The Writing Process

1
The Writing Process

• A quick review

2
PreWriting

• Choose a topic
• Brainstorm things you might like to write
  about.
• Narrow your ideas down to the 5 best. Discuss
  your ideas with a partner. Which does your
  partner like best, and why? Ask yourself which
  is the most interesting which will you enjoy
  writing about the most?
• Think about what your purpose is, as well as
  who your audience will be.
• Brainstorm ideas
• remember your experiences listen to other
  people read a book reread your journal use
  your imagination
• Explore the topic
• Recall events, gather facts, research, think
  of/find details to elaborate your topic.
• Strategies to use
• brainstorming a list
• clustering/ making a chart
• drawing/labeling
• interviewing
• freewriting
• questioning who, what, when, where, why, how
• Organize the topic

3
DraftingWhen you draft, the goal is just to
get your ideas down on paper. Dont worry about
mistakes or messiness, though it is a good idea
to go ahead and type it. That will make
corrections easier.

• Write a few good beginnings
• A good beginning introduces the topic and grabs
  the audiences attention
• Write a working draft of the middle
• Using the plan you made when you organized your
  ideas, turn the words and phrases into sentences.
  Most paragraphs will need a topic sentence. What
  does a topic sentence do? ________________________
  _______
• Make sure to use transitional words and phrases
  to tie your sentences and paragraphs together.
  Examples?
• Write a couple of good endings
• A good ending tells an overall impression or
  makes a final comment about your topic. Sum it
  up!

4
Revising

• Make changes to improve your draft
• At this point, you are working to make your
  writing more interesting or clearer. Dont worry
  about fixing mechanical mistakes yet. Ask
  yourself the
• BIG QUESTIONS Did I say what I wanted to say?
• Did I elaborate and use details?
• Did I organize the fact, events, or ideas
  clearly?
• Did I write in a way that is interesting
  and appropriate to my audience?
• Dont erase! Make changes write on your draft.
  Cross out, use carets (), draw circles and
  arrows, use numbers to show a different order,
  add attachments if you need to.
• Have a writing conference (aka peer reading)
• Read your paper to a partner. The listener
  tells what they like, asks questions, and makes
  suggestions.

5
The Writing Conference

• Writer
• Read your paper aloud clearly and slowly.
• Pay attention to your listeners comments and
  suggestions. Keep an open mind.
• Take notes to remember any thing you need to
  change or work on.
• Reread your paper.
• Use your notes to make any changes you want to
  make.

• Listener
• Look at the writer as he/she reads.
• Listen carefully dont let your mind wander!
• Retell what you heard.
• Tell two things you liked about the paper.
• Ask questions about things you didnt understand.
• Offer a couple of suggestions.
• Always be positive and polite.

6
Proofreading

• Now is the time to fix your mechanical mistakes!
• Check for spelling, capitalization, and
  punctuation errors.
• Check for sentence fragments and run-ons.
• Check that you indented paragraphs.
• Check that you used words correctly and used
  transition words or phrases.
• When you proofread, use a different color ink
  than you started with. Circle words that might be
  misspelled and double check them. Use
  proofreading marks

7
Publishing

• Type your final copy to submit to your teacher or
  share with an audience.
• Yea! Youre finished!