Process Writing
The Building Blocks
To Organized Writing
The Steps in Process Writing
Prewrite
 Organize
 Draft
 Revise
 Edit
 Final Copy

Ways to Prewrite
Brainstorm – make a list
 Freewrite – make a list in paragraph form
 Journal entry – what do you really think?
 Read – the new term for research
 Internet Search – the newest term for
research – be careful of the source!
 Talk – with someone who has a brain,
preferably

Freewriting Example
It’s another football season and I’m once
again rediculously optimistic about the
Eagles. Even if players have already fallen
during the preseason, even if certain
trades make no sense, even if I can’t
afford a ticket to see the new stadium, I
am still a fan. I bought Eagles pajamas for
my grandsons – at 5 months old, they will
be Eagles fans. Exactly how well will our
Freewrite continued
Our quarterback do? What is the story about
our ends? Will my son be yelling at me
again that I don’t know what I’m talking
about? Do we have a chance? What other
teams made better trades so that our
chances are even slimmer? Are we really
the city of the choke?
Journal Entries
Cathartic release
 Let the ideas run a little more organized
than in a freewrite
 Don’t worry about the spelling, worry
about the ideas
 Think well below the surface

Organize Your Thoughts
Are you linear?
 Are you global?
 Ways to get organized –

 Make
a list
 Use a web
 Use a heuristic
The Draft

Get it down in an organized manner in
paragraph form
Revise
Stephen King has
published many
books, but he claims
none have been
finished. Why?
 There is always room
for improvement!
 Revising involves
word choices,
reorganization, and
transitions.

Edit

Find all the mistakes
in the nuts and bolts
of the writing:
grammar errors
 spelling errors
 punctuation errors

Final Copy
This is more than just a neat recopy of the
rough draft!
 If you can’t find any mistakes, you haven’t
looked hard enough! In other words…
 LOOK AGAIN!
