Writing process

Finding Your Focus:The Writing Process

Writing as a Process

“We don’t plan to fail but we simply fail to plan”

Why do you need a writing process?

It can help writers to organize their thoughts.

It can help writers to avoid frustration and procrastination.

It can help writers to use their time productively and efficiently.

Writing process

Invention Collection Organization Drafting Revising Proofreading

Three Stages of Writing Process:

1. Pre-writingi) Invention & Collection (of ideas)

ii) Purpose & Audience

2. While-writingi) Organization

ii) Drafting: tone & cohesion/coherence

3. Post-writingi) Revising

ii) Proofreading

Stage 1: Pre-writing

Purdue University Writing Lab

Purdue University Writing Lab

i) Invention (coming up with your topic)

a) Free Writing

b) Brainstorming

c) Branching/Clustering

a) Free Writing

Free writing is the way to generate ideas on a topic by writing non-stop for a specified time period.

(1) Write whatever comes to your mind regardless of whether it is about the topic.

(2) If you have nothing to say, write, “I have nothing to say,” until you do say something.

(3) Do not worry about complete sentences, grammar, punctuation or spelling

(4) Give yourself a time limit.(5) After you are finished, underline or

highlight ideas that might be usable.

b) Brainstorming

To do brainstorming:

1) List all ideas about your topic

2) Write words and phrases

3) Give yourself a time limit

(1)Make a list of everything you can think of about your topic.(2)Include facts, ideas, examples, questions or feelings. (3) Do not stop to decide if your ideas are good or bad, write down all of them.(4) Do not worry about grammar or correctness. (5)Give yourself time limit. (6) After you finish brainstorming read

through your list and mark usable ideas.

MAIN TOPIC

c) Branching/Clustering Clustering is thinking with the

help of a diagram. Branching uses free style

diagrams to generate ideas. Branching begins with a trunk

i.e. with the general topic. Related ideas branch out from the trunk like limbs on tree.

One aim of clustering is to narrow a broad subject into a manageable topic.

It can help you narrow a broad subject, such as friendship, to a manageable topic, such as your friend Atif.

Clustering goes a step beyond brainstorming because it groups related ideas.

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& Collection

Gathering ideas Locating and

evaluating research

Conducting interviews

ii) Purpose To inform To entertain To persuade/convinceWe may also want to analyze,

hypothesize, assess, summarize, investigate, report, recommend suggest, evaluate, describe, recount or request.

Example: write a report on the incidence of cancer in your community. What your general purpose might be?

Purpose

Influences

Type of text we wish

to produceLanguage we use

Information chosen to include

& Audience

Limited or specific Universal or general Reader’s expectations. The voices in our heads guiding our

decisions during the writing/reporting process. The imagined interpreters of our

products whose questions we attempt to anticipate when designing/writing.

Audience

influences

Shape of writing(how it is laid out,

how paragraphs are structured, etc.)

Choice of language(formal/ informal

tone)

Stage 2: While-writing

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i) Organizing: putting information in an outlineOUTLINE

I. IntroductionA. Grab attentionB. State thesis

II. BodyA. Build pointsB. Develop ideasC. Support main claim

III. ConclusionA. Reemphasize main idea

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ii) Drafting

Give yourself ample time to work on your project.

Find a comfortable place to do your writing.

Avoid distractions. Take breaks.

Drafting: Tone

Just as the pitch and volume ofone's voice carry a difference in

tone from street to church, the choice of words and the way we put our sentences together convey a sense of tone in our writing. The tone, in turn, conveys our attitude

toward our audience and our subject matter.

Drafting: Cohesion/Coherence

Unity, organization, consistency.

When sentences, ideas, and details fit together clearly, readers can follow along easily, and the writing is coherent.

Methods which can help develop coherence:

1.Repitition of a Key Term or Phrase This helps to focus your ideas and to keep

your reader on track. Example: The problem with

contemporary art is that it is not easily understood by most people. Contemporary art is deliberately abstract, and that means it leaves the viewer wondering what she is looking at.

2.Synonymns:

Synonyms provide some variety in your word choices, helping the reader to stay focused on the idea being discussed.

Example: Myths narrate sacred histories and explain sacred origins. These traditional narratives are, in short, a set of beliefs that are a very real force in the lives of the people who tell them.

ACTIVITY Write synonyms for “method” in the following

selection:There are several methods of fund-raising

that work well with small organizations. One method is to hold an auction with everyone either contributing an item for home or obtaining a donation from a sympathetic local merchant. A second fund-raising method is a car-wash. A third time tested method to raise money is to hold a back sale with each family contributing home-made cookies, brownies, layer cakes, or cupcakes.

SOLVED

There are several methods of fund-raising that work well with small organizations. One procedure is to hold an auction with everyone either contributing an item for home or obtaining a donation from a sympathetic local merchant. A second fund-raising technique is a car-wash. A third time tested way to raise money is to hold a back sale with each family contributing home-made cookies, brownies, layer cakes, or cupcakes.

3. Pronouns

This, that, these, those, he, she, it, they, and we are useful pronouns for referring back to something previously mentioned. Be sure, however, that what you are referring to is clear.

Example: When scientific experiments do not work out as expected, they are often considered failures until some other scientist tries them again. Those that work out better the second time around are the ones that promise the most rewards.

4. Transitional words:

There are many words in English that cue our readers to relationships between sentences, joining sentences together.

Examples: however, therefore, in addition, also, but, moreover, etc.

Example: I like autumn, and yet autumn is a sad time of the year, too. The leaves turn bright shades of red and the weather is mild, but I can't help thinking ahead to the winter and the ice storms that will surely blow through here. In addition, that will be the season of chapped faces, too many layers of clothes to put on, and days when I'll have to shovel heaps of snow from my car's windshield.

SOLVED

I like autumn, and yet autumn is a sad time of the year, too. The leaves turn bright shades of red and the weather is mild, but I can't help thinking ahead to the winter and the ice storms that will surely blow through here. In addition, that will be the season of chapped faces, too many layers of clothes to put on, and days when I'll have to shovel heaps of snow from my car's windshield.

Stage 3: Post-writing

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i) Revising: reviewing ideas Review higher-order

concerns:Clear

communication of ideas

Organization of paper

Paragraph structureStrong introduction

and conclusion

ii) Proofreading Review later-

order concerns:SpellingPunctuationSentence

structureDocumentation

style

Proofreading tips Slowly read your

paper aloud. Read your paper

backwards. Exchange papers

with a friend.

NOTE: Spell check will not catch everything, and grammar checks are often wrong!

Purdue University Writing Lab

The Writing Process: Find Your Focus

1. Pre-writingi) Invention & Collectionii) Purpose & Audience

2. While-writingi) Organizationii) Drafting: tone & cohesion/coherence

3. Post-writingi) Revisingii) Proofreading