Prewriting, Writing, Outlining, Research, Revising and Editing
I.
Prewriting
a. Select a topic/ or assigned previously
b. Explore ideas about the topic through thinking, reading, listening,etc.
c. Formulate a thesis or main idea and decide what points you want to make
d. Select details and examples from reading, research, personal experience
e. Decide on the order in which you’ll present your ideas and examples
f. Write a first draft; edit and revise for content, style, and writing mechanics; write
a final draft.
II.
Types of Writing
a. Describing a person, place or thing
b. Telling a story or recounting an incident
c. Reporting information
d. Providing instructions or explaining a process
e. Arguing a position or point
f. Analyzing something: text, theory, attitude or an event
III.
Understanding Your Assignment and Audience
a. Are you following all the specific details and re-reading the assignment carefully?
b. What is the purpose of your writing?
i. To persuade
ii. To inform
iii. To question
iv. To offer an opinion
IV.
c. Writing audience
i. Friend
ii. Teacher
iii. Employer
iv. Other
Topic Guidelines
a. Length of the paper
b. Avoid simply summarizing make sure to discuss or analyze
c. Pick an interesting topic
d. If research is required pick one with available resources
e. If stuck, don’t be afraid to change the topic
V.
Writing a thesis statement:
a. Must be clear and say something
b. Don’t be satisfied with weak generalities that fail to zero in on your main point.
i. Bad examples
1. Poets make important points about animals in their poems “To a
Wolf” and “The Happy Meercat”
2. Shakespeare uses quite a bit of clothing imagery in King Lear.
3. People hold different opinions as to whether it is wise to impose
sanctions on China because of their human rights violations.
c. Avoiding fallacies
i. Ad Hominem: name calling or personal attacks
1. Bob can’t be right because he’s an idiot.
ii. Bandwagon: everyone agrees so it must be true
1. As everyone knows, this bill will help our children.
iii. Either/Or Reasoning: there can only be one cause or solution
1. The only way to keep our children safe is to ban video games.
iv. Slippery slope: assuming since a minor fact is true, all others are as well
1. Congressman Smith voted against tax increases last week;
therefore, Congressman Smith will always be against tax increases.
v. Ad Populum: arguing based soley on emotional appeals rather than facts
1. All true Americans want to ban this book.
vi. Circular reasoning: presents as reasons the restatement of the problem
1. There are not enough parking spaces because there are too may
cars.
VI.
Main idea in Narratives and Personal Essays
a. Require main or controlling idea to help focus and direct your writing.
i. Changing high schools when I was fifteen made me realize for the first
time that the fear of an experience is often worse than the reality.
ii. When I was six, my cat Edward died; and I began to mistrust the
reassurances of doctors, a mistrust that has remained with me ever since.
VII.
Research and Organizing
a. Examples and Evidence
i. Brainstorming, taking notes, outlining
ii. Computer research
b. Specific details & Citing sources
i. Plagiarism-turnitin.com
ii. Quoting and paraphrasing
VIII. Development after the thesis statement
a. Spatial or chronological organization
i. Order of events, time,etc
b. Divide into categories
i. (Ex) Problem
1. Solutions
a. Consumer actions
b. Alternatives to wood
c. Government regulations
c. Comparison
i. Discuss each item separately and then include a section with comparisons
and contrasts
ii. Describe which aspects you want to focus on and compare and contrast
together.
d. Inductive/Deductive
i. Inductive: logical argument, the pattern in which you present specifc
evidence and then draw a general conclusion. State the general conclusion
first and present the supporting evidence in the following paragraphs.
1. Ex: Evidence( The student action committee failed to achieve a
quorum in all six of its last meetings)
2. Ex: Conclusion(The student action committee is an ineffective
voice for students at this university.
ii. Deductive: Begin with general information and apply it to specific details.
1. Offer an opinion then support with specific details.
a. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
b. Then you provide a number of examples to support this.
e. Examples and Evidence
i. Save the most important or best piece for last. The reader will expect you
to build to your strongest point.
IX.
Outlining
a. Informal
i. Simply a list of main points, or an organized web
b. Formal
i. Ex:
I.Many high school classes do not prepare students for large
university classes.
A. Nontracked high school classes don’t challenge more able students
to achieve at the highest level.
1. Less competition leads some students to “get by” rather than excel.
2. Inflated grading of good students in nontracked classes can lead to
false expectations.
X.
Introductions
a. Avoid general statements
i. Capital punishment is a very controversial subject
b. Avoid weak restatements of the assignment
i. A person can make many interesting points in comparing the poems
“Happy Meercat” and “Ode to a Wolf.”
c. Avoid flat statements and/or simply defining a term that doesn’t need it.
i. This essay will cover the many opportunities available to young people
who choose computer science as a major.
ii. The novel Silas Marner by George Eliot is about a man who is a miser.
