The Writing Process

 Techniques that writers use to help them get ideas

down on paper and to discover what they know (and
don’t know) about a topic.
 Stages of the Writing Process

 There are several stages to the Writing Process.

Each stage is essential.
 Prewriting
 Writing (Drafting)
 Revising
 Editing
The Writing Process

Pre-Writing

Publishing Drafting

Revising
Organizing
 Prewriting

 Pre-writing is the first stage of the writing process, aimed to

“discover and explore our initial ideas about a subject.”

 At the beginning of writing, it is usual to find yourself

totally blank, without ideas about what to say. Pre-

writing techniques, make it much easier to start a
writing.
 1. Examine Your Purposes:
 You need to know why you are communicating;
 are you writing because you yourself chose to write
or do you initiate the communication?(internal
motivation)
 have you been asked to do so by someone
else?(external motivation)
 2. Determine Your Goals
You might be communicating to
 Persuade your audience to accept your point of view
 Instruct and audience by directing actions
 Inform an audience of facts, concerns, or questions
you might have
 Build trust and rapport by managing work
relationships
 3. Gather Your Data:
The next step is deciding what to say. Planning
techniques to gather data include
 Free Writing
 Writing a Journal
 Answering the reporter’s questions/questioning/
Journalistic Questions
 Mind mapping/ Clustering/ Diagramming
 Brainstorming or making a listing
 Outlining
6 Pre-Writing
Strategies
 The six pre-writing techniques are named as:
1. Brainstorming/ Listing
2. Free Writing
3. Note Keeping/ Keeping a Journal
4. Journalistic Questions
5. Outlining
6. Mind Mapping/ Clustering/ Diagramming/
Webbing
 1. Brainstorming/Listing

 Brainstorming involves capturing all of the ideas

as they flit by in your head, either as words,
phrases, or fragments.
 Don’t worry about spelling or grammar. Write
down your ideas so that you don’t forget them.
 Often, brainstorming looks more like a list while
free writing may look more like a paragraph.
With either strategy, your goal is to get as
many ideas down on paper as you can.
 Example of Brainstorming

Example: You have to write a paper about the environment.

You have no idea where to start! You start by jotting down
points as they come to your mind.

 Environment
 Problems
 Future
 Cars
 Alternative fuels
 Hybrid cars
 Costs
 Benefits?
 Topics for Practice

 Take 5 minutes to practice listing in response to

the following topic:
 Planning a movie night at cinema with friends
 2. Free Writing

 Free writing involves jotting down on paper all of the ideas

you have on a particular topic before you even begin to read
about it or do research.
 You are not worried about complete sentences, proper
spelling, or correct punctuation and grammar.
 Instead, you are interested in “dumping” all of the
information you have on paper. You should write
everything that comes into your head—even if it doesn’t
necessarily make sense yet.
 Give your self a set amount of time (maybe five to ten
minutes), and write down everything that comes to mind
about your topic.
 Example 1 of Free Writing

Topic: Describe the most beautiful place you’ve

seen.
I want to write a detail account of my visit to
the pyramids of Egypt but I don’t know where
to begin from. I remember riding on a camel in
the desert in front of the pyramids of Egypt.
The pyramids were so huge, like pictures but
more majestic than any picture. I can say that
here was a moment in time captured forever.
 Example 2

Example:
I have to write a paper about the environment. I have no
idea where to start! I know there are many problems with
the environment, but I don’t know much about this topic.
Maybe I could take a look at my biology book to come up
with some ideas. I know my biology professor is also really
into the environment, so maybe I could ask for his help. I
remember he was talking about hybrid cars in class the
other day and how much better those are for the
environment. What is a hybrid car? I know it uses some
sort of alternative fuel and they are becoming very popular.
Maybe that is something I could write about…
 Example 3

 A Memorable Moment
 The day I got my driver's license. Cloudy. Raining. Crummy taste
in my mouth. Nervous stomach. Sweaty hands. exam room.
Crowded. People pushing. Smoking. Waiting in line for eternity.
Dirty floor, carved up desk tops. Waiting and waiting. Still in
line. Candy wrappers on floor. People next to me looked
poor. Dirty T-shirts Everyone seems older than me. My written
test graded. Passed. Thanks I said. He ignored me, just looked
straight ahead. Next, he mumbled. Wait. Wait in line for vision
test. People loud, rude, nervous in line. Getting angry at
waiting. Been here three hous said a scruffy looking
kid. Tough. Faceless eye examiner. Passed. Go to the next
line. Thank you. No response. Thanks a lot. Still no
response. Important moment for me.
 Topics for Practice

 Free write for 3-5 minutes on the following topic:

 What is the most frightening experience
you have ever had?
 3. Note keeping/ Keeping a Journal

 A written record of incidents, experiences, and ideas.

