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Kathy Boylan Communication skills, including writing, are some of the most important soft skills (employable skills that have more to do with emotional IQ such as common sense, communication, problem-solving, and collaboration) that students learn when they are in college because most professions require high competency in written communication, which can be a chance for one to shine or to falter. With emails, memos, letters, texts, and even Tweets, most people spend a fair amount of time at work communicating via the written word. Whether you are messaging a colleague, writing to your manager, creating the company newsletter, or writing a press release to the media, your writing skills can boost or hinder your career easily, even if you do not have a “writing” profession. Basically, writing skills make a difference in how you are perceived in college and in the workplace. That is the reason it is important to be sure you are following expected guidelines, always using the steps of the writing process, and making sure that all of your writing is coherent, concise, credible, and correct. 1. What is the writing process? 2. What is prewriting? 3. What is a thesis statement? 4. How to organize and arrange. 5. How to write a rough draft. 6. What is revising? 7. What is done during editing & proofreading & formatting? 8. What are other types of academic writing? 1. What is the writing process?No matter what type of writing you are doing, academic writing, professional writing, or personal writing, it can be made easier by using the writing process. The writing process consists of the different stages that a writer follows to produce a good piece of writing. Although different sources may label and group the stages in various ways, the stages of the writing process are essentially as follows: Prewriting – Deciding what to write about (the topic) and gathering information to support or explain what you want to say about your subject, and planning how to organize your ideas in a way that effectively develops the topic. Drafting -Writing the first copy of the piece (essay, article, etc.). This is often called the rough draft. Ultimately, you should have multiple copies or drafts of your work. Revising -Reconsidering the ideas and content of the essay as well as refining the style and structure of the paper. Editing/Proofreading – Correcting grammar, punctuation, spelling, and mechanics. Publishing – Sharing the final draft with others. Figure 4.1 The Writing Process However, the writing process is not a series of neatly developed steps and may differ somewhat for everyone. Sometimes ideas do not flow easily, and the essay that you originally start out to write is not the essay that you end up writing. Often the stages proceed erratically and overlap; the important thing is to keep writing and improving until a final product is achieved. The more that you write, the better you will become as a writer. 2. What is prewriting?Prewriting describes all of the thinking and planning that precedes the actual writing of a paper. Much careful thought needs to be given to the assignment in general at the beginning of prewriting before focusing on your topic. Thinking
Other more specific purposes can include entertaining, analyzing, hypothesizing, assessing, summarizing, questioning, reporting, recommending, suggesting, evaluating, describing, recounting, requesting, and instructing.
Topic Choice The next step in prewriting, and often the hardest, is choosing a topic for an essay if one has not been assigned. Choosing a viable general topic for an assignment is an essential step. Sometimes your instructor will give you an idea to begin an assignment, and other times your instructor will ask you to come up with a topic on your own. A captivating topic covers what an assignment will be about and fits the assignment’s purpose and its audience. There are various methods you may use to discover an appropriate topic for your writing. Using Experience and Observations When selecting a topic, you may also want to consider something that interests you or something based on your own life and personal experiences. Even everyday observations can lead to interesting topics. After writers think about their experiences and observations, they often take notes on paper to better develop their thoughts. These notes help writers discover what they have to say about their topic. Tip Have you seen an attention-grabbing story on your local news channel? Many current issues appear on television, in magazines, and on the Internet. These can all provide inspiration for your writing. Our library’s database (http://infoguides.virginiawestern.edu/az.php) Issues and Controversies is a first-rate source. Reading Reading plays a vital role in all the stages of the writing process, but it first figures in the development of ideas and topics. Different kinds of documents can help you choose a topic and develop that topic. For example, a magazine advertising the latest research on the threat of global warming may catch your eye in the supermarket. This cover may interest you, and you may consider global warming as a topic, or maybe a novel’s courtroom drama sparks your curiosity of a particular lawsuit or legal controversy. After you choose a topic, critical reading is essential to the development of a topic. While reading almost any document, you evaluate the author’s point of view by thinking about his main idea and his support. When you judge the author’s argument, you discover more about the author’s opinion as well as your own. If these steps