1. Purdue University Writing Lab Finding Your Focus: The Writing Process A presentation brought to you by the Purdue University Writing Lab

2. Purdue University Writing Lab Everyone has a writing process. What is yours?

3. Purdue University Writing Lab Why do you need a writing process? It can help writers to organize their thoughts. It can help writers to avoid frustration and procrastination. It can help writers to use their time productively and efficiently.

4. Purdue University Writing Lab Writing process Prewriting Drafting Revising Editing Final Copy (Publishing)

5. Purdue University Writing Lab Step1-Prewriting: Getting your ideas on paper Brainstorming:  Getting your ideas on paper so you can give yourself the widest range of topics possible

6. Purdue University Writing Lab Brainstorming: coming up with ideas that interest you Listing: 1. Political apathy 2. Animal abuse NFL instant replay Air pollution Telemarketing scams Internet censorship NBA salary caps Paper Topics Brainstorming

7. Purdue University Writing Lab Clustering: mapping out ideas ME Internet censorship telemar- keting scams NFL instant replay NBA political apathy three-party system salary caps sportsmanship animal abuse First Amendment Flag Burning Amend- ment

8. Purdue University Writing Lab Collection Gathering ideas Locating and evaluating research Conducting interviews

9. Purdue University Writing Lab Organizing: putting information in an outline OUTLINE I. Introduction A. Grab attention B. State thesis II. Body A. Build points B. Develop ideas C. Support main claim III. Conclusion A. Reemphasize main idea

10. Purdue University Writing Lab Step 2 - Drafting Give yourself ample time to work on your project. Find a comfortable place to do your writing. Avoid distractions. Take breaks.

11. Purdue University Writing Lab Step 3-Revising: reviewing ideas Review higher-order concerns:  Clear communication of ideas  Organization of paper  Paragraph structure  Strong introduction and conclusion

12. Purdue University Writing Lab Step 4-Proofreading Review later- order concerns:  Spelling  Punctuation  Sentence structure

13. Purdue University Writing Lab Proofreading tips Slowly read your paper aloud. Read your paper backwards. Exchange papers with a friend. NOTE: Spell check will not catch everything, and grammar checks are often wrong!

14. Purdue University Writing Lab The Writing Process: Find Your Focus Prewriting Drafting Revising Proofreading Final Copy (publishing)