What is a miser? According to the dictionary….bla blab la
d. Use a relevant quotation that enhances the work you are discussing
e. Provide background or context for your thesis statement
f. Ask a question that leads to your thesis statement
g. Begin with a relevant anecdote that leads to your thesis statement
h. Speak directly to your readers. Ask them to imagine themselves in a situation you
create.
XI.
The Paragraph
a. Paragraph length and clarity
i. Should be four to eight sentences in length….full page paragraphs tend to
lead to repletion and rambling.
b. Unified Paragraph
i. Focuses on one idea and one idea only
c. Paragraph Coherence
i. Intro sentence, body and transition
d. Connecting sentences through ideas/words/phrases
i. All sentences should flow together from one to the next….
ii. Sentences can also be connected by asking questions and following it with
an answer or making a statement and following it with a question
iii. Use a pronoun who antecedent appears in the previous sentence
1. Bill Jones…..he
iv. Repeat a key word or phrase
v. Use a synonym
vi. Use word patterns…first, second, third
vii. Use transitional words….later, below, for example, but, as a result, in fact,
in other words, furthermore…
viii. Additional helpful words/phrases:
1. Time or place: above, across from, adjacent to, afterward, before,
behind, below, beyond, earlier, elsewhere, farther on, here, in the
distance, nearby, next to, opposite to, to the left, to the right
2. Example: for example, for instance, specifically, to be specific
3. Contrast: but, however, nevertheless, on the contrary, on the other
hand
4. Similarity: similarly, in the same way, equally important
5. Consequences: accordingly, as a result, consequently, therefore
6. Emphasis: indeed, in fact, of course
7. Amplification: and, again, also, further, furthermore, in addition,
moreover, too
8. Restatement: in other words, more simply stated, that is, to clarify
9. Summary and conclusion: altogether, finally, in short, to
summarize, in conclusion
XII. Conclusion
i. What to avoid
1. Don’t introduce a new topic
2. Don’t trail off with a weak statement or statement leaving you
reader up in the air
3. Don’t simply repeat your thesis or main idea in the same words
4. Don’t apologize or suggest doubts about your thesis
ii. Suggestions
1. End with an appropriate quotation
2. End with a story related to your thesis
3. Summarize your main points but don’t simply use the same words.
XIII. Revising and Editing
i. Titles
1. Avoid dullness and overly clever titles
2. Consider a good quotation from your work or an effective phrases
that summarizes the piece
a. Examples
i. Strong
1. Only Skin Deep?
2. Fit to be Tried: An Examination of the
McNaughton Rule
ii. Weak
1. The Importance of Beauty to Today’s
Woman
2. Judging Legal Sanity
ii. Reviewing the first draft.
1. Leave time between the writing the first draft and reviewing it. At
least 20 minutes or so. Preferably a few hours or the next day.
2. READ THE PAPER ALOUD---grammar mistakes will jump out at
you!
3. Ask a person you trust to carefully read over your work
4. Remember you can always make changes
5. Use a revision checklist( I will provide this )
iii. The Final Draft
1. Spell-check, grammar-check, thesaurus
2. Layout of the final draft
3. Purpose-Audience-Tone
a. Does the writing satisfy the assignment
b. Topic too broad?
c. Is the thesis or main idea stated early in the paper
d. Is the thesis or main idea interesting
e. Have I thought about my audience
f. Is my tone consistent?
4. Examples, evidence and details
a. Thesis is developed?
b. Examples and evidence accurate and checked?
c. Do I use quotations appropriately?
d. Do I cite sources?
5. Structure
a. Do I have organization? Avoid repetition?
b. Clear intro and conclusion
c. Paragraphs are clear and unified
d. Transitions, each paragraph builds onto the next
e. Examples, evidence, details in the best order? Strongest
point for the last?
6. Language and Style
a. Are the words chosen carefully? Sure of all meanings?
b. Appropriate purpose, tone and audience?
c. Avoided wordiness, euphemisms, clichés, pretentious
language?
d. Use active instead of passive voice?
7. Sentence Construction
a. Avoided run-ons and fragments
b. Avoided short, choppy sentences
c. Sentences vary in length and structure
8. Grammar
a. Checked: spelling, caps, verb tense, agreement, pronouns,
adjectives,
b. Punctuation
i. Commas, periods, question marks, etc.
Source: Writing: Grammar, Usage and Style by Jean Eggenschwiler.