The Writing Process

1. The Writing Process

2. There are five stages in the writing process: • Prewriting • Drafting • Revising • Editing • Publishing

3. Prewriting The writing process begins with prewriting. Prewriting is the process of finding and developing your ideas. If no topic is assigned to you, the following may help you in developing a topic: • Self-inventory: choosing a topic allows you to write about whatever interests you. You probably have a lot of interests, so how do you choose one? One way is to take a self-inventory.

4. Some Self-Inventory Questions • What are some interesting, funny, weird, or annoying things that happened this week? • What is my favorite way to spend my spare time? • Who is the most interesting or unusual person I know? What makes this person unique? • What community issues interest me? Why? • What fascinates me? Confuses me? Troubles me? Surprises me? • What do I know a lot about that may interest others?

5. Freewriting – when you freewrite, put pencil to paper and write whatever comes to mind. Write without stopping for at least ten minutes, letting one idea flow into the next. After ten minutes, stop and circle any ideas you like. Then freewrite about one or two of those ideas until you hit on a topic that interests you. • Brainstorming – brainstorming is a way to come up with ideas in a group. For ten minutes or so, each member of the group offers ideas for topics while one person writes them down. Don’t criticize suggestions or try to choose a topic when you brainstorm. When the time is up, read over the list and choose the idea you like best.

6. If a topic is assigned to you OR once you chose your topic, you then need to narrow your focus on your topic, develop your topic, and organize your information.

7. Focusing on Your Topic • Narrowing Your Topic – once you’ve decided on a topic, narrow it so you won’t be overwhelmed by information when you start to research it or when you start to write about it. • Identifying Audience and Purpose – after you’ve narrowed your topic, ask yourself two questions to help you identify your audience and purpose: • “Why am I writing this?” • “To whom am I writing?”

8. Developing a Topic – you can develop your topic by asking yourself specific questions. Ask informative questions to help yourself find out how much you already know. Ask imaginative questions to help spark ideas about unusual aspects of your topic. • Organizing Information – a simple way to organize the information you want to write about is to make a list, make an outline, or to complete a graphic organizer. Your list, outline, or graphic organizer should contain your thesis statement. Once you’ve completed this, you now have a tool to help you stay focused as you write.

9. Drafting • The second step in the writing process is drafting. As you draft, it is important to focus on getting your ideas across and written down, not what your draft looks like or sounds like. It is also important to skip every other line of your draft to make revising and editing easier. • After your draft is completed, you may want to get feedback from your peers. Their feedback may be helpful to you in the later stages of the writing process.

10. Revising • Step three of the writing process is revising. In the revising stage, you start making changes to your draft. As you begin, remember that revising often involves rewriting entire paragraphs or reorganizing information. You may have to revise several times before you are finished.

11. Revise using ARMs A – add content to your draft R – remove content from your draft M – move content around in your draft

12. Once you’re finished rewriting and reorganizing, you need to evaluate your draft to finish the revising process. Use the six traits of writing to help you determine if you’re finished revising and ready to move on to the next step.

13. The Six Traits of Writing • Ideas and Content – Make your ideas clear, focused, and well-supported with details. • Organization – Arrange your ideas in a logical order that moves the reader through the piece. • Voice – Express ideas in a way that shows your individual style. • Word Choice – Choose words that are precise, powerful, and engaging. • Sentence Fluency – Improve the flow of writing by using varied sentence length. • Conventions – Correct any grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. – THIS IS THE FIRST STEP IN EDITING AND PROOFREADING!!!

14. Editing and Proofreading • The fourth step in the writing process is editing and proofreading. Checking your draft against the six traits of good writing is an excellent transition from revising to proofreading. However, there may be times when you are required to write a second draft between the revising and editing phases. • When editing and revising, you are only checking for mistakes in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Any content changes should have been completed during revising.

15. Proofreading Hints • Use your proofreading marks to help guide you when correcting your mistakes. • When marking mistakes in your paper, do so in a color different than the color you originally used. This will make it easier to identify and correct any mistakes. • Begin proofreading by checking the last sentence of the last paragraph and work backwards. Your brain will pick up on mistakes quicker this way. Remember, you’re only looking for mechanical errors, so it doesn’t matter if what you’re reading doesn’t make sense.

16. Publishing Finally, it is time to publishyour writing. Publishing includes the following: • Handwriting a good copy • Typing a good copy • Giving a dramatic reading of your work • Posting your work to a blog • Submitting your work to a magazine or newspaper for publishing • Including it in a portfolio • Making a podcast