STEP BY STEP Follow these instructions for writing your process essay.

STEP BY STEP

Follow these instructions for writing your process essay.

1. Select your topic, directional or informational. Directional is easier.

Something not to complicated, something with five to eight steps, generally

Something not ridiculously and famously simple…

Avoid peanut butter sandwiches, changing a tire, changing a diaper or any other simple task everyone can do. Workable Topics How to edit a video

How to bathe a cat How a particular accident occurred

How to complain effectively How to rent your first apartment

How to use Twitter How a phone camera works

How to give yourself a haircut How the writing process works

How to quit smoking How to grill the perfect steak

2. Make a chart.

List all the items needed for a directional process.

List all the steps in the process.

This organizer is for the sample student essay on catching river crabs.

If you want good essay grades, never skip the planning stage of the writing process.

The finished short sample essay onriver crab fishing is posted at the end of this slide show.

Note how it is written and formatted.

Items needed All steps

15 ft. fiberglass boat go – low tide

extra gas – steel can find spot – near shore water 4-5 ft. deepTwo 13-ft. oars weight and bait linesTwo steel anchors tie end to boat railSeat cushions for all submerge bait slowlyScoops and then slowly bring to just below surfaceCrab lines – heavy dutyString 10-15 ft. Crab nibbles - scoop up and drop in crateWeights – 2-inchMetal washers Take crabs home boil water…add crabs and crab boilBait – chicken necks lid on pot

cook 20 min – bright orange use tongs – spread crabs onto newspaper cool, enjoy

3. Now, be alert and be critical.

Check your lists. Mentally or even physically, go through the process, step by step.

Make sure no supplies/tools, ingredients are missing.

Make sure all steps are in order and that none are left out.

Once your writing “route” is mapped out, you can write without getting off track or lost.

4. Organize

Develop a thesis statement. The thesis should tell - what the process is and why it’s valuable, interesting, or important

This thesis is from the essay on crab fishing:

Anyone who wants the first crabbing experience to be a successful one must come prepared with the right equipment, knowledge, and love of crabmeat.

Determine what goes into each paragraph.

Introductory paragraph withthesis at the end

Body paragraphs with main steps, explanations, and descriptions for eachstep

And Organize Further

This brief outline organizes the paper about crabbing.

Introduction - what crabbing is, the fun in it, easy to be successful

Body 1 - Get equipment – boat, fuel, oars, cushions, scoops, crate, lines, weights, bait Body 2 - Find spot and follow fishing steps: bait lines, tie lines to boat, drop and raise lines, scoop crab, crate crab

Body 3 - Home and cooking the crabs and serving them

Conclusion - Summarize the paper or steps and restate the thesis

The finished river crab fishing essay is on the lessons page. Open it to read the finished paper and to see how to format your papers.

5. Draft

Have your rough outline, or your paper “map” in front of you.

In one sitting, draft your entire paper.

Don’t worry much about sentence structure or grammar or punctuation YET.

Get the draft onto paper or into a file.

Put the draft aside for a day.

Give yourself time away from the first draft to see it more clearly when you revise.

TAKE HEEDMany students turn in first drafts or barely modified rough drafts.

Turning in such drafts is their right.

Not considering these rough drafts to be good papers worthy ofGood grades is the right of the instructors.

If you turn in a rough draft, please don’t complain about your grade.

If you want to improve your writing, continue.

6. Revise in general – every paper

Read the paper aloud. Have someone read it to you while you listen. Take feedbackon clarity and basic organization.

Check sentence structure. Revise fragments and run-ons.

Check for consistent verb tense.

Check for consistent person and eliminate any direct second person.

Check subject-verb agreement.

Check pronoun and antecedent agreement.

Check modifier placement.

Check punctuation and spelling. Make the paper noticeably BETTER.

Use this grammar review site from Purdue Online Writing Lab.

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/5/

Specific Revisions for the Process Essay

It’s easy to clutter your paper with unnecessary working and awkward wording.

To avoid doing so and to make a better paper, avoid these problems that plague most student writers of process essays.

Use second person if you speak to the reader, but avoid whenever possibleusing these words. They are second person pronouns.

you, your, yours, you’re, yourself

Wrong You then loosen the screws on the computer case.

Right Next, loosen the screws on the computer case.

Continue to more specifics.

Avoid writing in the language, “Recipese,” or the clipped language of cookbooks.

Your essay is not a recipe. Use full sentences and avoid abbreviations.

First, put 2 qt clean water in 2 gal. bucket. Add ¼ c dish detergent. Stir with paint stir till soap mixed in. Rinse sponge under faucet and wring out then dip in bucket.

This is how your instructor will react.

REVISED AND CORRECTED version:

First, put two quarts of clean water in a two-gallon bucket.Then add a quarter cup of dish detergent. Stir the wateruntil the soap is mixed in. Under the faucet, rinse the sponge and wring out the excess water. This reaction is better for you.

Common Bad Wording Found in Process Essays.

Get rid of these expressions.

You want to (scrub the toilet.)

Instead: Next, thoroughly scrub the toilet.

You will need to (remove the dirty dishes from the tables).

Instead: Remove the dirty dishes from the tables.

Then begin (or start) to (remove all the packaging.) Instead: Remove all the packaging.

You’re going to want to start to…(sand the boards)

Instead: Then sand the boards.

And curb the urge to use the word GRAB.

Planning Sheets for Your Process Essay

Topic ____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why the process is useful or important or interesting ______________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Using this information, develop your thesis statement. Consider the sample thesis statements.

Setting up a garage sale well is fairly easy and can ultimately increase profits from the sale.

Getting out of the house to school or work in the morning is easy for people who follow an evening preparation process.

Building an attractive home recycling bin is easy and inexpensive, and it allows for conserving resources.

Writing an essay can be stress free for students who follow the writing process.

Now, try your own thesis statement.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Be sure to submit your thesis to the drop box by the deadline so your instructor can offer assistance.

Planning and Organizing

Take time to determine what goes into your essay BEFORE you draft. Use the chart below.

Items Needed Process Steps

Next, check and organize your list.

All tools, ingredients, materials are listed with amounts, numbers All steps are included in chronological order.

Definitions, explanations, and descriptions are added for clarity.

Following the list as your guide, write, in one sitting, your entire rough draft.

After drafting, save it and put it away for a day.

Return to it to make revisions.

The next day, revise critically.

Read the paper aloud. Have someone read it to you.

Follow the revision guides and correct your errors. Type your paper in MLA formatting and submit on time.

On the lesson page, find and open the finished river crab fishing essay.