WEEK 1 LESSON: STAGES OF THE WRITING PROCESS ENG 101-O English Composition
GOOD WRITING What is good writing? Good writing communicates a clear message to a specific audience, with a known purpose, and an appropriate tone. It s something that we all recognize, but it becomes more difficult when we try to explain why a particular piece of writing is good. Once you are able to do this, though, you can start examining what is good about a piece of writing and learning to use those same techniques in your own work. Remember, there are no shortcuts or formulas, but there are strategies - a plan designed to achieve a goal. Good Writing Contains: An idea - Ideas are at the heart of your writing, so choose ideas that are interesting and important. Logical organization - Organization involves the order of ideas and the way the writer moves from one idea to the next, so organization needs to be logical and effective. Smooth transitions from one paragraph to the next and paragraphs that stick to one topic are key. A voice - Voice is how the writing feels to your reader. Is it formal or casual? Friendly or reserved? It is important that your voice is both individual and appropriate for each audience and purpose. Word choice - Be specific, memorable, and unique with your choice of words. Fluent sentences - Fluent sentences are sentences where writing flows smoothly from word to word. Conventions - Grammar, spelling, and punctuation make writing easy to read and convey a sense of quality and professionalism. They also demonstrate to the reader that the writer took time to polish the piece so that it is worthy of the reader s time. Standard conventions of grammar, spelling, and punctuation are expected in formal writing for the workplace and for publication, even online. Readers will often judge the credibility and intelligence of the writer based on use of conventional spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Natalie B. (Photographer). (2015). [digital image]. Used under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license https:// www.pexels.com/photo-license/. Retrieved from Pexels website: https://www.pexels.com/photo/hand-pen-writingplant-58457/
PREWRITING The writing process includes prewriting, drafting, revision, and publishing. Prewriting is the first stage of the writing process and includes any activity that helps you think about your topic and prepare to write your paper. These are techniques that can help you get your ideas onto the page, so you know what you want to say and what you might still need to find out through research. Prewriting will make the actual drafting process smoother and easier. Writing well, for most people, takes time and practice. Eventually, you should get to the point where you can write somewhat efficiently anywhere and on the spot, but you should also try to figure out where you do your best writing. Some people write at the park, the beach, at coffee shops, and more. Find a place that has little distraction and try different places and atmospheres to see what works best for you. Freewriting The best way to begin freewriting is to think about what you re interested in writing. When you are ready, don t read or listen to anything or watch any television. Instead put your thoughts immediately down on paper. Think about your topic. Don t worry about grammar, logic, coherence, or even communicating. Just write whatever comes to your mind. For some, music helps with this. For some, silence is better. If you do use music, I recommend music without lyrics. PREWRITING DRAFTING REVISION PUBLISHING
Journals can be a great way to improve your writing ability. Keeping a writing journal isn t like keeping a personal diary. Instead, it s a method to help you learn to write more fluidly and less effortlessly by writing every day with little or no pressure. You simply write each day about whatever is on your mind, practicing getting thoughts into words on paper (or on a computer). Without the need to revise or edit, writers learn to draft more effortlessly through this prewriting. It can also spawn ideas for pieces to be developed later for publication. Journalistic questions are ways of coming up with some quick ideas, and can be a great way to figure out what you want to say in your paper. If you don t know where to start, answer these questions in relation to your topic who, what, where, when, and why. Mind Mapping, another form of prewriting, is a creative brainstorming method that s used to map out your ideas in an organized structure. You can look at websites like mindomo.com, that will provide you with a free place to mind map on your computer. Or, if you prefer, you can sketch out a mind map on paper. Gregory Ed. (Photographer). (2014). [digital image]. Used under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license https://www.pexels.com/ photo-license/. Retrieved from Pexels website: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-woman-apple-hotel-5329/
DRAFTING Now that you ve built your foundation through prewriting activities that helped you generate some basic ideas to start with, it is time to begin actually writing, or drafting, your paper. As you draft, consider this writing a first draft. Take your ideas generated through prewriting, and begin writing in the order you think you want to discuss the topic. You may have already started this process with an outline or a list of main points generated in your freewriting. The goal of drafting is to begin organizing your thoughts into a more unified paper, knowing you can reorder, reword, revise, and clean up spelling and punctuation later. Drafting is about ideas getting all the ideas down and choosing which to use and which to leave out, so that later you can work with them to refine the details. Once you have made decisions about what to include, separate your ideas into paragraphs. Each paragraph should be based on one single, or main, idea. Learn to Play - The purpose of drafting is in part to experiment with what you want to say. It s okay and to be expected that you are not always (almost never) going to get it right the first time. In fact, you might want to think of it as experimenting. Start out just playing with words, then work on getting more serious. What Is a Paragraph? A paragraph usually consists of 5-7 related sentences dealing with one single topic. Learning to write good paragraphs will help you stay on track when both drafting and revising and will make your writing much easier to read. No matter how great your ideas, if your writing isn t well organized, you are likely to lose your readers. In general, each paragraph should contain only one main idea. If you begin to transition into a new idea, you should start a new paragraph. There are some simple ways to tell if you are on the same topic or a new one. You can have one idea and several pieces of supporting evidence in a single paragraph. You can also have several points in a single paragraph as long as they relate to the overall topic of the paragraph. If the single points start to get long, then perhaps placing each one of them in their own paragraphs will make your writing more clear.