already seem daunting, remember that even the best writers need to use prewriting strategies to generate ideas. Tip The steps in the writing process may seem time consuming at first, but following these steps will save you time in the future. The more you plan in the beginning by reading and using prewriting strategies, the less time you may spend writing and editing later because your ideas will develop more swiftly. Prewriting strategies depend on your critical reading skills. Reading prewriting exercises (and outlines and drafts later in the writing process) will further develop your topic and ideas. As you continue to follow the writing process, you will see how to use critical reading skills to assess your own prewriting exercises. Freewriting Freewriting (also called brainstorming) is an exercise in which you write freely (jot, list, write paragraphs, dialog, take off on tangents: whatever “free” means to you) about a topic for a set amount of time (usually three to five minutes or until you run out of ideas or energy). Jot down any thoughts that come to your mind. Try not to worry about what you are saying, how it sounds, whether it is good or true, grammar, spelling, or punctuation. Instead, write as quickly as you can without stopping. If you are stuck, just copy the same word or phrase repeatedly until you come up with a new thought or write about why you cannot continue. Just keep writing; that is the power of this technique! Writing often comes easier when you have a personal connection with the topic. Remember, to generate ideas in your freewriting, think about readings that you have enjoyed or that have challenged your thinking. Then write about it. Doing this may lead your thoughts in interesting directions. Quickly recording your thoughts on paper will help you discover what you have to say about a topic. When writing quickly, try not to doubt or question your ideas, but if you do, write those, too. Allow yourself to write freely and unselfconsciously. Once you start writing with few limitations, you may find you have more to say than you first realized. Your flow of thoughts can lead you to discover more ideas about the topic as well as different perspectives on it. Freewriting may even lead you to discover another topic that excites you even more than your original idea. Freewriting can also be used to narrow a topic and/or to develop supporting ideas once a broad topic has been chosen. Journaling is another useful strategy for generating topic and content ideas. Journaling can be useful in exploring different topic ideas and serve as possible topic ideas for future papers. Tip Some prewriting strategies can be used together. For example, you could use experience and observations to come up with a topic related to your course studies. Then you could use freewriting to describe your topic in more detail and figure out what you have to say about it. Focusing Topic Once a general topic has been assigned to or chosen by you, then you must decide on the scope of the topic. Broad topics always need to be narrowed down to topics that are more specific. Then you need to determine what you are going to say about a subject. Two ways to help narrow a general subject down to a narrower topic are probing and focused freewriting.
For example, if you were writing about tattoos, then you might ask yourself the following questions: Who do you know that has tattoos or who are some celebrities with memorable tattoos? What kinds of tattoos do people usually get–what symbols and what words? Where do people place tattoos on their bodies or where do people go to get tattoos–tattoo parlors? When do people get tattoos–is it after some memorable event or life stage? Why do people get tattoos? Finally, how do people get tattoos–what is the actual process?
Developing a Topic The following checklist can help you decide if your narrowed topic is a possible topic for your assignment:
3. What is a thesis statement?Once the topic has been narrowed to a workable subject, then determine what you are going to say about it; you need to come up with your controlling or main idea. A thesis is the main idea of an essay. It communicates the essay’s purpose with clear and concise wording and indicates the direction and scope of the essay. It should not just be a statement of fact nor should it be an announcement of your intentions. It should be an idea, an opinion of yours that needs to be explored, expanded, and developed into an argument. A thesis statement:
If an assignment asks you to take a position or develop a claim about a subject, you may need to convey that position or claim in a thesis statement near the beginning of your draft. The assignment may not explicitly state that the writer needs a thesis statement because the instructor may assume the writer will include one. When an assignment asks you to analyze, to interpret, to compare and contrast, to demonstrate cause and effect, or to take a stand on an issue, it is likely that you are being asked to develop a thesis and to support it persuasively. How do I get a thesis? A thesis is the result of a lengthy thinking process. Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you do after reading an essay assignment. Before you develop an argument on any topic, you have to collect and organize evidence, look for possible relationships between known facts (such as surprising contrasts or similarities), and think about the significance of these relationships. (See chapter on argument for more detailed information on building an argument.) Once you have done this thinking, you will probably have a “working thesis,” a basic or main idea, an argument that you can support with evidence. It is deemed a “working thesis” because it is a work in progress, and it is subject to change as you move through the writing process. Writers use all kinds of techniques to stimulate their thinking and to help them clarify relationships or comprehend the broader significance of a topic to arrive at a thesis statement. For example, there is the question strategy. One way to start identifying and narrowing a thesis idea is to form a question that you want to answer. For example, if the starting question was “Do cats have a positive effect on people with depression? If so, what are three effects? The question sends you off to explore for answers. You then begin developing support. The first answer you might find is that petting cats lowers blood pressure, and, further question how that works. From your findings (research, interviews, background reading, etc.), you might detail how that happens physically or you might describe historical evidence. You could explain medical research that illustrates the concept. Then you have your first supporting point — as well as the first prong of your thesis: Cats have a positive effect on people with depression because they can lower blood pressure . . . . When you start with a specific question and find the answers, the argument falls into place. The answer to the question becomes the thesis, and how the answer was conceived becomes the supporting points (and, usually, the topic sentences for each point). How do I know if my thesis is strong? If there is time, run it by the instructor or make an appointment at the Writing Center (https://tinyurl.com/ybqafrbf) to get some feedback. Even if you do not have time to get advice elsewhere, you can do some thesis evaluation of your own. When reviewing the first draft and its working thesis, ask the following:
To create a thesis statement simply follow this formula: TOPIC + CLAIM = THESIS STATEMENT Examples:
For more information on bad, good and better thesis statements from the writing center at the University of Evansville, go here(https://tinyurl.com/y8sfjale). Exercise: Creating Effective Thesis StatementsUsing the formula, create effective thesis statements for the following topics:
Then have a partner check your thesis statements to see if they pass the tests to be strong thesis statements. Once a working thesis statement has been created, then it is time to begin building the body of the essay. Get all of the key supporting ideas written down, and then you can begin to flesh out the body paragraphs by reading, asking, observing, researching, connecting personal experiences, etc. Use the information from below to maintain the internal integrity of the paragraphs and smooth the flow of your ideas. 4. How to organize and arrange?Once you have generated supporting ideas for the main idea of your paper, you need to arrange those ideas in some type of order. Clustering and outlining can help organize the ideas. Clustering (also called idea mapping) is a way of visually arranging ideas. Begin clustering by writing the topic in the center of a sheet of paper. Circle the topic, and then surround it with words and phrases that identify the major points to be discussed in the paper. Continue the process until all supporting details and secondary details have been listed. Many writers like this method because the shapes show how the ideas relate or connect, and writers can find a focused topic from the connections mapped. Using clustering, you might discover connections between topics that you had not thought of before. Figure 4.2 Clustering Outlining lists the major supporting details in a tentative order and includes secondary supporting details. Figure 4.3 Traditional Formal Outline Before you write, you need to decide how to organize your ideas. You need to determine the rhetorical mode(s) that will be used and the order of the supporting ideas. Simplistically speaking, there are nine basic rhetorical modes. They are as follows: narration, description, exemplification, process, cause and effect, comparison and contrast, classification and division, definition, and argument. However, most complex writing begins with an argument of some sort and then uses a combination of modes to relay one’s message. Structure of a Paragraph and Essay All formal paragraphs and essays have a title, a beginning or an introduction, a middle-a body of supporting paragraphs, and an end or conclusion. A title is at the top of your paragraph or essay, but it is often the last thing that you create because until the paper is complete, you do not really know what your final product will be. A good title makes people want to read your paper; it does not merely repeat the topic sentence or thesis statement; it hints at your main idea. It is not a complete sentence, but it is a phrase or phrases that indicate your topic. An effective introduction captures your readers’ attention and arouses their curiosity. In a paragraph, it is often your topic sentence, and in an essay, it usually includes your thesis statement, which narrows your subject, claims something specific and significant, and conveys your purpose and often your form of organization. You can include a question, tell a story, use a quotation, give interesting facts or statistics, give background information, or outline a problem and/or a solution. Do not tell the reader what your topic is–show them. Do not be vague and mysterious. Do not refer back to your title. Do not apologize for what you are about to say, and be original. The important thing is that