The READING and
WRITING Process
Our first lesson
from Patterns
The Reading ProcessReading is a Two-way Street
• Read Passages Critically
• It is your responsibility to
(1) evaluate the ideas of others
(2) to form your judgments
(3) to develop original points of view
(4) support your interpretation using text
evidence
DO NOT: distort the writer’s words or overlook
significant details
While Reading
1- HIGHLIGHT the text
* mark the text with symbols
* underline important ideas
* box key terms
* number repeated images, statements
* circle unfamiliar words
2- ANNOTATE
* write in the margins or on any white
space
* ask questions
* comment on the writer’s style
* summarize key events
3- Come to LOVE
STICKY NOTES
* mark important passages so you can
easily find them
* mark pending questions
* do not overuse
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WRITING IS
P-plan
O-organize
W- write
E-edit
R-revise
Planning includes prewriting and developing a thesis
statement
Organize by arranging your thoughts, graphic organizers
Write at least two drafts of your essay before turning it in
Editing gives you chance to detect spelling errors,
grammatical errors, and mechanical errors
Revisions allow you to refine your writing style
The Assignment: invent by
understanding the assignment
• It’s a FACT: A well-written essay that does
not address the assignment will “miss the
mark.”
• Consider length, purpose, audience,
occasion, and your knowledge of the
subject.
Length
Every assignment has a required length, the
question is why are some papers 10 pages while
others are only 2 pages?
Page limit has a direct bearing on your paper’s
focus.
For example: a two page paper will have a
narrower topic than a 10 page paper.
A research paper on the Romantic Era vs. a paper
where you compare and contrast main
characters.
Purpose
• Limits what you say and how you say it!
-classify your purpose according to your
relationship with the audience
1- Expressive Writing: diaries, journals, personal
letters, often narratives and descriptive essays
2- Informative-exams, lab reports, expository
essays, research papers, and persuasive writing
which includes editorials and essays
**This is your chance to show what you know and
more importantly how you know it.
Audience
• An audience can be an individual (your teacher), it can
be a group (your classmates), or a specialized group (a
group of medical doctors, the college board), or a
general/universal audience where the members have
little in common (readers of the newspaper)
• Considering your audience allows you to know how
much to tell them (For example, students writing a paper
on Symbols in The Scarlet Letter can assume that I do
not need plot summary because I have already read the
novel, but if you were writing on the Puritan Code of
behavior then you may want to include a brief summary
because I did not major in Sociology nor History.
Occasion
• The occasion is your purpose in writing. It will most likely
be in-class writing or an at-home assignment
Knowledge
What you know and don’t know about the subject limits
what you can say about it.
Ask these 3 Questions
1- what do I already know?
2-what do I need to know? How much research is
involved?
3- What do I think about the subject?
Don’t be Intimated by Writing, it’s just
a process.
Exercise One: Decide whether of not
each of the following topics is
appropriate for its stated limits. Write a
few sentences explaining why or why
not.
• 1. A two to three page paper: a history of animal
testing in medical research
• 2. A one-hour in class essay: An interpretation of
Andy Warhol’s paintings of Campbell’s soup cans
• 3. A letter to your school newspaper: A discussion
on your schools abortion rate
Exercise Two: Make a list of the
different audiences to whom you speak
and write to a daily basis (friends,
family, boss, teachers, coachers, etc.)
• 1. Do you speak or write to each person the
same way? If not, how does your approach
differ for different groups.
• 2. List some subjects that would interest some
of these people but not others. How do you
account for these differences?
RECALL
• Reading is a ________ street.
• Label the writing process: POWER
• Describe two methods you can use to
become a better reader.
• This ______: Limits what you say and how
you say it!
• List one question to ask yourself
concerning your knowledge of the subject.