A Topic Sentence A topic sentence tells your reader what main idea your paragraph is going to cover. The topic sentence for your paragraph is much like your thesis statement for your whole paper, but a topic sentence applies specifically to the main idea of each paragraph. Always try to put your topic sentence near the beginning of the paragraph. Development The topic introduced by the topic sentence should be discussed in detail in your paragraph. TIP: If a paragraph is only two or three sentences in length, it is likely not detailed enough. Look for the topic sentence shown in the paragraph below: Tom s family took a skiing trip to a mountain resort. On the drive up, they saw white-tipped peaks dotted with blue pines. The air had the crisp smell of snow. They skied down soft, powdered slopes. They saw some prickly porcupines. They came home Sunday night. The main idea is the first sentence: Tom s family took a trip to a mountain ski resort. All of the remaining sentences contain details that tell more about the main idea, the skiing trip.
REVISION Revision is the process of refining your draft. It can include big tasks such as adding more information, details, or examples; deleting parts that aren't relevant; making ideas more clear; better sequencing of paragraphs or sentences; changing the voice or tone; rephrasing small sections; or choosing better words and phrases. It also includes final stage editing and proofreading for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting. All good writers revise their work. No one gets it perfect on the first draft. Developing effective writing skills is learning to apply the revision stage of the writing process to fully develop and refine your writing. Sometimes a lot of good revision occurs during the drafting process as you reread sections, and other types of revision (such as proofreading) are usually most useful toward the end of the process, just before publication. Revision is not just correcting your choice of words; it s really a way of reviewing and possibly altering your perspective and perhaps even starting over and writing anew. That should never make you feel like you have wasted your time. Writing is an act of discovery, and sometimes you have to write the wrong thing to discover what you actually want to say. That s very important, and it gets easier the more you do it. Here are some tips for how to revise effectively: Put your paper aside for a little while, then reread it with fresh eyes. Have someone else read your paper and tell you what they think is clear, what they think you are saying, and what is confusing. Review your goals, your audience, and your desired tone. Does your paper address these goals as intended? Check your organization. Do you use smooth transitions between paragraphs? Does each paragraph have one main topic? Do you have an introductory and a concluding paragraph? Read your paper out loud and see how it sounds. Does it have the clarity and tone you expected?
Transitions A very important element of organizing your paper is transitioning smoothly between paragraphs. Transitions are usually one or several sentences that smoothly transition from one idea to the next. Transitions can be used at the end of most paragraphs to help each paragraph flow into the next. To present a smooth train of thought to your readers, you must make sure each paragraph follows the one before it and leads to the one after it by using clear, logical transitions. One very effective way to create smooth transitions is to use words and phrases created just for that purpose conjunctive adverbs and transitional phrases. Conjunctive Adverbs and Transitional Phrases Conjunctive adverbs modify whole sentences to link them to preceding sentences or paragraphs. Here is a list of some of them, courtesy of The Brief Holt Handbook (Kirszner, 2010): accordingly also anyway besides certainly consequently finally furthermore hence however incidentally indeed instead likewise meanwhile moreover nevertheless next nonetheless now otherwise similarly still then thereafter therefore thus undoubtedly Transitional phrases can perform the same function: in addition in contrast for example for instance of course as a result in other words as a result Kirszner, L. (2001). The brief holt handbook, third edition. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt College Publishers.
Proofreading Paragraph Transitions At some point in your editing process, look at the end of each paragraph and see how it connects to the first sentence of the paragraph after it. If the connection seems choppy, improve the transition by using a conjunctive adverb or transitional phrase. Sometimes the best solution is cutting a paragraph and replacing it with one that fits your train of thought more clearly. Once you have completed your written paper, answer the following questions: Did I follow the instructions for the assignment thoroughly? Do I have an Introductory Paragraph, multiple Body Paragraphs, and a Concluding Paragraph? Does each paragraph have a topic sentence that controls that paragraph? Have I proofread for any mistakes? Have I read my paper out loud to make sure it is clear? quinntheislander (2016). [digital image]. Used under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license https://pixabay.com/en/service/ terms/#usage. Retrieved from Pixabay website: https://pixabay.com/en/correcting-papers-english-teacher-1351629/
PUBLISHING When you feel that your work is ready, you should try to get it to a wider audience, or publish your work. Publishing can mean anything from posting on a discussion board to having your work printed in a publication like a magazine or book. Once you have drafted, revised, and proofread to polish your work, there are more avenues than ever to get it published. Here are a few websites that can help: How To Blog: A Beginner's Blog Publishing Guide How (& Where) to Get a Short Story Published 19 Websites and Magazines That Want to Publish Your Personal Essays 5 Publications Perfect for College Writers Pixelcreatures (2014). [digital image]. Used under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license https://pixabay.com/en/service/terms/#usage. Retrieved from Pixabay website: https://pixabay.com/en/cms-wordpress-265133/ No one is born a writer. You must become a writer. In fact, you never cease becoming, because you never stop learning how to write. Even now, I am becoming a writer. And so are you. Joe Bunting