WRITING

PROCESS:
Paragraph and Essay Writing

by Dr. Jelena Josijevic

jelena.josijevic@filum.kg.ac.rs
WARM-UP

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WRITING
PROCESS
A writing process is a complex process that should go through the following four
stages:
1. INVENTION

4. EDITING AND
2. ARRANGEMENT
PROOFREADING

3. DRAFTING AND
REVISING

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1. INVENTION (or
PRE-WRITING)
 INVENTION
During the invention phase, we decide what to write about and gather
information to support or explain what we want to communicate.

1.BRAINSTORMING: (1) FINDING AND (2) ORGANIZING IDEAS

2. SELECTION OF IDEAS
3. DEVELOPING A THESIS

Find as many Organize your ideas by Choose the most Develop a

ideas as figuring out logical relations relevant arguments thesis!
to focus on!
possible! between them! 7
FINDING IDEAS: TECHNIQUES

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ORGANIZING IDEAS:techniques

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ORGANIZING IDEAS:techniques

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SELECTING IDEAS
What to include and what to exclude?

moving from…

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 A thesis is a central point of your essay, i.e. your main idea.
 It is explicitly announced in a sentence called thesis statement.
 Thesis statement should be revealed in an introduction.
 Thesis statement acts like a promise (to ourselves and
readers) and we should keep that promise.
 It is useful for authors because it reminds us what to say and
what not to mention.
 It is useful for readers because they will know what to expect.
They will get to know the purpose of your essay.

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Thesis:
……………………………………………………………………
……
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 2.
ARRANGEMENT
ARRANGEMENT. During this stage, we decide how we are going to organize
our essay.
Essays consist of : an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

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 2.1. body paragraph

PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

 Topic sentence
 Supporting sentences (i.e. evidence)
 Concluding sentence

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TOPIC SENTENCE is the first sentence of your body paragraph and it should state its
main idea.
Paragraph 1:
First and foremost, teachers must be patient. ……
…………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………….
Paragraph 2:
Second, teachers must always be respectful……..
…………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………
Paragraph 3:
Last but not least, teachers should be
supportive……………….
…………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………… 19
SUPPORTING SENTENCES are the sentences that talk about or explain
your topic sentence. The topic sentence is most commonly supported
by providing details, explanations or examples.

Paragraph coherence and cohesion!

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CONCLUDING SENTENCE is the last sentence of a paragraph. It can finish
a paragraph by repeating the main idea or just giving a final comment
about the topic.
The first and most important challenges that Shanghai residents
must face on daily basis are the apocalyptic levels of pollution.
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………
………………….
With air pollution, polluted water and the current levels of noise pollution,
it appears that the residents of Shanghai have been systematically
murdered by their own city.

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 2.2.
INTRODUCTION
H OOK

I INFORMATION

T HESIS STATEMENT

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 Hook
 the opening sentence whose main purpose is
to attract the reader’s attention.

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Information “There is always some madness in love. But
there is always some reason in madness.”
 general
information This famous quote highlights that love
that leads and insanity go hand in hand.
readers
from your This correlation has been one of the
hook to most explored themes in the world
literature.
your thesis
Fictional novels delve
deeper into the
connection that any other
literary form.
The main theme of Emily
Brontë’s Wuthering Heights
is the addictive love of its
protagonists which ends in
madness, cruelty, and
violence.
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Thesis statement

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 2.3.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION

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 2.4.
ESSAY OUTLINE
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3.DRAFTING AND
REVISING
4. editing and
proofreading
First draft

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 Revising
 Reading focusing on ideas only
 Tips:
 Allow yourself a cooling-off period
 Revise on a hard copy
 Read aloud
 Ask for feedback
 Revise in stages

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Editing and Proofreading
 When we edit, we search for grammatical errors, check
punctuation and look over our sentence style and word
choice one last time.

 When we proofread, we look for surface errors, such as

spelling errors, typos, incorrect spacing, or our essay’s
format.

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✘ Sources:
 Hewings and Thaine 2012: M. Hewings and C. Haine, Cambridge Academic English: An
integrated skills course for EAP. Advanced, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Oshima and Hogue 1983: A. Oshima and A. Hogue, Writing Academic English, New York:
Longman.
 Hogue 2007: A. Hogue, Introduction to Academic Writing, New York: Pearson Education.
 Lunsford 2010: A. A. Lunsford, The Everyday Writer, with Exercises, Boston – New York: St.
Martin’s – Bedford.
 Zemach and Islam 2006: D. Zemach and C. Islam, Paragraph Writing. From Sentence to
Paragraph, Oxford: Macmillan Education.

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THANKS!
Any questions?

jelena.josijevic@filum.kg.ac.rs

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