The Writing Process

Stages of Writing Process The writing process consists of 3 stages: 1.Pre-writing Selecting a topic Identifying audience and purpose Gathering ideas Organizing Information/Outlining 2. Writing First Draft Organizing paper Proofreading 3.Post-writing Revising and Editing Final copy--Publishing Critique and Grading

Stage 1-Pre-Writing (Pre-Writing has 4 Steps) 1. Selecting a Topic-what do you want to write about? Often teacher does this by assigning a prompt. 2. Identifying Audience and Purpose Audience: Who am I writing this for? A young person? An educated person who is knowledgeable on my selected subject? Or, perhaps, a person who knows very little about my subject? (House W.S.) Purpose: Why am I writing this? (**Four Modes) To inform? To entertain? To explain? To persuade?

4 Modes of Writing 1.Narrative: – tells a story, either made up or real – Examples include biographies, short stories and novels. 2. Descriptive: an account, usually giving a – a dominant impression and emphasizing sensory detail, of what it is like to – experience some object, sense, experience, or person. Descriptive writing uses – lots of details and adjectives. 3.Expository: – Writing whose purpose is to explain an idea or teach a process – It may tell how to do something, tell how something works (compare/contrast) or – Explain how an event takes place (cause and effect) 4. Persuasive: – Discourse focused on influencing a listener or reader to support or take an action – Examples include advertisements, political speeches, and editorials

Stage 1-Pre-Writing 3. Gathering Ideas – Brainstorming- producing and/or generating as many ideas as possible about a topic in list form for a limited amount of time. – Graphic organizers- method of discovering ideas by creating various charts that develop order within interrelated topics. (clustering, mapping, Venn, etc.) – Free writing- writing non-stop about your selected topic for minutes. 4. Organizing Information – What methods are you going to use to organize your paper? – Five Paragraph Handout

Stage 2-Writing First Draft with: introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion Begin with an introduction. Here you should accomplish 3 things: 1.Gain your reader’s attention 2.Introduce your subject/topic 3.Identify your thesis Great ways to begin your introduction: thought-provoking details or description anecdote or story Informative questions Intense or powerful statement Body paragraphs with: a topic sentence, body details, and a closing sentence. Conclusion with: a wrap-up of the highlights of your paper **Peer review and Proofreading happens after first draft is complete.

Writing Stage-Continued Thesis Statements -How do I write a thesis statement? Formula- A specific subject + a specific condition, feeling or stand on the subject= an effective thesis Example: (essay about educational opportunities) High school internships + benefit students=High school internship programs benefit students in three ways.

Writing Stage-Continued ORGANIZATION As you begin to plan your essay, give some thought to the methods you will use to organize the evidence that will support your thesis. Chronological order: Paragraphs separate the process or series of events into major stages. In other words, according to how they occurred. Classification: Paragraphs divide the material into major categories and distinguish between them. Increasing importance: Paragraphs are arranged so that the most important point comes last, thus building the essay's strength Cause and effect: Indicates causal relationships between things and events. Be careful, however, not to mistake coincidence with causality, nor to disregard other possible causes

Stage 3-Post-Writing – Most important stage and should be done more than once=2 nd and 3 rd drafts – Revising-rereading a composition or essay and making the necessary changes to improve it by cutting, adding, substituting, or rearranging information or words. – Editing-the final act of making corrections in sentence structure, form, grammar, and mechanics.

HOMEWORK Due Wednesday Using one of the methods we discussed in class, do one page of pre-writing for the following prompt: Write a persuasive essay stating whether or not the students at your school should be required to wear school uniforms. Give at least three (3) reasons to support your position. Remember, you must argue in such a convincing manner that others will agree with you. In addition to your essay, you will need to turn in your “brainstorming” page.