The Writing Process

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The Writing Process

• Language Arts

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A Five Step Process

• Step 1 Pre-writing . . . Organizing ideas for
  writing
• Step 2 Drafting . . . First putting ideas on
  paper
• Step 3 Revision . . . Reviewing to fix up
  writing, if necessary
• Step 4 Editing . . . Correcting grammar,
  punctuation
• Step 5 Publication . . . Sharing work with
  others
• All steps are necessary to produce
• quality pieces of writing!

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Step 1 Prewriting

• This is the most important step in the writing
  process. Think of it as the chance to shop for
  as many ideas as you can to include in your
  writing.
• Before you start writing, you must generate and
  organize ideas it is always easier to work with
  a plan!
• First step is to clarify your task make sure
  you understand what you have been asked to do.
  Use this as the beginning of your master plan for
  writing.
• The best way to clarify your task is to use
  RAFTS.
• What is RAFTS, you ask? lets find out!

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Prewriting - RAFTS

• R Role who are you writing as?
• A Audience who are you writing for?
• F Format what type of writing do you have to
  write?
• T Topic what have you been asked to write
  about?
• S Strong Verb/Action Word (to ________) what
  is your purpose for writing?

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Lets try one together

• Lets say you are given the task of writing a
  descriptive paragraph about your favourite
  holiday.
• To begin writing, fill in the RAFTS chart on this
  page to help clarify your topic.

• R ole
• A udience
• F ormat
• T opic
• S trong verb to

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Prewriting continued Gathering Ideas

• Once you have finished your RAFTS chart to
  clarify your purpose, you can begin gathering
  ideas.
• This is a very important step in the writing
  process as mentioned earlier, think of it as
  shopping.
• There are a number of different ways to gather
  ideas. What is important to remember is that you
  should
• - write down as many ideas as you can think of
  dont worry about whether or not you will end up
  using them
• - write down anything that comes to your mind
• - dont worry about grouping or ordering ideas
  now that will come later
• - remember that the more ideas you have, the
  more you have to choose from.

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Gathering Ideas

• There are many ways you can gather ideas
• Brainstorm a web
• Talk to an expert
• Discuss it with family, friends and classmates
• View a picture or movie about the topic
• Read some research
• This step provides you with ideas for your
  supporting details for the content of your
  writing make sure you do it well!!!

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Lets go back to our example

• Example write a descriptive paragraph about
  your favourite holiday.
• I could
• - look at pictures of my holidays
• - talk to family/friends/classmates
• - create a brainstorming web

My favourite holiday
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Gathering ideas is crucial to your success

• The ideas are the content of your writing! They
  are the key to your writing success!

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Prewriting continued

• Now that you have completed your RAFTS chart to
  clarify your task you have gathered ideas by
  brainstorming, you are ready for the last step of
  prewriting choosing and organizing your best
  ideas.
• This is where shopping with your ideas is going
  to pay off because the more ideas you have, the
  more choice you have in choosing and grouping
  them.
• If you did not come up with enough ideas, you
  will have a hard time choosing which ones fit
  your topic and adding detail to your writing!

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The best ideas
I get it! Create a picture in the readers mind!

• Are on topic
• Are concrete and specific
• Often appeal to our senses
• Help us picture the topic

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Organizing Your Ideas

• There are a few different ways to organize your
  ideas. You should choose the one that works best
  for you.
• For example, you could
• - underline similar ideas with different
  coloured pens
• - rewrite your ideas into categories
• Once you have organized your ideas, you are ready
  to begin writing.
• Use your organized ideas as the plan for writing
  just turn your ideas into sentences and your
  sentences into the required writing format.
• You are ready for Step Two of the Writing Process
• Your organized ideas are the pieces
  to your writing puzzle you have to put
  them together to form a whole piece of
  writing.

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Step 2 Drafting

• The next step of the Writing Process is Drafting.
• This involves taking your ideas and turning them
  into sentences to form the required writing
  format.
• Similar to brainstorming, when writing a draft,
  let your ideas flow!
• Focus on writing what you want to say about the
  topic do not worry about any errors. We use
  revising and editing for that purpose.
• Your draft will be read by others to help point
  out any corrections that are needed.
• Remember that it will take at least one or two
  drafts to get a piece of writing that you are
  satisfied with do not expect perfection with
  your first draft. You will want to add or remove
  words, sentences, and/or ideas before you have
  the piece of writing you are looking for.

I see! I need to continuously improve my writing
before it will be what I want it to be.
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Step 3 Revising

• This step is where you try to improve on what you
  have written.
• Based on your evaluation of the writing /or
  responses and suggestions of others, you may want
  to make changes in the content and organization
  of the writing.
• You may want to
• - add or take out information
• - change the order or your sentences or
  paragraphs
• - replace words with stronger vocabulary
• Dont worry about grammar, spelling punctuation
  yetthat is the next step.

Doing revisions on your own is always important
but it is very helpful to have the input of
others to help you clarify ideas, strengthen
vocabulary, and to make sure that all ideas are
on topic!
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Step 4 Editing (proofread)

• Now that you have checked revised your writing
  for content and organization, you can move on to
  Step 4.
• This is the step where you check your writing for
  errors in
• - spelling
• - punctuation
• - capitalization
• - grammar
• In this step, you look for and correct any final
  errors before making your final draft.
• Like Step 3, it is a good idea to check over your
  own writing and have someone else check it for
  you as well.

• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Capitalization
• Grammar

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Step 5 Publication

• This is the final step of the writing process.
• In this step, you get to share your writing with
  an audience.
• This can mean presenting it to your classmates,
  reading it to your friends family, or handing
  it in to your teacher.
• If you take the time to go through the first 4
  steps carefully and thoughtfully, you will have a
  piece of writing that you are proud of to share
  with others!

After 4 steps a lot of work, my writing is
ready to be published!