Process Writing

Prewriting
• Prewriting is thinking and planning the writer does
before drafting. It considers the following aspects:

- the topic, audience and purpose

- gathering information

- choosing a form

- making a plan for organizing and elaborating ideas.

 Determine Your Purpose
• Purpose is the reason you are writing.

• Whenever you write, you always have a purpose.

Most writing fits into one of three categories:
– Expressive Writing
– Informative Writing
– Persuasive Writing

• More than one of these may be used, but one will

be primary.
 Determine Tone

• Tone is the mood or attitude you adopt as

you write.

– Serious or frivolous/humorous?

– Intimate or detached?
 Determine Point-of-View

• Point-of-view is the perspective from which

you write an essay.

• One of the most common errors in writing

occurs when the writer shifts point-of-view
unnecessarily!
 Choose/Narrow Your Topic

• Ask yourself three questions about the

topic:

1. Does it interest you?

2. Do you have something to say about it?

3. Is it specific?
 Determine Your Audience
• Your Audience is composed of those who will read
your writing. Ask yourself:

– Who are my readers?

– What do my readers know about my topic?

– What do my readers need to know about my

topic?

– How do my readers feel about my topic?

 Reasons for Prewriting
• Students who use prewriting strategies
are more effective writers because they
are able to more successfully choose and
narrow a topic.

• Prewriting also helps writers develop the

topic, and plan how to write about it.
 Pre-Writing Strategies
Pre-writing strategies use writing to generate and clarify
ideas. The strategies include:

– brainstorming

– Clustering and concept mapping

– free writing

– outlining

– asking the questions

 Brainstorming
• Brainstorming is a process of generating a lot of
information within a short time by building on the
association of previous terms you have mentioned.

• Jot down all the possible terms that emerge from the
general topic you are thinking about.

• Group the items that you have listed according to

arrangements that make sense to you.

• Give each group a label

• Don’t worry about ‘good’ or ‘bad’ ideas.

 Clustering/Webbing/Mind Mapping
• Clustering is a strategy that allows you to explore
the relationships between ideas.
• Put the subject in the center of a page. Circle or
underline it.
• As you think of other ideas, link the new ideas to
the central circle with lines.
• As you think of ideas that relate to the new ideas,
add to those in the same way.
• Locate clusters of interest to you, and use the terms
you attached to the key ideas as paragraph topics
and supporting details.
 Clustering – connections
Thick jungles orange
cowardly

mane
Courage grasslands

Africa

tiger

lion sharp teeth

lioness

tough man-eating
dangerous
 Mind Map
Never stop Instill a love
learning of education
education in my children
Eventually
get a PhD
Learn to love My future
whatever work Make them
I am doing a priority
Stay at home family
work
while raising
Use the skills I children
have learned in Stay close to
as many ways as Raise healthy,
my husband
possible happy children
 Linking Ideas
• Clustering is especially useful in determining the
relationship between ideas.

• You will be able to distinguish how the ideas fit

together, especially where there is an abundance
of ideas.
• Clustering your ideas lets you see them visually
in a different way, so that you can more readily
understand possible directions your essay may
take.
 Outlining
“Outlining” is an more organized form of pre-
writing.

• 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.

• You can use phrases instead of writing complete

sentences
 Free-writing
• Free-writing is a process of generating a lot of
information by writing non-stop. It allows you to
focus on a specific topic, but forces you to write so
quickly that you are unable to edit any of your
ideas.

• Free-write on the assignment or general topic for

5-10 minutes non-stop.

• Force yourself to continue writing even if nothing

specific comes to mind.
Free Writing

• Generating ideas is what is important, not the

grammar or the spelling.

• After you've finished free-writing, look back over

what you have written and highlight the most
prominent and interesting ideas; then you can begin
all over again, with a narrower focus.

• You will narrow your topic and, in the process, you

will generate several relevant points about the topic.
 WH Questions
• Ask WH questions when you are writing
assignments, 5 W's and 1 H: 
Who?, What?, Where?, When?, Why?, How? 

• You can use these questions to explore the topic

you are writing about for an assignment.

• A key to using these questions is to make them

flexible enough to account for the specific details
of your topic.
Who?
• Who are the participants?
• Who is affected?
• Who are the primary actors?
• Who are the secondary actors?

