a sheet of paper to ask yourself a series
of questions about a good or bad experience
that you have had recently. See how many
details can you accumulate in ten minutes.
**REMEMBER:
Not to be concerned about mistakes, because
you are just thinking on paper.
Technique #3: Making a List
• Making a list is also known as brainstorming,
you collect ideas and details that relate to the
subject.
• Pile these items up, one after another, without
trying to sort our major details form minor
ones or trying to put the details in any special
order.
• Your goal is just to make a list of everything
about your subject that occurs to you.
Activity #3
• To get sense of list-making, list on a sheet
of paper a series of realistic goals, major or
minor, that your would like to accomplish
between today and one year from today.
Technique #4 Clustering
• Clustering is also known as diagramming or
mapping.
• Is another technique that can be used to
generate material for an essay.
• This method is helpful for people who like
to do their thinking in a visual way.
• In clustering you use:
• Lines
• Boxes
• Arrows
• Circles
…to show relationships among the ideas and
details that occur to you.
Remember:
**There is no right or wrong way of
clustering or diagramming. It is a way to think
on paper about how various ideas and details
relate to one another.
Activity #4
• Use clustering (diagraming) to organize the
list of year-ahead goals that you created for
the previous activity.
Technique #5 Preparing a
Scratch Outline
• What is a scratch outline?
A scratch outline is an excellent sequel to the
first four prewriting techniques (Freewriting,
Questioning, Making a List, and Clustering).
• It is also a plan or blueprint to help you
achieve a unified, supported, well-organized
essay.
**Remember:
When you are planning a traditional essay
consisting of an introduction, three supporting
paragraphs, and a conclusion, a scratch
outline is especially important. It may be only
a few words, but it will be the framework on
which your whole essay will be built.
Writing a First Draft
• When you write a first draft, be prepared to
put in additional thoughts and details that
did not emerge during prewriting.
• Don’t worry if you hit a snag, just leave a
blank space or add a comment such as “ do
later” , and press on to finish the essay.
• Don’t worry yet about grammar,
punctuation, or spelling.
Revising
• Revising means rewriting an essay,
building on what has already been
done, to make it stronger.
Quick hints that can help
make revision easier
1. Set your first draft aside for a while. You
can then come back to the draft with a
fresh, more objective point of view.
2. Work from typed or printed text. You’ll be
able to see the essay more impartially in
this way than if you were just looking at
your own familiar handwriting.
3. Read your draft aloud. Hearing your writing
sounds will help you pick up problems with
meaning as well as with style.
4. As you do all these things, add your thoughts
and changes above the lines or in the margins of
your essay. Your written comments can serve as
a guide when you work on the next draft.
Three Stages to the Revising
Process
• Revising content
• Revising sentences
• Editing
Revising Content
• To revise the content of your essay, ask
these questions:
1. Is my essay unified?
• Do I have a thesis that is clear stated or implied
in the introductory paragraph of my essay?
• Do all my supporting paragraphs truly support
and back up my thesis?
2. Is my essay supported?
• Are there three separated supporting points for
the thesis?
• Do I have specific evidence for each of the
three supporting points?
• Is there plenty of specific evidence for each
supporting point?
3. Is my essay organized?
• Do I have an interesting introduction, a solid
conclusion, and an accurate title?
• Do I have a clear method of organizing my
essay?
• Do I use transitions and other connecting
words?
Revising Sentences
• To revise sentences in your essay, ask
yourself the following questions:
1. Do I use parallelism to balance my words and
ideas?
2. Do I have a consistent point of view?
3. Do I use specific words?
4. Do I use active verbs?
5. Do I use words effectively by avoiding slang,
clichés, pretentious language, and wordiness?
6. Do I vary my sentences?
Editing
• After you revised your essay for content and
style, you are ready to edit- check for and
correct- errors in grammar, punctuation,
capitalization, sentence structure, word
usage, and spelling.
Editing
• Editing means to check for and correct
errors in grammar, punctuation,
capitalization, sentence structure, word
usage, and spelling.
