CHAPTER 1

ELEMENTS OF PROCESS WRITING

The topics covered in this chapter are:
1.
The Writing Process.
2.
Process Writing.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
1.
2.
1.1

Obtain an overview of the course.

Identify the elements of process writing.
THE WRITING PROCESS

It has always been a challenge to produce a good piece of writing that

serves the intended purpose. More often, the writer is more
concerned with putting his or her ideas on paper with little concern on
the readers reaction towards the written piece. It is important to
remember that at the end of the day, what matter is how the
reader will react to the writing and not what the writer has submitted.
Without a good plan or map to direct your writing task, there is a
danger that you might wander off topic. Thus, it is important that
before you start the writing, spend time to produce a working plan or
map. With all the ideas already written on a piece of paper, it also helps
to identify your strengths and weaknesses (knowledge) regarding the
topic you wish to write about. This planning will help you achieve
consistency and achieve your objective effectively.
1.2

PROCESS WRITING

Often, the writer has many interesting ideas to convey and these can
also be quite complex. However, the writing that explains them need
not be complex. To fulfill readers understanding of his or her ideas,
there are steps that a writer must follow. The following chart illustrates
the six basic steps of writing:

Step 1: Explore ideas

The first step involves discovering your ideas. Before you write an essay,
you should focus your exploration more systematically. As in speaking,
you must have something to say, a reason for saying it, and someone to
say it to. So, ask yourself three questions:

What is my subject?

What is my purpose?

What is my audience?
a)

Subject

If you are given a specific essay question in an examination, then, of

course, what you can write about is limited. On the other hand, when
you are given a free choice of topics and can write about something you
are interested in, then you must narrow the topic to a particular aspect
of that general subject. The subject that is most interesting to your
audience is usually those that you find most interesting. Choose a
subject that you care about and know about (or can find out about).
Then you will have something interesting to say, and will say it more
clearly and confidently.

Ask yourself:
What is my subject?
Is the topic/ title catchy and interesting?
What do I know about the topic?
What do I need to write about?
Suppose your interest is in the mass media. It would be impossible to
cover such a big topic in a paragraph. You would have to narrow the
topic to perhaps television, if that is your interest. Television, however is
still too broad for a topic, so you might even narrow the topic further to
types of movie genres such as horror movies. Finally, you might make
this topic narrower by writing only about the effects of horror movies
on kids. The point is you must narrow the subject of your paragraph to
a specific focus so that you can write about it clearly and complete.
The diagram below illustrates the process of narrowing a general
topic to a specific one.
General topic

MASS MEDIA
T E L E VI S I O N
TYPES OF MOVIE GENRES

Specific topic
Very specific topic

HORROR MOVIES
EFFECTS ON KIDS

b)
Purpose
Communicating always has a purpose: to inform, to persuade, or to
entertain, or maybe to do all three. You could inform your university
lecturers about the effects of smoking on students in the college. You
could also persuade your university lecturers to take action on students
when they smoke in the college. Or you could simply entertain your
university lecturers with examples of odd incidents you have
experienced at while seeing the students smoking in the college. Now
ask yourself:
What is my purpose?
Is it to inform, persuade or entertain?
c)
Reader
Any good writer knows about the impact that reading can have on
his/her writing, so one should know who will be the most appropriate

audience for an essay. Before you start writing, ask yourself:

Who is my reader (audience)?
Do they have any background knowledge of my topic?
Subject: The benefits of diets
Audience: a. Overweight adults
b. Athletes
c. Models
d. Actors and actresses
Step 2: Prewrite
After you have chosen a narrowed topic, purpose and audience, the next
step is to prewrite. This step involves writing your thoughts down on
paper or computer by using one or more of these three techniques. It
is the time to get you started writing more quickly and save you time in
later stages of the writing process. Three useful techniques are:
brainstorming, clustering and free writing. Learn how to do each of
them and decide which is the most productive for you.
a)
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a listing technique in which you think about your topic
and quickly make a list of whatever words or phrases come into your
mind. Your purpose is to produce as many ideas as possible in a short
time. So, ask yourself:
-

What ideas should I list?

Which ideas best suit the topic? (Usually 3 or 4 main points
for the whole essay).

