1. Understanding the Writing Process
What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
Dr. Samuel Johnson

2. Building Good Writing Habits
When to write?
Write daily: regular writing will help you develop fluency.
Where to write?
Wherever: should the mood strike you, indulge it.
What to write?
Any and everything that interests you: personal experiences, current events, music, books, or sports.
How to write?
Relax and share your sincere feelings.

3. The Steps in the Writing Process
Prewriting
Writing
Revising
Editing
Publishing

4. Prewriting: Selecting a Topic
Search for topics that meet the requirements of the assignment.
Select a topic that appeals to you
Gathering and Organizing Details:
Gather as many ideas as you can
Find one point to emphasize about the topic—either an interesting part or your personal feeling
This will be the focus or thesis of your writing.
Determine which details you will use.
Organize your thoughts: outline, chart, web, some sort of graphic organizer

5. Writing: Developing the First Draft
Focus on getting ideas down on paper. Perfection eludes you at this point.
Incorporate details from your prewriting stage, but do not hesitate to add new ideas and/or details.
Be sure your writing has a beginning, middle and end.
Write on every other line when using pen/pencil and paper and double space when word processing. This will allow room for revising your work.

6. Revising: Improving Your Writing
Leave your first draft for some time and return to it only after you have thought about other things
Read your first draft slowly, carefully and critically.
Use the following questions as a revising guide:
Is my topic interesting for the reader?
Does the beginning catch the reader’s attention?
Are the ideas in order and easy to understand?
Have I included enough details to support my central idea?
Does the ending leave the reader with something to think about?
Do I sound interested in, and knowledgeable about, the topic?
Are the nouns specific and the verbs active?
Are the modifiers (adjectives and adverbs ) clear and descriptive?
Does the whole piece read smoothly?
Ask at least one other person to read your writing and give suggestions.
Many any necessary changes. There will be changes.

7. Editing: Checking for Conventions
Punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and grammar
Have at least one other person check your writing for ears.
Proofread your final copy, once written, before publishing it.

8. Publishing: Sharing Your Writing
Share with whom you so choose (friends, classmates, a pet, and/or family)
Consider submitting your work to a newspaper, website, blog or other publication.
In this class, save all your work and be sure to put it and a copy in your portfolio.