STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL WRITING!
The writing process consists of strategies that will help you proceed from idea or purpose to the final statement.
Writing is a process. The purpose of writing is to communicate something to the reader. Writing gives your thoughts substance and form. Anyone can write. Successful writing does not just happen. Organization is the key. Writing begins before the pen hits the paper.
THE WRITING PROCESS Prewriting Drafting Revising Editing Finished Product
The Prewriting Process
Prewriting is anything you do before you write a draft of your document Prewriting includes thinking, taking notes, talking to people, gathering information, developing ideas, organizing, researching, choosing a topic
Prewriting can take two forms : You may be given no guidelines at all other than to write. Or, you may be assigned a topic to write about. Either way, you must prewrite for good writing to occur. If no guidelines are given, prewriting will help you choose a topic that you are comfortable writing about. If the topic is already assigned, you can skip this part. But you will need to use the prewriting time to organize your thoughts and ideas: Locate your subject Narrow your topic Choose your controlling idea Generate details to support your idea Formulate your conclusion
Prewriting Techniques Freewriting/imagestreaming Brainstorming/making a jotlist Clustering/mapping/webbing Asking questions Journaling Outlining Researching/developing ideas from reading Interviewing outside experts Using graphic organizers Using the pentad method
Prewriting is the most critical step to writing. Prewriting provides the direction, and the organization to your writing.
WRITING YOUR ROUGH DRAFT Drafting occurs when you put your ideas into sentences and paragraphs. You are concentrating on getting your ideas down on paper. You are trying to explain and support your ideas fully, and to make sure you connect your thoughts. A draft is writer-centered— that means it is you telling yourself what you know about the topic. When you write your rough draft, you should let yourself go. Write what you know and what you want to say. The rough draft is mostly for you; the only people besides you who will see your rough draft are people you ask to read it.
Revising is taking your rough draft and preparing it for others to read. While the rough draft is writer- centered, the revising makes your draft reader-centered. Revising includes: Checking your content Checking your organization Checking your language
Checking Your Content Did you develop your topic? Have you removed information that does not fit the topic? Did you provide adequate support? Is the tone that you want your writing to have conveyed? Do you have a variety of sentence structures, patterns, and lengths? Are sentences clear, concise, and complete? Is the order logical?
Checking Your Organization Did you maintain your organization pattern throughout? Are your ideas unified? Did you use transitions--between ideas and between paragraphs? Is your writing coherent (ideas related)? Is the order logical? Do you have a summation of the ideas?
Checking Your Language Is your word usage appropriate for the audience, the purpose, and the occasion? Does your tone fit the audience and the subject? Did you use good diction (best word choice for the purpose and audience)? Are your descriptions vivid and complete? Is there a strong hook? Have you used a thesaurus to avoid redundancy? Are you concise yet thorough?
Points to Remember about Revising: Revising involves intense, systematic rewriting. Revising is done more than once to a rough draft. A revising checklist will help call your attention to the things you need to check. Revising focuses on making the writing itself better. Revising involves adding to, moving, cutting, and retaining the ideas in the rough draft. Input from a reader can help make your revisions better.
What is Editing? Spelling Capitalization Punctuation Grammar Sentence Structure Subject/Verb Agreement Consistent Verb Tense Word Usage
Editing Hints Use SpellCheck, but don’t rely on it solely. It does not catch all mistakes. Read your writing aloud, to yourself or to someone else. This will help you catch your mistakes. Use an “editor.” Go through your paper sentence by sentence, searching intently for any mistakes. Use a handbook to find information to correct mistakes you are not sure about.
The final draft is the finished product. The final draft is the only draft of the paper that your audience sees. The final draft is your “published work.”
Congratulations! You are a Writer!