The Writing Process

1
The Writing Process

• English 0310
• HCC Katy Center
• Mrs. N. Puder

2
Analyze Your Assignment

• Formatting
• Heading
• Title
• Spacing
• Margin Layout
• The Little Brown Handbook, 687-688.
• Language
• Informal
• Formal
• Length
• One Paragraph
• Two-Three Pages

3
Analyzing Your Assignment

• Time Restraints
• In-Class or Out
• Sources
• Library
• Interviewing
• Purpose
• What Is My Reason For Writing?
• Audience
• Who Am I Writing To?
• Tone
• What Kind of Impression Should My Writing Give.

4
Determine Your PurposeSome Purposes Are

• To Express Feelings and Attitudes
• To Persuade
• To Give Pleasure
• To Convey Information
• To Inform
• To Discover
• To Analyze

• To Debate
• To Criticize
• To Define
• To Compare or Contrast
• To Narrate/Describe
• To Amuse

5
Identify Your Audience
6
Your Audience Is An Academic Audience

• An Academic Audience Expects
• Correct Information
• Standard Grammar and Spelling
• Logical Presentation of Ideas
• Stylistic Fluency (Word Choice and Sentence
  Structure)
• Define Terms and Support Generalizations with
  Specifics
• Express Thoughts Clearly and Accurately

7
Tone(Attitude Adopted As You Write)

• Personal Conversational
• Serious
• Respectful
• Formal
• Angry
• Humorous
• Sentimental
• Nostalgic

8
Five Stages of the Writing Process

• Prewriting
• Planning
• Writing
• Revising
• Editing

9
Stage 1 Prewriting Find a Subject Gather
Information

• Focused Free writing
• The Little Brown Handbook , 20-21
• 5-15 Minutes of Concentrated, Nonstop Writing
  about Your Topic.
• Then, Review What You Have Written.
• Listing or Brainstorming
• A Way of Listing Information About Your Topic.
• The Little Brown Handbook , 21

10
Prewriting Continued

• Clustering
• The Little Brown Handbook, 22-23
• Keeping a Journal
• The Little Brown Handbook, 17 -18
• Observing Your Surroundings
• The Little Brown Handbook, 19-
• Reading
• The Little Brown Handbook, 17 -18

11
Prewriting Strategies Continued

• Asking Journalistic Questions
• (5Ws and H) (Who, What, Why, Where, When, and How
• The Little Brown Handbook, 23-24

12
Stage 2 Planning Focus on a Main Idea Map
Out an Approach

• Thesis Statement.
• The Central Point The Essay Supports.
• More Than a Title, a Statement of Fact, or an
  Announcement
• Carefully Worded and Accurately Predicts Your
  Essays Direction, Emphasis, and Scope.

13
Planning Continued

• Tree Diagram
• The Little Brown Handbook, 35.
• Outlying
• Formal
• Informal
• The Little Brown Handbook, 35-38.

14
Stage 3 Writing

• Draft Your Essay
• Skip Intro If It Is a Problem And Return To It
  Later
• Start Where You Think Your Writing Is Going To Be
  Productive
• Stop To Reread As You Go Or Continue If The
  Writing Seems To Flow Well

15
Stage 4 Revising

• Re-See What You Have Written
• Look For Major Improvements In
• Content
• Enlarging or narrowing the thesis.
• Adding more examples or cutting irrelevant ones.

16
Organization

• Organization
• Reorganizing Points
• Changing Paragraph Order
• For More Tips See the Yellow Information Box
  The Little Brown Handbook, 49 and 51.

17
Stage 5 Editing

• Check Grammar
• Word Choice
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Mechanics
• The Little Brown Handbook, 58-59