The Writing Process
Steps in writing an essay
Revising and
Editing
Pre-writing
Drafting
Organizing
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
Example
The process of making a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
1. 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.
2. Once you have obtained all of the above
objects, begin by laying out the bread
side by side.
3. Open the jar of PB, stick in the knife, and
gather a liberal (as much as possible)
amount of the product on your knife.
4. 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!!! There are distinct steps that
you must go through to achieve the best product.
Pre-writing
Organizing
Drafting
Final Draft
Revising
and editing
Pre-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:
Conclusion:
Plan/
Blueprint:
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.
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
Spelling,
Grammar,
Punctuation,
Etc…
Ex…Sentence fluency
Word choice
voice
A Couple of Questions to ask yourself while
revising
and
editing
:
Can you identify your thesis sentence?
Do certain paragraphs need more details,
examples or specifics?
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?
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!!!!
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.