The Writing Process 8th Grade ELA
Stages of the Writing Process There are several stages to the Writing Process. Each stage is essential. Prewriting Writing (Drafting) Revising Editing Publishing
I. Prewriting Choose/narrow your topic Determine your Audience Purpose Tone Point-of-view Tense Explore your topic Make a plan
Determine Your Audience Your Audience is composed of those who will read your writing. Ask yourself: Who are my readers? What do my readers know about my topic? What do my readers need to know about my topic? How do my readers feel about my topic? What do my readers expect?
Determine Your Purpose Purpose is the reason you are writing. Whenever you write, you always have a purpose. JUST REMEMBER PIE! Persuade Informative Entertain
Determine Tone Tone is the attitude you adopt as you write. Serious or frivolous/humorous? Intimate or detached?
Determine Point-of-View Point-of-view is the perspective from which you write an essay. There are 3 points-of-view: First person—”I, we” Second person—”you” Third person—”he, she, they” Keep the same point-of-view throughout your writing!
Determine Tense Tense is the voice you use to designate the time of the action or state of being. Present tense Past tense Future tense
Explore Your Topic Pre-writing Techniques: Brainstorming/Listing Freewriting Clustering/Mapping Questioning Discussing Outlining
Order The Order is the sequence in which you present your ideas. There are 3 types of order: Time (chronological) order Space order Emphatic order (order of importance: least-to-most, most-to-least)
II. Writing During the Writing Stage, you should Compose a draft A Draft is the first whole version of all your ideas put together; it’s a “dress rehearsal.” You should plan to revise your Draft several times throughout the writing process.
Writing a Draft Basics of a good draft: Has a fully developed introduction and conclusion Has fully developed body paragraphs, each containing a topic sentence, at least two examples, and detailed support Follows standard structure and uses complete sentences Create a title
III. Revising Revising is finding & correcting problems with content; changing the ideas in your writing to make them clearer, stronger, and more convincing. This also includes moving things around.
Revision Tips Read your draft out loud and listen to your words. Imagine yourself as your reader. Look for consistent problem areas. Get feedback from peers. Get help from a tutor!
IV. Editing Editing is finding and correcting problems with grammar, style, word choice & usage, and punctuation.
Editing Strategies When editing, review your paper for one type of error at a time; don’t try to read through looking for everything at once. Read once looking for punctuation errors, read once looking for capitalization errors, etc.
Editing Tips Read your essay backwards. Be cautious of spell-check and grammar-check. Read your essay out loud. Get feedback from peers. Work with a tutor!
Self-Review You should never move to peer review without first completing a self-review (revising & editing); you want your peer to look for mistakes that you were unable to catch yourself! After you have reviewed your own work, make the necessary corrections and print a clean, revised copy before moving on to peer review.
Peer-Review It is important to make the peer review process useful. Basics of useful feedback: It is given in a positive way It is specific It offers suggestions It is given both verbally and in writing
IV. Publishing Publishing is when you write or type the final draft of your paper. This copy of your paper should be perfect with no errors.