MANUEL S.

ENVERGA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION

CANDELARIA INCORPORATED

INTRODUCTION pg. 49-54

The book DEVELOPING Reading and Writing Skills by Ma. Joahna M. Estacio is a

book containing different lessons that will improve the critical reading and academic

writing skills of every students. Also this book have different activities inside that will

enhance the prior knowledge of the students but also to help the students learn and

adapt new lessons regarding their critical reading and academic writing. This book

includes three different units that are related to each other. The first unit is THE

READING PROCESS, second unit is READING INTO WRITING, and the third unit is

WRITING IN THE DISCIPLINES AND FOR PROFESSIONS. Include in the unit two is

the Lessons 4 and 5 which are about the R.A.F.T. writing techniques and process on

writing Critique or Critical Essay.

LESSON FOUR: THE PROCESS APPROACH TO WRITING AND THE R.A.F.T

WRITING TECHNIQUE

The objectives of this lesson are:

 To understand the importance of ROLE, AUDIENCE, FOCUS and TOPIC in

writing

 Practice CREATIVITY and CRITICAL THINKING when brainstorming either by

group or individually

 To understand that writing is a crutial and complicated process that requires

CONSTANT RESPONDING, REVISING AND EDITING before publishing

FOCUS :

In the previous lessons we have learned about academic writing and with our prior

knowledge about academic writing we will be able to understand this lesson because

we are prepared to compose different writing outputs done by step-by-step process or

LESSON # 4 and 5 JUDYLENE B. GUNDA

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the R.A.F.T. process. With this process or technique we can easily make our

writing outputs

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in less time because with this technique we can think about the important aspects that

are being consider in making written outputs.

R – means the ROLE of the writer, it answer the question Who are you as the writer?

Are you writing as a student? As a teacher? As a parents? And a lot more.

A –means AUDIENCE, it answer the question To whom you are you writing? Who are

your intended audience, who will read your output? Are you writing for the President?,

for a student?, for a friend?, for the children?, for elderly? And a lot more.

F –means FORMAT, it answer the question In what format are you writing? A research

paper ?, a newspaper?, a letter?, and a lot more.

T –means TOPIC, it answer the question What are you writing about?.

PROCESS APPROACH to WRITING

Writing should not be a one-shot activity, it needs planning and several revision before

the final output is turned. A feedback is also an important aspect in writing your output

because as a writer you have to hear other people’s opinion so you could further

improve your work. Feedback will come not only from your teacher but also from your

peers.

The following are the phases of the process approach to writing:

LESSON # 4 and 5 JUDYLENE B. GUNDA

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1. Prewriting : In this stage, the writer uses several techniques like

brainstorming, freewriting, researching, journaling, outlining, and using diagrams

to list down and map out their thoughts. The R.A.F.T process also done at this

stage.

Question/s: Which technique are you familiar with? How effective is each technique to

you? For me, I am familiar with brainstorming and outlining. Each technique is effective

in regards that each of it helps writer in preparing their output.

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2. Drafting : An initial composition is done at this point. However, the writer should

not be concerned with the language, grammar, and organization yet, because the

goal in doing the first draft is to write down all their ideas to convey an idea.

The first draft is often the draft that takes the longest time to finish. Why do you

think so? In my own opinion it takes long time in making the first draft because in

this stage a lot of thoughts are in the minds of the writer so they cannot process it

easily because of the confusion with bunch of thoughts in their mind.

3. Securing feedback from peers: Guided by a rubric or some questions, writers

exchange work and give comments and suggestions to improve the draft.

Have you tried getting feedback from peers? How was your experience? Yes, in

my experiences the feedback from my peers helps me a lot because of their

comments and suggestion it helps me to improved my work.

4. Revising: Writers review and modify their work to improve the draft.

What can help you revise your draft? What is the importance of this stage in the

process approach writing? Editing can help me to revise my output, and the

importance of revising in writing is that I can be able to correct all the mistakes in my

output.

5. Securing feedback from the teacher: Similar to phase 3, only, it will be the

teacher who will give feedback at this point.

