1. Prewriting

2. What is Prewriting? Prewriting is a technique writers use when they get started. It is a way the writers use to warm up their brain before they write. They use it to generate ideas.

3. Why is Prewriting Necessary? A good writer usually follows several steps in order to create a well-written, organized final product. In other words, writing is a process that involves prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. Before you begin to write you need to plan and gather information about the topic.

4. What are the kinds of Prewriting? There are different kinds of prewriting; few of them are: – Freewriting: It means writing as much as you can, as fast as you can without worrying about mistakes. You start writing as much as you can without stopping for any reason. Just keep writing. – Brainstorming: It is a quick way to generate a lot of ideas on a subject. The purpose is to come up with a list of as many ideas as possible without worrying about how you will use them.

5. What are the Kinds of Prewriting – Tree Diagram: This is a visual kind of outline. You start with the main idea and then make branches to points to support your ideas. – Clustering: It is a visual way of generating ideas. It shows you the connections among your ideas using circles and lines. You write your topic in the center of a piece of paper and draw a circle around it. Think about your topic and write any ideas that come to mind in circles around the main circle. Finally, connect these ideas to the center circle with a line.

6. Paragraphs

7. What is a paragraph? A paragraph is a group of sentences about one main idea.

8. What are the parts of a paragraph? 1. Topic Sentences: A topic sentence is important because it tells the reader what the writer will discuss in the paragraph. A good topic sentence has two parts: – A. The topic: Is the general subject of the paragraph. – B. The controlling idea: It limits the topic so that the paragraph covers only a specific part or aspect of it.

9. Paragraph When you write a topic sentence, you need to be careful not to make the topic sentence too general; there will be too much to write in one paragraph.

10. Paragraph The following are examples of different topic sentences that have the same topic. 1.New York is a fun place to be in New Year’s Eve. 2.New York has great entertainment. 3.New York is the world’s most famous city. Each of these topic sentences has the same topic, New York, but a different controlling idea. Each one would introduce a distinct paragraph with different ideas and information.

11. Paragraph 2. Supporting sentences: This is the second part of a paragraph. The sentences give more information about the topic sentence, such as examples, details, facts and/or reasons. These sentences have to be related to the topic sentence. A good writer does not include any sentences that are irrelevant or not related to the topic sentences.

12. Paragraph 3. Concluding sentence: This is the last part of a paragraph. It restates the topic sentence. It brings the idea of the paragraph to a close or suggest the content of the next paragraph.

13. Questions If you have any questions about the topic, please feel free to contact me.

14. Writing Clear and Concise Sentences

15. A concise sentence contains only the number of words necessary to achieve its meaning or effect.

16. Steps for Writing Concise and Clear Sentences 1. Omit needless words: A sentence should not contain unnecessary words. EX: In this paragraph is a demonstration of the use of good style in the writing a report.

17. Steps for Writing Clear and Concise Sentences Revised 1: This paragraph demonstrates good style in report. OR This paragraph demonstrates good style in report writing.

18. Steps for Writing Clear and Concise Sentences 2. Omit Redundancy a.Avoid saying the same thing twice. EX 1: Many uneducated citizens who have never attended school continue to vote for better schools. EX 2: I will meet you at 12:00 a.m. midnight.

19. Steps for Writing Clear and Concise Sentences 2. Needless Repetition: EX: My favorite picture is a picture of our house in Michigan.

20. Steps for Writing Clear and Concise Sentences 3. Reducing Clauses to phrases. EX: Citizens who knew what was going on voted him out of office. 4. Roundabout Phrases. In the reason why is that--------because In the event that-------if During the time that-----while All the time-----always At the present time------now At this point in time-------now On many occasions------often In this modern day and age…….today Because of the fact that-------because Due to the fact------because or since For the purpose----------make a reference to------refer.

21. Steps for Writing Clear and Concise Sentences 5. Link sentences through subordination and dependent clauses: 1.Main Clauses: A main Clause contains a complete idea and can stand alone as a sentence. EX: I read my speech at graduation. 2. Dependent Clause: A dependent clause does not contain a complete idea and cannot stand alone as a complete sentence. A dependent clause often starts with a subordinating conjunction such as (after, before, since, because, when, while, even, etc.

22. Steps for Writing Clear and Concise Sentences When the independent clause comes at the end of the sentence, omit the comma: EX: When I read my speech at graduation, all my family were amazed. When the independent clause comes at the beginning of the sentence, omit the comma. EX: All my friends and family were amazed when I read my speech at graduation.

23. Steps for Writing Clear and Concise Sentences 6. Combine Sentences with conjunctions (and, but, yet, so, or, for). EX: The great American author Mark Twain traveled a lot, but he still made time for his daughter.

24. Steps for Writing Clear and Concise Sentences 7. Use Active Voice: Active voice constructions clearly indicate who performs the action expressed by the verb. In addition, changing from passive to active voice often results in a more concise sentence. EX (Passive Voice---More Wordy): My car is borrowed every Saturday by Gina. EX (Active Voice----Clear and Direct): Gina borrows my car every Saturday.

25. Final Thought-----A Quote A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. “William Strunk”

26. Questions? Do you have any question?