Writing Essays Planning Drafting Revising

Planning §What activities take place here? l Task representation l Purpose l Audience l Invention freewriting brainstorming clustering

Developing a thesis statement §Reflects the essay’s main idea or point §Almost always stated early in paper and in one clear and concise sentence §It is a contract with the reader §It guides you in the production and revision of your essay

Outlines §When are they best to use? l How about after several drafts have been written? Check organization this way

Drafting §Is one draft all you need §How many drafts are enough? §Get your ideas down in the first draft. §Worry about polishing the paper later. l This is especially true of audience consideration

Revision §Means to re-see; to see something again §Writing is re-writing §Good writers revise many, many times

Five levels of revision §Global §Paragraph §Sentence §Word §Mechanical

Global §Task representation §Audience §Purpose §Unity (every sentence is related to thesis) §Coherence (sentences flow logically) §Development (sufficient detail)

Paragraph §Unity (around topic sentence and thesis) §Coherence (sentences flow logically) §Development (sufficient detail) §Appealing introductory paragraph §Effective concluding paragraph

Sentence §Concise as opposed to wordy §Grammar (comma splices, sent. frag., etc.) §Syntax (word order) §Emphasis §Variety l short versus long l imperative, declarative, interrogative

Word §Diction (word choice) l Avoid pretentious (“show-off”) words §Specific versus general l “Chevy Camaro” versus “car” §Concrete versus abstract l “The movie was suspenseful” v. “The movie was good.”

Word §Figures of speech l Smile l Metaphor l Personification §Jargon l The language of a profession §Offensive language l Sexist, racist, etc.

Mechanical §Capitalization §Punctuation §Spelling (check word usage too) l For example, to instead of too §Documentation §Spacing §Abbreviations