The Writing Process

Week 1
 Writing is a process that is done through a
series of stages:
oEach stage is essential.
Writing I. Prewriting
Process II. Writing (Drafting)
III. Revising
IV. Editing & Proofreading
  Choose a topic to write on
 narrow your topic
 Determine your
 Purpose
 Tone
I. Prewriting  Tense
 Focus in on central ideas
 Explore your topic
 Brainstorm or generate ideas for your topic
 Make a plan
 How to narrow down a topic
Aspect Select one perspective/aspect and use it for viewing a problem. For example,
instead of studying the different factors that cause cancer, study how smoking
can cause lung cancer.

Components/ Figure out the type or category. For example, a topic on tobacco use among
Elements teenagers can be narrowed down to chewing tobacco instead of all forms of
tobacco use or teenagers in general.

Place analyzing a smaller geographical unit means a narrow topical focus. For
example, instead of studying trade relations in Asia, focus on trade relations
between China and Singapore guide you in explaining problems in that region.

Time adding a time frame narrows the topic . For example, instead of studying trade
relations between China and Singapore, focus on the trade relations between
China and Singapore between 2010 and 2018.
 Narrow Down Your Topic

Your topic should pass the 3-

question test:
1. Does it interest me?
2. Do I have something to say
about it?
3. Is it specific?
  EDUCATION

 ________________________________
Practice Topics
 1. Culture

 2. Festivals
________________________________  3. Environment
 4. Happiness

 ________________________________
 Explore Your Topic
• Narrowing down
• Free writing
Pre-writing
Techniques • Brainstorming
• Listing
• Clustering
• Outlining
Free-Writing

 Freewriting is just what it says—writing freely

 whatever comes into your mind, even before
researching about it
Free Writing  Does not require complete sentences, proper
spelling, or correct punctuation and grammar
 About 10 to 15 minutes to write everything that
comes to mind even if it doesn’t necessarily
make sense yet.
 Describe your room in detail.
My room? Hmm, it's nothing too fancy, just a
cozy corner of our house in Lahore. Light
floods in through big windows, making
everything seem warm. The wooden furniture
Example of — solid and a bit rustic — reminds me of those
old family homes. I’ve added some plants too,
Free Writing you know? Just a few, but they make the space
feel so fresh. I can sit for hours on the comfy
couch, lost in a book or sipping chai. There's a
calmness here, especially when the sunlight hits
just right, almost like time slows down. Feels
like a little retreat from the bustling world
outside.
  Free write for 5 minutes on the following topic:

Practice
 What is the most frightening experience you
have ever had?
  “Brainstorming” means thinking of as many
ideas as possible in a short amount of time.
 Write down your ideas so that you don’t forget
them.
Brainstorming  There is no sequence of ideas
 Write down everything that comes to your mind;
don’t worry about sorting out “good” and “bad”
ideas.
 Brainstorming
 is creating a list of ideas in response to a
problem or question.
 ideas generated by brainstorming don’t need to
be related to each other; they only need to be
related to the problem at hand.
Brainstorming
Two main ways of brainstorming:
1. Posing and answering questions about a problem
or topic: Who? What? Where? When? Why?
How?
2. Gathering a list of ideas related to the problem or
topic.
 What would I do with one million dollars?

Travel--Europe, Asia, S. America

Example of Pay off our house
Brainstorming Share--give a scholarship, donate to charities
Buy a lot of books!
Invest/save and let the interest grow
  Take 5 minutes to brainstorm ideas about the
Topics for following question:
Practice  What are some of the most memorable
experiences of your life?
  Listing is a process of generating a lot of
information within a short time by generating
some broad ideas and then building on those
associations for more detail.

 Jot down all the possible terms that emerge from

Listing the general topic you are working on.

 Listing works well for descriptive-type writing.

 Simply write down as many possibilities as you
can.
 Note: do not write single words rather write a
phrase/clause covering only 1 idea in each point
 Describe your favorite room in the
house/apartment where you live.

