ACADEMIC WRITING AND COMPOSITION

SEMESTER - 4

Name : MEGHNA. M Roll No: 5057 (History(H)

IInd Year meggsmanoj@gmail.com
 QUESTION

What are the Stages of Writing? Explain

From a product-oriented approach to a process-oriented approach, English for
second language writing has progressed significantly. This means that the focus of
writing has changed away from the finished product and toward the writing
process. Writing is regarded as tough to acquire in a short amount of time due to its
unique set of rules and conventions. Writing is crucial for second language
learners' academic performance, despite its difficulty. Second language scholars are
still striving to figure out how and why second language learners should be taught
the writing process. More research is needed to provide light on the writing process
in a second language. The main stages of writing are:

1) PRE-WRITING : ground work (finalising topic and format, purpose,

audience)

2) COMPOSITION : (process of writing the first draft)

3) REVISION,EDITING,EVALUATION: (Including Organisation and

Structure, World choice, (Clarity) and Cohesion (Unity), citation, spelling,
overall presentation)

PRE-WRITING
Any activity which helps a writer in finalising a topic, analysing the purpose and
audience and accordingly selecting the most appropriate structure for writing can
be considered a pre-writing activity.

● It helps in finding a topic and creating a focus for broad topics.

● Although pre-writing takes place before actual composition, it may happen

at any stage of the writing process. For example, when one is writing a thesis
or long essay and goes through other critical material, one may consider
revising the initial outline.

● Involves deciding various details, examples and content to be included.

● The process of thinking and decision making constitutes pre-writing.

Therefore, thinking critically and developing ideas is as important as the
actual writing.
 ● Brainstorming, clustering, reading, discussing, gathering related material,
outlining, listing, w-h questions, note-making all are parts of prewriting. A
writer can use some or all of these techniques and approaches to plan
writing. One can list points, cluster them or write a full-fledged outline.

a) Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a process of generating ideas, choosing a topic, developing an

approach to deal with the topic and the points to be included in the topic. Its
basically an extension of one basic loose idea into an array of related ideas. In fact,
it can help in putting the writing task into motion when not many ideas are coming
to one's mind. A vague 'storm' of ideas can be organised into getting concrete ideas
and schemas when one feels blank or overwhelmed with too many ideas and
thoughts.

b) Listing

Listing is a type of pre-writing activity in which all the points coming to one's
mind related to the topic are listed on a paper. This helps in giving a concrete shape
to the floating ideas in the mind. Thinking critically and listing one's points in the
form of notes helps a prospective writer to sort out related ideas from the clutter of
unidentified thoughts. After identifying a topic and brainstorming, one can list the
relevant points.

c) Questions

Who, where, what, when, why, how are the six big questions which can help in
researching a topic. They are also termed as journalists' questions as they mostly
help to take one to the depth of a topic, or particularly a story.

d) Clustering/Mapping/Webbing

These three are interchangeably used names given to a technique of pre-writing in

which a writer draws some clusters or maps or webs on a sheet of paper. Using this
technique one writes the title of the topic in the centre of a sheet and jots down all
the related terms and ideas in the blank space around the topic. One keeps on
writing all the terms which come to mind even if they are of tangential relevance to
the topic. Finally when one is done with all the terms, the related ideas are joined
together and the unrelated ones are left out. This exercise helps in forming
clusters/maps/webs of related ideas which eventually helps in starting the actual
process of composition. From the muddled words one can ger a preliminary and
roughly organised structure.

e) Free Writing

Free writing helps open up a topic; even chaotic ideas can spill onto paper. In this
technique one has to keep writing on a particular topic for a self-designated time,
or space on a page, until one has noted down all the related ideas that came to
mind. Even if one does not get very specific ideas one must keep on writing until
the designated time or space is covered. It is actually a free flowing stream of
words which helps in kick-starting the imagination.

f) Outlining

Outlining is a somewhat later stage of pre-writing as compared to brainstorming,

clustering and free-writing. We would like to share the outline for the chapter 'the
process of writing which you are reading right now, to give you a practical idea of
outlining and its importance in any type of writing, but specifically academic
writing.

