Or, “From Blank Page to Finished Product in a Few Simple Steps” Writing as a Process Or, “From Blank Page to Finished Product in a Few Simple Steps”

Staring at the blank page… Before you write down a single word, you need to PREWRITE.

Prewriting This is done before you begin to write your masterpiece. It includes: Choosing the topic Figuring out your purpose for writing Considering the audience who will read your writing Selecting a type or style (genre) of writing you’re going to do

(topic, purpose, audience, genre) Prewriting = TPAG (topic, purpose, audience, genre)

Now What? Once you know the kind of writing you need to do, who will read your writing, and what you will be writing about, you are ready to actually start writing!

basic steps when writing There are 5 basic steps when writing

The 5 Basic Steps of the Writing Process: Brainstorming Organizing Drafting Reviewing Publishing

1) Brainstorming Write down every idea that is related to your topic/purpose/audience/genre; don’t worry about putting things in order. You may need to do some RESEARCH to gather information and ideas You may want to use a GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

Brainstorming = Writing EVERYTHING

2) Organizing Once you’ve spent a few minutes writing down topic-related ideas, you need to choose the best ideas and put them in some kind of order. An OUTLINE can be extremely useful at this point.

Choosing your best IDEAS Organizing = Choosing your best IDEAS

3) Drafting When you draft, you’re writing down ANY ideas that come to you Use your organized brainstorm to help guide your thoughts. Write QUICKLY – Don’t stop! Keep the flow going! Don’t worry about mechanics or conventions at this point, just get the ideas down

Drafting = Writing (quickly!)

4) Reviewing After each draft, the writer needs to review the draft for errors. There are two separate but equally important ways to review that should be done independently from each other: Editing Revising

4A) Editing Checking the mechanics of your writing. Things to look for: Complete sentences Spelling Capitalization Punctuation

EDITING TRICK Edit sentence by sentence, but work BACKWARDS through your piece. This will help you notice mistakes your brain automatically fills in for you when you read forward.

Repairing broken rules Editing = Repairing broken rules

4B) Revising Flow Enough information Order Too much information Looking over the ideas you’ve written. It includes checking for: Flow Order Details Clarity Enough information Too much information Too many words

Revising = Fixing Ideas and Flow

Reviewing Trick #1 Edit your work BEFORE you try to revise your work. If you try to revise first, you will keep getting distracted by mechanical errors (misspelled words, incorrect punctuation, etc.), and you won’t be able to concentrate on the FLOW.

REVIEWING TRICK #2: Read your writing OUT LOUD to someone else. Humans often hear mistakes more readily than they will see mistakes. This can help with both revising your ideas and editing your errors

Do the Time-Warp! Once you have reviewed your draft, re-draft (re-write your piece, fixing mistakes and improving flow). After you have re-drafted, re-review your work. Do this at least twice for every piece of writing – at least 2 drafts, at least 2 reviews.

5) Publishing Professional writers say they never finish a piece; they just run out of time. When you have reviewed your work at least twice, it’s time to think about turning in your work. Create a clean copy Submit

Publishing = Turning It In

Good luck with your writing!