What?
• What is the topic?
• What is the significance of the topic?
• What is the basic problem?
• What are the issues?
Where?
• Where does the activity take place?
• Where does the problem or issue have its source?
• At what place is the cause or effect of the problem most
visible?

When?
• When is the issue most apparent? (past? present? future?)
• When did the issue or problem develop?
• What historical forces helped shape the problem or issue
and at what point in time will the problem or issue
culminate in a crisis?
• When is action needed to address the issue or problem?
Why?
• Why did the issue or problem arise?
• Why did the issue or problem develop in the
way that it did?

How?
• How is the issue or problem significant?
• How can it be addressed?
• How does it affect the participants?
• How can the issue or problem be resolved?
 Self Addressed Questions

• Self-addressed questions are a powerful

way to develop a great deal of information
about a topic very quickly.

• At times during writing an assignment, you

may wish to go back and ask these
questions again to clarify important points
that may be getting lost in your planning
and drafting.
Writing a Draft
 Writing a Draft
• Basics of a good draft:
– Has a fully developed introduction and
conclusion

– Has fully developed body paragraphs, each

containing a topic sentence, at least two
examples, and detailed support

– Follows standard structure and uses

complete sentences
 Write Your Introduction
• Your introductory paragraph should ….
– Be a minimum of 4-6 sentences

– Tell the audience what to expect from your

discussion (thesis)

– Move from general to specific, with the thesis as the

last sentence in the intro

– Get the reader’s attention

– Set the tone for the rest of the essay

 Introduction ….
• Strategies for developing an Introduction include:

– Providing background information

– Telling a personal anecdote

– Beginning with a quotation

– Using an opposite

– Asking a question
 Write Paragraphs

• Each paragraph should develop one of the

specific points mentioned in the thesis.

• Each paragraph should contain:

– Topic Sentence—main idea of BP

– Primary Support—examples

– Secondary Support—details
 Paragraphs: Topic Sentence

• A Topic Sentence expresses the main idea of the

paragraph.

• Begin each body paragraph with a Topic Sentence that..

– Narrows the focus of the paragraph

– Accurately predicts the direction of the paragraph

– Refers back to the Thesis statement

 Paragraphs..

• Paragraphs must have:

– Unity—everything refers back to main point

– Support—examples and details

– Coherence—all points connect to form a

whole; one point leads to another
 Paragraphs: Unity

• Unity is achieved when everything refers back

to the main point

– ALL SENTENCES SHOULD RELATE BACK TO

TOPIC SENTENCE & THESIS.

– Do not include any ideas that are irrelevant

or off-topic.
 Paragraphs: Support

• Support is achieved through adequate examples

and details.

• Each body paragraph should include at least two

examples to support the main idea of the
paragraph.

• Each example should include at least one specific

detail that further illustrates the point.
 Paragraphs: Coherence

• Coherence is achieved when all points connect

to form a whole; one point leads to another.

• Coherence is mainly achieved through the use of

transitions.

– Transitions—words and phrases which connect

your sentences so that your writing flows
smoothly.
 Write Your Conclusion

• The concluding paragraph should

– Contain a minimum of four sentences

– Refer back to the main point, but not simply repeat the
thesis

– Make an observation on what is written

– NOT introduce any new ideas

– Create a sense of closure

 Revising

• Revising is finding & correcting problems

with content; changing the ideas in your
writing to make them clearer, stronger, and
more convincing.

• Revising looks at the “Big Picture”—the

Idea level.
 Revision Strategies
– Unity
• Does everything refer back to main point?
• Does each topic sentence refer to the thesis?
• Does each sentence in each BP refer back to the topic
sentence?

– Detail and support

• Does each paragraph contain at least two examples?
• Is each example followed by at least one supporting detail?

– Coherence
• Are all points connect to form a whole?
• Are transitions used to move from one idea to the next?
 Editing

• Editing is finding and correcting problems

with grammar, style, word choice &
usage, and punctuation.

• Editing focuses on the “Little Picture”—

Word level.
 Editing Tips
• Work with a clean printed copy, double-spaced to
allow room to mark corrections.

• Read your essay backwards.

• Be cautious of spell-check and grammar-check.

• Read your essay out loud.

• Get feedback from peers.