COMPOSITION AND FIRST DRAFT

Once you have finalised the topic or a topic is given, you should do some
preliminary research. After all this, the next thing to be done is Writing your first
draft is the most difficult stage in the whole writing process. This stage where a
writer should start writing the details and explanations of the topic and all
sub-topics. There should not be any worries regarding the length, grammar or
syntax related issues. Just writing and finishing the first draft will cure you of the
initial 'writer's block,

Although you need not worry about correct language, syntax or mechanics at this
stage yet keep in mind the following three basic points: Topic, Purpose,Reader

a) Topic Sentence and Thesis Statement

Each paragraph should have one main sentence, and all other sentences should
support the point made in that particular sentence. The main sentence of a
paragraph is called the Topic Sentence. Similarly each essay or article usually has
one central idea around which all supporting ideas are given is called the' Thesis
Statement” .
Both are the focus sentences; Topic Sentence gives the main concept or idea about
a paragraph, whereas Thesis Statement is the main central sentence of a whole
essay or article.

b) Choice of Words

❖ The Keep it short and simple(KISS) Principle:- Use simple words, not
complex ones. Academic writing requires that the readers comprehend the
written text.

❖ Do not use jargon and clichés until required for the purpose of writing.
Loaded language is not required for academic or any formal communicative
purpose.

❖ Do away with redundancies (repetitive nouns and expressions) as they

suggest that the writer has not developed the argument properly.

c) Paragraph Structure

A well-organised essay or topic presents a systematic progress in the development

of the thesis statement. In other words, it covers the topic in such a way that no part
of the essay seems out of sync with the others. Whether one is writing a narrative,
descriptive, analytical, argumentative or expository essay, one should arrange one's
ideas in logical progression. Each paragraph helps in taking the topic a step further
in terms of systematic progression of the central idea. The essay should present a
sense of 'flow', and show not just how the ideas connect with each other, but also
explain the priority the author has presented. All the paragraphs play their own part
in meaningfully communicating the main ideas of the topic to readers. Broadly
speaking, the three parts of an essay are:-

Introduction: It Is Said that well begun is half done which is very true in the case
of writing.If one has been able to give an effective introduction to a topic, it will
generate an interest in the reader to read more and learn about the topic. Mostly the
opening paragraph provides background information about the topic and has the
Thesis Statement in it, which along with other sentences, introduces the topic to
readers.

Body: With a transition, then follows the body of an essay, which is generally the
most detailed part related to the thesis statement. It is in this part that the writer
provides all the relevant details with arguments, examples, comparisons, contrasts,
analysis, sequences and other relevant details. One can write the maximum details
of the central idea in the body part and make as many paragraphs depending on the
length of overall writing.In fact one should preferably write separate paragraphs for
different ideas. This will also help in having one Topic Sentence in each paragraph
supported with other details and examples.

Conclusion: Towards the end of the essay, comes the conclusion. It is the final part
which connects the thesis statement with the details of the body of the essay. It is
directly related with the central idea along with a summing up of all the main
points as a whole.

REVISING

After the main task of composing the first draft is accomplished, the next thing to
be done is to check the draft thoroughly. Read it aloud or otherwise to yourself and
go through it to make it better.

EDITING
After checking the writing for structure and sequencing, now check your writing
for correctness in spelling, structure and cite wherever you have quoted to avoid
plagiarism.

EVALUATION
Evaluation is done for an overall presentation of your written product, ready for
presentation or publication.one can evaluate on the basis of  subject, depth, word
choice etc
The writer may want or need to go back researching, writing or editing so that it is
presentable after evaluation to make the final version more coherent.

Writing and communicating in a methodical way by identifying readers and

listeners need  is very important and essential in Academic writing. Similarly if
there is too much information, choosing carefully what to include or exclude from
one's writing becomes essential.It is also important that one must keep on writing
as much as possible to improve and make their work perfect.