you hook your readers’ attention and motivate them to continue reading. Your body of supporting evidence should be organized, unified and coherent. The support can be organized using chronological order, spatial order, or emphatic order. Each supporting detail should have its own topic sentence and be developed with valuable supporting details. In an essay, the supporting ideas should support your thesis statement. You should use transitional words or phrases to establish connections between paragraphs and different ideas. You should use parallel structure throughout your paper and use repetition sparingly and only when it is effective and necessary. Be consistent in tense, number, and person throughout your paper as well. The entire body of supporting evidence should be focused on supporting your main idea without straying off topic or including unrelated ideas. Your conclusion should let the readers know that you are finished and not leave them with any unanswered questions. It may recommend a call to action, or it may just summarize a long and complex paper. The conclusion may repeat some of the ideas from the introduction, but it should not be a replica of that paragraph. It may restate your main idea. The conclusion can be either hopeful or hopeless depending on the mood of your paper. You may leave your reader with some final important facts, or a compelling example, or a final visual image. It is important that you do not go off in a new direction in your conclusion. Do not make sweeping generalizations, and again do not apologize for any of your ideas. Once these arrangements and ideas have been decided, then an outline should be constructed. Figure 4.4 The Essay Structure Using a Clear Organizational Pattern Depending on your topic, you might find it beneficial to use one of these common organizational patterns, either within individual paragraphs or within the entire essay:
5. How to Write a Rough Draft.Make the Writing Process Work for You! What makes the writing process beneficial to writers is that it encourages alternatives to standard practices and motivates you to develop your best ideas. For instance, the following approaches, done alone or in combination with others, may improve your writing and help you move forward in the writing process:
Tip You may want to identify your purpose and audience on an index card that you clip to your paper (or keep next to your computer). On that card, you may want to write notes to yourself—perhaps about what that audience might not know or what it needs to know—so that you will be sure to address those issues when you write. It may be a good idea to state exactly what you want to explain to that audience, or the subject about which you want to inform them or persuade them. Writing at WorkMany of the documents you produce at work target a particular audience for a particular purpose. You may find that it is highly advantageous to know as much as you can about your target audience and to prepare your message to reach that audience, even if the audience is a coworker or your boss. Menu language is a common example. Descriptions like “organic romaine” and “free-range chicken” are intended to appeal to a certain type of customer though perhaps not to the same customer who craves a thick steak. Similarly, mail-order companies research the demographics of the people who buy their merchandise. Successful vendors customize product descriptions in catalogs to appeal to their buyers’ tastes. For example, the product descriptions in a skateboarder catalog will differ from the descriptions in a clothing catalog for mature adults. Tips to Avoid Writer’s Block Set up scheduled times to write and set deadlines to accomplish different parts of your essay, and avoid perfectionism–that comes later in the writing process. Maintaining Internal Integrity of Paragraphs A paragraph needs to provide links between the ideas, and here are techniques that you can put into practice.
Using Transitions Transitions within paragraphs are words that connect one sentence to another so that readers can follow the intended meanings of sentences and relationships between sentences. Transitions may also smooth the flow between body paragraphs. The following table shows some commonly used transition words:
What Point of View Should Be Used in Academic Writing? The dominant perspective in argument writing should be third person (he, she, it, and they). What do you gain by using third person?
Figure 4.5 Point of View What this means is that writers should minimize the first person (I, me, we, us). The use of I in writing is often a topic of debate, and the acceptance of its usage varies from instructor to instructor. Some instructors demand all removal of first person from argument writing, but other instructors do not mind it. (This is changing fast, though. Many academic journals now encourage first-person writing because it is more active, immediate, and interesting to read. The deciding factor is to follow the instructions of your instructor.) While you may feel more comfortable using first person because you still think of an argument as the same as an opinion, be aware that using first person in argument writing comes with damaging effects:
Smoking is bad. I think smoking is bad. In the first sentence, the rightful subject, smoking, is in the subject position in the sentence. In the second sentence, the insertion of I and think replaces smoking as the subject, which draws attention to I and away from the topic that is supposed to be discussed. Remember to keep the message (the subject) and the messenger (the writer) separate.
