The Writing Process Prewriting

Prewriting All the thinking and planning you do in order to be able to express your ideas in sentences and paragraphs

During the prewriting stage you make several important decisions: Why am I writing? (PURPOSE) For whom am I writing? (AUDIENCE) What will I write about? (TOPIC) What will I say? (CONTENT) How will I say it? (LANGUAGE)

Why do people write?

Writing has one of four basic purposes To tell a story (NARRATIVE) To explain or to inform (EXPOSITORY) To describe (DESCRIPTIVE) To persuade (PERSUASIVE)

Once you have determined the purpose, you need to identify the audience for whom you are writing.

Ask yourself the following questions about your audience: What does the audience already know about the topic? What does the audience want or need to know about the topic? What language is appropriate for this audience? Does the audience have any strong opinions or feelings about the topic? What are they? Could these views affect how you write about your topic?

Choosing a Subject You have decided on the purpose for writing, and chosen the audience. Now you have to choose your subject. What are you writing about? Once you have decided what your subject will be, you need to narrow the broad subject down to a specific topic.

Choosing your Subject Remember, the scope of your subject (how much information you can realistically cover) is determined by the length of your writing. (For example, you couldn’t write the entire history of baseball in a one-paragraph essay).

Choosing a Subject The easiest way to narrow your subject down to a reasonable topic is to decide, What information do you want your reader to know?

Topic The broader the topic, the longer the writing. A topic for a paragraph, for example, must be limited enough so that it can be covered adequately in several sentences. A topic for an essay must be limited enough so that it can be covered adequately in several paragraphs.

Gathering Information The next thing you need to do in the pre-writing stage is gather your information. There are seven basic ways to gather information:

Gathering Information Brainstorming – Write your subject at the top of a sheet of paper. Jot down ANY ideas that come to mind. Do not stop to evaluate or judge what you write – at this point, any idea is a good one. And Keep GOING until you run out of ideas. Only why you have finished brainstorming should you stop and evaluate what you have listed. Decide which of the items might be possible topics, then circle them.

Gathering Information Clustering or Webbing produces a diagram instead of a list. To cluster, begin by writing a subject in the center of a piece of paper and draw a circle around it. Write whatever related items come to mind, and connect them to your subject. As one idea leads to another, draw a line and add another circle.

Gathering Information Journaling – writing your personal thoughts, opinions and ideas can create many good subjects. Don’t be afraid to think! Fastwrite – In a short, timed exercise, write everything that comes to mind about your subject. You can’t stop to think – just let your brain work. Everything is a good idea.

Gathering Information Research – here is where you take the time to use printed and on-line resources to expand the knowledge of your subject. Asking Questions – Ask the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How about your subject.

Gathering Information Using your Powers of Observation – appeal to the senses (what do you see, hear, touch, taste, smell about the topic)