Here is an example of the listing thoughts on the topic of the

experiences faced by the students when they use English language.
Experiences faced by students when use English Language
New language
International friends
Lack of vocabulary
Friends show unclear expressions
Lack of confidence
Difficult to understand
Classroom environment
Poor pronunciation
Family life
Feel shy
Use different slang and accent
Speak slowly
Families seldom speak in English Communication problems
Use incomplete sentences
Friends laugh
Friends ask lots of questions
Poor verbal skills
Family speaks in their own mother
tongue

Now rewrite your list and group similar ideas together under the
central focus (communication problems, classroom environment or
family life). Then, choose one list to be the basis for a paragraph.
Experiences faced by students when use English Language
Group A
(Communication
problems)
New language
Lack of vocabulary
Lack of confidence
Difficult to understand
Poor pronunciation
Feel shy
Speak slowly
Poor verbal skills
Use incomplete
sentences
b)

Group B
(Classroom
environment)

Group C
(Family life)

International friends
Families seldom speak
Friends laugh
in English
Friends ask lots of
Family speaks in their
questions
own mother tongue
Use different slang and
accent
Friends show unclear
expressions

Clustering

This is the second technique that you can use to generate ideas. Heres
how to use this technique: In the center of your paper, write your
subject and then circle around it. Then, write whatever ideas come to
you around the subject circle. Think about each of these ideas and make
circle around them. For example, suppose you had to describe a person
who is close to you in some way. A completed clustering chart might
look like this:

Always give
charity

Attends weekly
Morning Prayer
in mosque

Special dish

Likes
to cook

Very
religious

A close person:
MY MOTHER

Till 10 pm

Boring life
Cell
phone

Works six
days a week
No
Vacation

Wear
T-shirt

c)

Breakfast

Sit in
front
laptop

Workaholic
Stays late
at office

Saturday
night

Read books

Stay
home

Freewriting

The third technique to get started is by freewriting, in which you write

freely about a topic. Dont worry about your grammar, correct word
choice, spelling, or punctuation, because you will probably change your
mind and your wording later. Remember, the more you freewrite, the
more ideas you will have. Dont be discouraged if your mind seems to
run dry. Just keep your pencil moving. Following is an example of
how a freewriting might begin:

Problems at Cendekiawan Library

What is the biggest problem at the library? Well, I really dont
know. In fact, I cant think of one particular problem although I
know there are many problems. For one thing, the library is too
small and always crowded with students. At the beginning of this
semester, a few of the seats and desks were broken. So, not all
students really study in the library. Some students were only
borrowed the books and returned them once they finish reading.
Besides, the library is poorly maintained. In several places, there are
litters on the floor. Students even leave their dirty cups and other
garbage on the desks. Moreover, sometimes they talk a lot and this
is really quite distracting to me and other serious students who
want a quiet place to study. We really have a problem. Therefore, I
think the present library should be expanded or a new library
should be built. Oh yes, I think another problem is parking.
Students have to park their car far away from the library.
Your freewriting may be disorganized and there might be some mistakes
on grammar, punctuation or spelling, but thats all right. Its just a way
to put ideas into words that you can look at, expand on, change or omit.
You can do this freewriting activity several times until you satisfied with
what you have written.
Step 3: Organize
After you have put your ideas into words, you can begin to organize
them. This process involves selecting, subtracting and adding ideas and
then outlining them.
a)

Select

Select the ideas that are necessary, delete the ideas that you do not need
and add some new ideas in your essay. Ask yourself again:
What do I want to say?
Which point do I want to use?
Which points do I want to develop?
Do I need to research some information in completing the essay?
Return to any of your prewriting and do the following:

Underline or highlight the best ideas in your prewrite

technique. You should cross out any items that dont belong or
that arent useable. You can also add to the list as more ideas

b)

occur to you.
Then, rewrite the list, putting related ideas together.
Finally, write a topic sentence. The topic sentence is the most
general sentence in a paragraph and it expresses the central
focus of the paragraph.
Outline

An outline is a formal plan for a paragraph. In an outline, you write

down the main points and subpoints in which you plan to write about
them. With an outline, it should be relatively easy to write a paragraph
about communication problems among local students in Malaysia and
International students. There is a topic sentence, two main points and
two supporting points for the first main point and four supporting
points for the second main point. The outline of the topic
communication problems would look something like this:
Communication problems
Topic sentence

Local
students
in
Malaysia
face
communication problems with International
students.