Writers may use the first person POV in personal, reflective or narrative writing. However, the second person POV (using you) is usually avoided in any form of academic writing. TIP Consider adopting this rule of thumb: check with your professors for their preference, but even if they allow first person, use it sparingly. 6. What Is revising?Once a rough draft is created, take some time to step away from the essay to get a newer and better perspective. Then begin revising. Revising means reexamining and rethinking the first draft, adding and deleting ideas extensively; rearranging any of the ideas, sentences, or paragraphs in the first draft; rewriting sentences and paragraphs for more variety, better flow, and more precise word choices. Often times, you may have three or four drafts before you are finally satisfied with a final draft. For easier revision, follow the following tips:
7. What is done during editing & proofreading & formatting?
8. What are other types of academic writing?There are many different types of writing that you will be asked to create during your academic and professional careers. Always be clear what your boss or professor expects in an assignment before you begin writing. Below is just a sample of the various assignments you may be given: Personal/reflective writing assignment–personal expression about an experience, event, situation, or information. Expository writing assignment–writing that explains, describes, or informs. Case study–a written report about a situation, group, or person that one has studied. Review–summarizing as well as analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of a piece of writing, a show, or an event. Technical report–clear, detailed report of the procedures undertaken and the results obtained during a scientific or technical procedure. Lab report–writing that details the steps taken and the results of a scientific experiment. Book report–writing that summarizes the contents of a book as well as some commentary concerning the writer’s opinion of the book. Critical analysis/critique–writing an informed review and an analysis of the significance of a piece of writing or an event. Bibliography–writing a full list of all resources consulted during a research project. Annotated bibliography–writing not only a list of all resources consulted for a research project, but also including a summary and analysis of each resource. Literature review–writing that focuses on a specific research topic and the critical aspects of the literature consulted during the research process. Research paper–the final product following an extended period of research, critical thinking, and composition that encompasses the writer’s own ideas supported by a combination of primary and secondary sources. E-mail–writing in electronic mail Web writing–writing web content, which needs to be direct, concise, and credible. Oral presentation of written report–developing an effective summary of a project to be delivered in front of an audience; may include visual aids. Midterm/final exam essay–exams often include short essay questions that need to be written in a short amount of time. Resume & other ‘business’ writing–writing that must communicate pertinent information in a concise, easy-to-read format. Key Takeaways
CC Licensed Content, Shared Previously English Composition I, Lumen Learning, CC-BY 4.0. Rhetoric and Composition, John Barrett, et al., CC-BY-SA 3.0. Writing for Success, CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0. Image Credits Figure 4.1 “The Writing Proces,” Kalyca Schultz, Virginia Western Community College, CC-0, . Figure 4.2 “Clustering,” Kalyca Schultz, Virginia Western Community College, CC-0. Figure 4.3 “Traditional Formal Outline,” Kalyca Schultz, Virginia Western Community College, CC-0. Figure 4.4 “The Essay Structure,” Kalyca Schultz, Virginia Western Community College, CC-0. Figure 4.5 “Point of View,” Kalyca Schultz, Virginia Western Community College, CC-0. What are the 5 stages of writing process?The Writing Process. Step 1: Prewriting. Think and Decide. Make sure you understand your assignment. ... . Step 2: Research (if needed) Search. List places where you can find information. ... . Step 3: Drafting. Write. ... . Step 4: Revising. Make it Better. ... . Step 5: Editing and Proofreading. Make it Correct.. What are the 7 steps of the writing process?The writing process, according to the EEF's 'Improving Literacy In Key Stage 2' guidance report, can be broken down into 7 stages: Planning, Drafting, Sharing, Evaluating,Revising, Editing and Publishing.
What are the three phases of writing process?Writing is a process that can be divided into three stages: Pre-writing, drafting and the final revising stage which includes editing and proofreading.
What makes writing a process?Writing is a process that involves at least four distinct steps: prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. It is known as a recursive process. While you are revising, you might have to return to the prewriting step to develop and expand your ideas.
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