1. THE WRITING PROCESS

2. Prewriting It is the process of freely exploring ideas, choosing a topic, and gathering and organizing details before you write.

3. Choosing Your Topic You must select a topic to write about.

4. Narrowing Your Topic Topics tend to be broad. They need to be narrowed down to something specific. Ex. Topic: dogs Narrowed Topic: Dalmatians

5. Audience & Purpose Purpose: to convince the reader of your opinion Audience: What do my readers know about the topic? What are their opinions and prejudices about it? About which aspects of the issue are they most concerned?

6. Gathering Support Before drafting, find out as much as you can about your topic. Do research in magazines, reference books, and other sources.

7. Drafting …is a way to get your ideas down on paper in roughly the format you intend.

8. Revising It is to correct errors and improve the form and content of your written work.

9. Editing & Proofreading Allows you to polish your writing by fixing errors in grammar, spelling, and mechanics.

10. Check your spelling: check every word in your draft. Consult a dictionary if necessary. Check Grammar & Usage: Subject- verb agreement, sentence fragments, paragraph structure & indentation.

11. Editing & Proofreading Review Capitalization & Punctuation: proper end punctuation, commas, CAPITALIZATION Double-Check Facts: NAMES, DATES, STATISTICS, DIRECT QUOTATIONS, ETC.

12. Publishing & Presenting Allows you to share your writing.