Main point
Supporting point
Supporting point

1. Local students have poor verbal skills

a) Lack vocabulary
b) Have poor pronunciation

Main point

2. International students are difficult to

understand
a) Use incomplete sentences
b) Use unclear expressions
c) Talk too fast
d) Use slang and idioms

Supporting point
Supporting point
Supporting point
Supporting point

Step 4: Write a first Draft

This step is to write your rough draft based on your outline. It is the
time to put your thoughts together in sentences and paragraphs.
Remember that no piece of writing is ever perfect the first time. Each
time you write a new draft, you will refine and improve your writing.
As always, ask yourself:
Are my thoughts well organised?
Am I making more points than planned?

This is how to proceed:

Write down the topic sentence and start focusing on the topic.

Write your paragraph, following your outline as closely as

possible. Try writing steadily. Dont hesitate to add ideas that
arent in your outline if you are certain they are relevant to the
topic.

At this point, dont worry about being perfect. In fact, it

wont be because your main goal is to write down as much
information as you can, following the points in your outline.

While you are writing about one major point, you might come
up with an idea for another major point. Write it down in the
margin of your paper near where it belongs or click your mouse
at the spot where you want to insert it.

Above all, remember that writing is a continuous process of

discovery. Therefore, as you are writing, you will think of new
ideas that may be not on your prewrite list or in your outline.
The important thing is just be sure that any new ideas are
relevant to the topic.
Step 5: Revise the draft
After you write the first draft, the next step is to revise it. When you
revise, you change what you have written in order to improve it. You
check it over for content and organization, including unity, coherence
and logic. You can change, rearrange, add or delete, all for the goal of
communicating your thoughts more clearly and in an interesting way.
While you are writing, always ask yourself:
Are my details clear? (Correct terms, facts or
numbers, reasons, anecdotes and examples)?
Should I add or take out parts?
Is the writing in sensible and logical order?
Read it aloud - Should I read it aloud?
Here is how to proceed:

After completing your first draft, put it away for awhile. Its hard
to think about changing and correcting your work immediately
after you finish a draft.

Read over your paragraph carefully and check to see whether

you have achieved your purpose.

Check for unity. Cross out any sentences that do not support
your topic sentence.

Study its organization, word choice and details. Youll probably

find things to omit and think of some things to add. Be certain
that each paragraph gives readers enough information to

understand the main idea. If the main point lacks sufficient

information, make notes in the margin such as add more
details or add an example.
Then, make a clean copy before going any further. Dont stop
revising until you are satisfied with (or even proud of) what
youve produced.

Step 6: Produce the final copy

Now you are ready to write the final copy to hand in. Prepare it
according to your instructors guidelines. Before youve finished,
however, you need to pay attention to details youve ignored while
getting ideas on paper and shaping them to fit your purpose and
audiences. You want people to judge your ideas, not your mistakes. So,
be sure that you make all the corrections that you noted before.
a)

Editing

Now that you have revised your work, you can edit it. It is a process of
selecting and preparing a complete work through the processes of
correction. You can edit your writing by referring to these questions:
Are the sentences complete (Subject (S) + Verb (Vb) + Object
(Obj)?)
Are my language conventions correct? (Spelling, capitalization,
punctuation etc.)
Am I using correct grammar and time zone (present tense, past
and future)?
This is how to proceed:

Check and focus on grammar, word choice, verb forms,

punctuation and spelling as it is the real challenges for people
writing in second language. Use dictionary or other references
material you need.

Read the paper more than once. After rereading, dont be

surprised if you decide to make a few minor or even changes.

Copy it over or print it out again with all your corrections. This
draft should be neat. Your instructor will expect it to be written
neatly and legibly in ink or typed.
b)

Proofreading

The next step is to proofread your paper meaning to carefully examining

the final copy. As for the final questions, ask yourself:
Are they accurate?
Is the final print neat and meets the requirements (length, APA

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referencing etc.)
This is how to proceed:

Read through the paper slowly. Place a ruler under each line to
focus your eyes.

Check over each sentence for correctness and completeness: no

fragments and no run-on sentences.

Check over each sentence for a subject and a verb, subject-verb

agreement, correct tenses and also the mechanics (typing errors,
capitalization, spelling and punctuation).

Change vocabulary word as necessary.

Now you are ready to write the final copy to hand in.

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