1. the large windows filling the room with natural light

2. Soft, plush carpets covers the floor
3. A cozy corner sofa sits against the wall
Example of 4. Decorative throw pillows in vibrant
Listing 5. an artfully arranged bookshelf in the corner
6. The room is painted in soothing neutral tones
7. A large rug anchors the seating area
8. House plants are scattered around
9. the soft glow from the floor lamp
10. A small coffee table holds candles and magazines
  Clustering utilizes a visual map to shape ideas
and explore how those ideas relate to each
other.
Clustering
 Clustering is another way to record your
thoughts and observations for writing a
paragraph or essay
  When you cluster, your topic goes in a bubble in
the middle of the page. From there, your ideas
expand to form a spider-web visual.

How to do it?
Clustering  1. First, in a circle near the center of the page,
write out the subject of your essay or paragraph.
 2. Then write down other ideas that relate to
your central ideas -- use lines and circles to
"map" how the different aspects of your topic
will relate to each other.
 Never stop Instill a love
learning of education
education in my children
Eventually
get a PhD

Example of Learn to love My future

whatever work Make them
Clustering I am doing a priority
Stay at home family
work while raising
Use the skills I children
have learned in Stay close to
as many ways as Raise healthy,
my husband
possible happy children
  Outlining is a good way to organize your ideas.
It's best to use an outline after you've done some
free-writing, listing or clustering.

 It's also good to use an outline after you've

written the first draft to help you organize your
Outlining paragraphs and sentences.

 Especially for long papers, outlines can be quite

detailed, but even a short outline can be helpful
in giving the writer ideas and a sense of
organization for an essay.
 I. Introduction: Internet “friendship” has
advantages and disadvantages.
II. Advantages
a) meet people around the world
Example of b) not based on appearance
Outlining III. Disadvantages
a) can you trust them?
b) may be too far away to meet in person
IV. Conclusion: Some success stories, but too
risky
 Writing your Thesis Statement
A thesis statement generally consists of two parts:
your topic, and the main point: the analysis, explanation(s), or assertion(s)
that you are
making about the topic.
OR
Thesis statement = Narrowed topic + main point

Example

Euthanasia is suicidal, it should be banned.

Narrowed topic main point
 Three Point Thesis Statement
• A 3-point thesis statement is a coherent statement
that integrates the three essential components of a
standard thesis statement.

• includes a topic, an assertion, and reasons

Example justifying the claim.

• Thesis statement = Narrowed topic + Main point +

First supporting reason/idea + Second supporting
reason/idea + Third supporting reason/idea
Practice
Writing Prompt:
1. Should students be allowed to eat snacks in the classroom? Why or why
not?
 Thesis Statement:
 Students (should / should not) be allowed to eat snacks in the classroom
because
 ______, _________, and ________.
Writing Prompt:
2. Write an essay explaining why a decision you made was the right one?
 Thesis Statement:
 My decision to______________ was the right one because___________,
 ___________, and ____________.
  Instructions: Read the points and write a three
Practice point thesis statement.
 Topic: Young people should pay attention to politics.
A. Young people are intelligent enough to understand
3-Point Thesis what’s going on.
Statement B. Politics affects everyone’s lives, including young
people’s.
C. Paying attention to politics now will help young
people to be informed citizens when they are old
enough to vote.
II. Drafting - Putting your ideas and thoughts together in sentences and paragraphs.

• organize all of your notes from your pre-writing into separate paragraphs.
• The paragraphs should support your introduction and your thesis statement.
• Everything needs to flow smoothly.
• The conclusion, or "end", of your essay should sum up what you have said, without
repeating. It should give the reader some final thoughts on the topic you are writing
about.

III. Revising is rewriting or rearranging sentences to make sense.

• making decisions about how you want to improve your writing

• looking at your writing from a different point of view
• picking places where your writing could be clearer, more interesting, more informative
and more convincing.