Chapter Two The Writing Process College Writing Skills with Readings, 9/e John Langan

The Process: 4 Steps in a Nutshell Prewriting--to discover a thesis Developing Solid Support for Thesis Writing a First Draft Revising and Editing

Prewriting Techniques Freewriting Questioning Making a List Clustering Preparing a Scratch Outline

Freewriting Write nonstop for ten minutes and jot down in rough sentences or phrases everything that comes to mind about a possible topic. There are lots of things I get annoyed by. One of them is politishans, in fact I am so annoyed by them the last thing I want is to write about them. Another thing that bothers me is noisy people at the movies. I used to love the movies….

Do not worry (yet) about spelling or punctuation. Freewriting Do not worry (yet) about spelling or punctuation. [. . .] There are lots of things I get annoyed by. One of them is politishans. [. . .]

Questioning ??????????? Ask as many questions as you can think of about your subject. Why? When? Where? Who? How?

(aka “brainstorming”) Making a List (aka “brainstorming”) Create a list of ideas and details that relate to your subject. Do not worry about the order of the list. Traffic is bad between my house and theatre Noisy patrons Don’t want to run into Jeremy Hard to be on a diet

(aka “diagramming” or “mapping”) Clustering (aka “diagramming” or “mapping”) Write your subject in the center of a blank sheet of paper. Jot down ideas and details around the subject. Use lines, boxes, arrows and circles to show relationships among ideas and details.

Clustering/Diagramming Traffic getting to theater Line at box office Might see old boyfriend Too many people Movies Temptations Noisy People Adults Teenagers Chocolate bars Popcorn Coughing and sneezing Telling Plot Yelling Texting

Preparing a Scratch Outline Think carefully about: The point you are making The supporting items for that point The order in which you will arrange those items

Your Goals: Writing a First Draft State your main idea clearly. Develop the content of paper with plenty of specific details.

Revision Set your draft aside for a while. Work from typed or printed text. Read your draft aloud. Add your thoughts and changes above the lines or in the margins of your paper.

3 Stages to the Revising Process Revising content Revising sentences Editing

Revising Content Unity Supporting points must back up main idea. The main idea must be clearly stated in introductory paragraph. Supporting points must back up main idea.

Support Revising Content At least 3 separate points must support the main idea. Plenty of specific evidence must be provided for each supporting point.

Organization Revising Content Have an interesting introduction, solid conclusion, and accurate title Use transitions and other connecting words to connect ideas.

Use parallelism to balance words and ideas: Revising Sentences Use parallelism to balance words and ideas: Correct: The mugger jumped out and scared her. Incorrect: The mugger jumped out and scares her.

Revising Sentences Keep voice and tense consistent. Incorrect Jean punched down the risen yeast dough in the bowl. Then you dump it onto the floured work table and knead it into a smooth, shiny ball. Correct Jean punched down the risen yeast dough in the bowl. Then she dumped it onto the floured work table and kneaded it into a smooth shiny ball

Revising Sentences Use verbs. Passive: Active: ACTIVE The car was crashed by me. Active: I crashed the car. ACTIVE some passive verbs Forms of to be: is am are was were been

Avoid slang, clichés, pretentious language, and wordiness. Revising Sentences Avoid slang, clichés, pretentious language, and wordiness.

Revising Sentences Incorrect The truck was speeding. The truck was brown. The truck skidded on some ice. The truck almost hit a police officer. The police officer was startled. The police officer was young The brown speeding truck startled the young police officer as it skidded on some ice and almost hit him.

Check for and correct errors in: Editing Check for and correct errors in: grammar punctuation usage spelling

Suggestions for Peer Review Identification: On a sheet of paper, write the author’s name and the title of the paper you read. Scratch Outline: “X-ray” the paper for its inner logic by making a scratch outline. Comments Where did the paper “snag”? Suggest ways to fix problems. Are there problems with support, unity, or organization? Try to help. Note something you really liked about the paper.