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How do you think this will be different from the peer feedback activity? In my own

opinion the teacher’s feedback is different from peers feedback such that

teachers are more knowledgeable than my peers.

6. Editing: Writers proofread and correct errors in grammar and mechanics and edit

to improve style and clarity.

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How confident are you in checking your own grammatical and mechanical

errors? In terms of checking my own grammar I am not that confident because I

know that I still needs a lot of improvements.

7. Publishing: This is when the writers share their final draft with a group or the

entire class.

Have you experienced sharing your writing output to others? Yes.

IMPORTANCE OF THE R.A.F.T WRITING TECHNIQUE

The more often students write the more proficient they become as writers. The R.A.F.T

is a writing techniques that helps the students to know their role as a writer and how to

effectively communicate their ideas so that they the target audience can easily adapt

and understand their written outputs. Additionally, with the help of the R.A.F.T writing

techniques it helps the students focus on the audience they will address, the formats

they will use and the topic that they will write.

LESSON FIVE: WRITING A CRITIQUE/CRITICAL ESSAY

The objectives of this lesson are:

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 Develop an understanding that writing a critique paper has different

requirements, purposes, and audience when compared to other academic

papers

 Read critically and analyze samples of critique paper to be able to effectively

write his/her own

 Produce a critique paper following the properties of well-written texts and process

approach to writing.

pg. 49-54

Focus

CRITIQUE PAPER

This is an academic paper that calls for a careful evaluation and analysis of a given

topic (such as a piece of writing/literature, a work of art). Many people have the wrong

notion that a critique should only include criticisms; although a critique may point out or

highlight the flaws and limitations of something, it should also have a discussion of the

strengths and plus points of a given topic. We should not only criticize the reading

material but also focus on the important lessons and thoughts that this reading material

can provide to us.

Steps in Writing a Critique Paper

1. “Know” your material. Study and/ or read the material very well. Familiarize

yourself with the topic, theme, and author. Remember that aside from evaluating

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and interpreting it, doing a critique includes informing your readers what the

material is about and describing the material to them.

2. Take note as you read. To remember the key points in the material you are

critiquing, it is wise that you jot down important notes. Your comments,

questions, and unclear parts should be noted down as well for these may form

part of your paper later.

3. Understand the main points of the author/s. After reading the material, review

your notes so you can identify the major ideas of the text. Because of taking

down notes about the major ideas of the reading material it will be easier to

identify what side are you going to discuss, either the agreement/positive or the

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disagreement / negative. Also you need to paraphrase the main points in your

critique paper to save your time and space, doing accurate paraphrases shows that

you really understand the reading material

4. Identify the points that you agree and disagree with. This is the heart of your

paper so you need to clearly articulate your thoughts about your topic. You

should be guided by these basic evaluative points in finalizing your main points;

 Accuracy it is whether the author’s idea is correct and precise.

 Relevance is the importance and significance of the author’s idea to the

issue/topic being discussed and even to a broader area.

 Clarity is the understandability and orderliness of the ideas of the author.

 Logic is the soundness of the author’s idea, which is established primarily

by giving proof and support for the claims he/she makes.

5. Steps 1-4 are all about preparing your content for the critique. This should be

followed by your preparation for the organization. For this you have to look for

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connections among your main points. You may also use an outline or graphic

organizer for this step.

6. Draft your paper. Following the process approach to writing, anticipate that the

first draft will take time to finish. Be PATIENT.

7. Get the feedback whenever possible and continue revising. Mind grammar and

mechanical neatness in the final draft.

THE PURPOSE OF WRITING A CRITIQUE PAPER

The purpose of writing a critique is to evaluate somebody’s work in order to increase the

reader’s understanding of it. Also writing critiques can help us to develop and

understanding the writer’s purpose, their intended readers. Lastly criticizing some

written output can guaranteed that we learned and adapt new knowledge that will add in

our vocabulary.

LESSON # 4 and 5 JUDYLENE B. GUNDA