 Writers often keep journals to record observations
and explore ideas that may eventually be developed
into more formal essays, articles, and stories.
 Keeping a journal is an excellent way to practice your
writing skills. Your journal is mostly for you. It’s a
private place that you record your experiences and
your inner life; it is the place where as one writer
says, “I discover what I really think by writing it
down.”
 Some instructors require that students keep a
journal to store reactions to essays, fiction, and
poetry or other ideas for writing.

 Journals are also useful for recording

observations, impressions, and incidents when
you conduct firsthand research.
 How to keep a journal?

 You can keep a journal in a notebook.

 Every morning or night, or several times a week,
write for at least fifteen minutes in this journal.
 Don’t just record the day’s events.
 Instead write in detail about what most angered,
moved or amused you that day.
 Your journal is private, so don’t worry about
grammar or correctness.
"Many professional writers use journals, and the habit is a good one for
anybody interested in writing, even if he or she has no literary
ambitions. Journals store perceptions, ideas, emotions, actions--all
future material for essays or stories. The Journals of Henry Thoreau are
a famous example, as are A Writer's Diary by Virginia Woolf, the
Notebooks of the French novelist Albert Camus, and 'A War-time Diary'
by the English writer George Orwell.

"If a journal is really to help you develop as a writer, you've got to do

more than compose trite commonplaces or mechanically list what
happens each day. You have to look honestly and freshly at the world
around you and at the self within.“
(Thomas S. Kane, The New Oxford Guide to Writing. Oxford Univ.
Press, 1988)
 4. Questioning/Journalistic Questions

 As you may know, journalists have six important

questions they need to answer about any story they
report: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
 By answering these questions, journalists can be
certain that they have provided the most important
information about an event, issue, or problem to
their readers.
 To use questioning at its best, try projecting
yourself into the role of a reporter.
 What questions could you ask to elicit information
from other people?
 Example Journalistic Questions

 Suppose that your professor has asked to write about the political
conflict in the Middle East. Using the journalistic technique, you
could begin working on the paper by asking yourself the following
questions:

 Who is involved in the conflict?

 What issues most clearly divide those engaged in this dispute?
 When did the troubles in the Middle East begin, and how have they
developed over time?
 Where does the conflict seem most heated or violent?
 Why have those living in this area found it so difficult to resolve the
situation?
 How might this conflict be resolved?
 Using the journalistic technique helps you make sure you have
answered all of the important questions.
 Practice of Journalistic Questions

 Imagine you have heard about a robbery. A bag of

diamonds is stolen and the owner is murdered.
What journalistic questions would you ask to
investigate?
 5. Outlining

 “Outlining” is a more organized form of pre-writing

than the others we discussed.
 It can be used after you have generated ideas
through brainstorming, free writing, or other pre-
writing techniques.
 It works well for structured types of writing such as
essays.
 It allows you to break a topic into major and minor
components.
 Three types of outline
 Scratch

 Topic

 Sentence
 Scratch Outline:
 A rough list of intended points and ideas (the least formal type
of outline)

 Topic Outline:
 More detailed with ideas presented in key word or phrases in
conventional outline format (i.e., with numbered and lettered
headings & sub-headings).
 Sentence Outline:
Even more developed in complete sentences, each
sentence being a subtopic for a supporting
paragraph. Contains most of the information in an
essay (the most formal type of an outline).
 Example Topic Outline

1.0 The Writing Process

1.1 Prewriting
1.2 Planning Techniques
1.3 Writing
1.4 Rewriting
2.0 Criteria for Effective Technical Writing
2.1 Clarity
2.2 Conciseness
2.3 Document Design
2.4 Audience Recognition
2.5 Accuracy
 6. Mind Mapping/Clustering

 “Mapping,” sometimes called “clustering” or

“webbing” or “word mapping,” is another way to
organize your ideas.
 Start with your topic in the center, and branch
out from there with related ideas.
 Use words and phrases, not complete sentences.
Example
Example: About the value of college education
 Summary

 Prewriting is a practical way to manage fear of

writing. When a writer faces fear and starts
prewriting, progress begins.

 Prewriting is the first stage of the writing process,

an opportunity to discover ideas and write them
down.

 Six common invention techniques, useful in

prewriting, are free writing, clustering,
brainstorming, keeping a journal, outlining, and
questioning.
 You may also gather information for writing from
reading literature and doing research.

 Journals are a valuable way for storing

observations and ideas for later writing.