The Writing Process Steps in writing an essay Revising and Editing Pre-writing Drafting Organizing FINAL DRAFT!!

Introduction to writing When creating anything, whether it is a table, a recipe, or even something as big as a car, there is a process that you must go through in order to get to the final product. Process-a series of actions or steps taken to achieve a particular end

The process of making a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Example The process of making a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Take out all the ingredients and tools needed to make this product: 2 pieces of Bread (preferably wheat, but white will do), Peanut Butter (PB), any flavor jelly, and a butter knife. Once you have obtained all of the above objects, begin by laying out the bread side by side. Open the jar of PB, stick in the knife, and gather a liberal (as much as possible) amount of the product on your knife. After taking the knife out of the jar, spread the PB evenly on one of the pieces of bread. Make sure you use all of the PB on the knife. Once this is done scrape the miniscule amount of PB left over on the knife on the inside of the PB jar, then put the jar back where it belongs 5. Open the Jelly jar and repeat the steps done with the PB using the second slice of bread. Do this step until you have a heaping pile of delicious, sugary jelly on your sandwich. Again, scrape the knife, and put the jar away. 6. Place the two slices together and ENJOY!!

Your Turn!!!!! In your notebooks, think of something that you have done in your life that requires a process, and explain it to me in detail, as if I have no knowledge about that certain process, so you have to teach it to me.

The writing process is the same way The writing process is the same way!!! There are distinct steps that you must go through to achieve the best product. Pre-writing Organizing Drafting Revising and editing Final Draft

Pre-Writing: Brainstorming Questioning Mapping Discussing Free writing Pre-writing literally means, “before writing.” Before you actually begin writing your essay, you will need to do the following things: Role: What point of view is the prompt asking you to assume? E.g. A student, a son or daughter, a teenager. All of these roles will sound different Audience: Who are you addressing? A paper written for third graders and a business letter to the mayor will sound differently. Format: What is the format of this paper? E.g. Letter, Essay, Picture book. Topic: What is the prompt asking you to do? This is one of the most important steps. Read and re-read until you absolutely understand what the prompt is asking you to write about. Strong Verb: What is the purpose. E.g. Persuade, Inform, Explain, Entertain, Tell a story After going through the R.A.F.T.S. process, you will need to begin to generate ideas through: Brainstorming Questioning Mapping Discussing Free writing

Your Turn!!!!! In your notebook, go through the pre-writing steps for the following prompt: What do you think are the most important events in a persons life (Starting school, getting married, etc…)? Explain in a paragraph why they are important?

Pre-writing Role: You (teenager) Audience: Teacher Format: Paragraph Topic: The prompt is asking me to write about what are the most important events in a persons life. Strong Verb: Explain Brainstorm: You are on your own on this one….. Generate as many ideas as possible. Then narrow it down to one or two that you can strongly support with good solid reasons.

Thinking Maps *Graphic organizers to arrange your Ideas* Describing maps- (Bubble maps) Compare- contrast maps or Venn Diagram Classifying Maps- Tree maps Defining in context- (Circle Map) Sequencing - Flow maps Cause and Effect-Multi flow map

Organization Making a rough outline for your essay will make the writing process a whole lot easier for you. It just so happens that Stapley has a graphic organizer that can do just that. R.___________A._____________F._____________T.______________S._________ Thesis/ Topic sentence: Plan/ Blueprint: Conclusion:

Drafting After getting ideas and making an outline of your essay, it is time to start writing the essay. When you begin writing your rough draft, try to remember the following guidelines: Don’t worry about writing the ‘perfect’ paper the first time. Your goal in writing a rough draft is to develop and support the ideas listed in your outline. Don’t focus on spelling and grammar as you write your rough draft. You can check this later in the writing process.

Your Turn!! Now it is time to draft. Take what you have from the previous steps in the writing process, and write one paragraph using the ideas you organized on the graphic organizer. Remember this is a draft, so you should just be thinking about getting your ideas on paper. You will revise and edit as the next step.

Content and organization Revise and Edit After you write your first draft, go back over it and look for ways to improve your essay in content and organization. This step is called revision. After you revise for content and organization, begin editing your draft for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure errors. Revision Edit Content and organization Ex…Sentence fluency Word choice voice Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, Etc…

A Couple of Questions to ask yourself while revising and editing: Can you identify your thesis sentence? Is the thesis supported in the body of the paper? Do you have an appropriate audience in mind? Does the introduction grab the readers attention and lead up to the main idea of the paper? Does the paper progress in an organized, logical way? Find the topic sentences of all the body paragraphs. Do they all relate to your thesis? Read your paragraphs. Do they stay on topic with your topic sentence and support your thesis? Do certain paragraphs need more details, examples or specifics? Are you being repetitive in your wording? Have you checked your grammar, sentence structure, and spelling? Try reading your paper out loud. Did you hear any mistakes or unclear parts? Did you remove sentences/ideas that were irrelevant? Does your conclusion wrap up the paper nicely? Did you really accomplish what the assignment was asking?

Your Turn!!! All parts of the writing process are important, however, the revision and editing step is one of the most crucial steps and one of the most ignored steps. DO NOT IGNORE THIS STEP!!!!! Even though you may believe you are the best writer to have lived, even the best writers revise and edit. Go back over your draft, read it quietly to yourself and make the necessary changes it needs.

FINAL COPY!!!! All final drafts need to be typed or in black/blue ink After the above steps, you are ready to write and turn in your final copy. Once you turn in the paper, it becomes your final copy even if you have only revised it once, or not at all, it will still be considered your final, and it will be the copy that is graded. Follow the guidelines below for turning the final draft in: All final drafts need to be typed or in black/blue ink Names must be on the paper or points will be docked from the grade All papers should be double-spaced, 12 pt. font, Times New Roman Font. All papers should be in hard copy format unless otherwise instructed by the teacher

Your Turn!!!! Silent Write Friday. Today you will be quickly quizzed on the writing process. Because you are only in the class for fifty minutes I do not expect you to write a complete five paragraph essay, but I do expect at least a three paragraph one. Read the prompt, follow the writing process steps, and show your work. You will be graded on every aspect of the writing process, including your finished product.