1. ENG 101: Freshman Composition
The Writing Process
ENG 101:
Freshman Composition

2. Writing is a process; it is not a singular act.
Instead, effective writing is a procedure with several steps to follow before submitting a final polished product.
Just as students accept that there are processes in other educational fields: mathematics, chemistry, biology, music, photography, engineering, automotive repair, computer programming, Web design, and culinary artistry, student-writers must realize that composition (effective writing communication) consists of steps as well.

3. THE WRITING PROCESS
Invention/Pre-Writing – During invention, you decide what to write about and gather information to support or explain what you want to say.
Arrangement – During arrangements, you decide how you are going to organize your ideas.
Drafting & Revising – During drafting and revising, you write several drafts as you consider your ideas and refine your style and structure.
Editing & Proofreading – During editing, you focus on grammar and punctuation as well as on sentence style and word choice. During proofreading, you correct spelling, mechanical errors, and typos and check your essay’s format.

4. Invention/Pre-Writing
During invention, you decide what to write about and gather information to support or explain what you want to say.
Understand your assignment: Length, Purpose, Audience, Occasion, and Knowledge.
Move from Subject to Topic.
Find something to say: Free Write, Brainstorming, Journal Writing, Group Ideas (Clustering), and informal outline.
Develop a thesis.

5. Arrangement
During arrangements, you decide what you are going to organize your ideas.
Recognize a pattern.
Understand parts of the essay.
Construct a formal outline.

6. Drafting & Revising
During drafting and revising, you write several drafts as you consider your ideas and refine your style and structure.
Write your first draft.
Revise your essay
Checklist
Review Outline
Peer Editing Group
Instructor Input

7. Editing
During editing, you focus on grammar and punctuation as well as on sentence style and word choice.
Grammar
Punctuation
Sentence Style and Word Choice

8. Proofreading
During proofreading, you correct spelling, mechanical errors, and typos and check your essay’s format.
*Be aware of Commonly Confused Words.

9. Writing is a recursive process
As writers move through the composition process, they will not necessarily do so in a mono-directional way. The writing process is not a one-way street. Sometimes, writers will have to repeat a step or a few steps or all of the steps as they proceed toward an effective piece of composition.
In life and in other courses, sometimes we have to backtrack to get it correct.
If we are in a career we do not enjoy, we go back to school to major in one we would prefer.
If we didn't get the reaction in the beaker we were supposed to, we go back through the process and check our notes.
If our car doesn't stop after we replace the brake pads, we break everything down and start anew.

10. By carefully and successfully completing the objectives of each step in this process, writers can construct a document that is clear, coherent, and relatively free of errors. Along the way, they must plan and organize before they write, and they must write multiple drafts -- not just one. Thus, the submitted work represents a culmination of hard work: careful consideration, planning, reworking, and proofreading.

11. Rhetorical modes (also known as modes of discourse)
Rhetorical modes describe the variety, conventions, and purposes of the major kinds of writing. Four of the most common rhetorical modes and their purpose are
Narration
Description
Exposition
Argumentation

12. Rhetorical Strategies
Rhetorical strategies are the plan for achieving a specific writing purpose.
Narration
Description
Compare/Contrast
Cause/Effect
Argument
Example
Division/Classification
Process The Patterns 

13. Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the study of effective thinking, writing, and speaking strategies; the art of persuasion.

14. LET’S GET STARTED!