Language
Learning Center
Writing Workshop for Multilingual
Speakers and Writers
Matthew David Collins Pizzorno
Adjunct Faculty
Palomar College and ALCI: CSU San Marcos
Discovering the
Writer within:
The Academic
Writing Process
Upon finishing this workshop, you will be able to:
• Understand a writing prompt, so you can
discover the information you already posses.
• Apply your knowledge of the writing process to
understand a prompt, come up with your own
ideas, and begin to organize these ideas into a
coherent structure.
• What is the meaning of a
PROCESS?
• How does this meaning apply
to Academic Writing?
(How should you begin to organize your thoughts
and ideas after you receive your writing
assignment?)
4 Main Characteristics of
the Academic writing process
1.
Choose a Topic
2.
Brainstorm(This is the most
VITAL component)
3. Organize/Outline
1. What are the Main ideas?
2. What are the supporting ideas)
4. Write, and Write, and Write, and Write, and
Write some more–
Let’s Practice These
concepts…
Choosing a Topic:
What is your professor asking you to do??
Prompt #1:
Some students prefer to study alone. Others prefer to study
with a group of students. Which do you prefer? Use specific
reasons and examples to support your answer.
Prompt #2:
TECHNOLOGY MAKES COMMUNICATION EASIER IN TODAY'S
WORLD. MANY PEOPLE CHOOSE TO WORK AT HOME IN FRONT OF A
COMPUTER SCREEN. WHAT DANGER DOES THE SOCIETY FACE BY
DEPENDING ON COMPUTER SCREENS RATHER THAN FACE-TO-FACE
CONTACT AS THE MAIN MEANS OF COMMUNICATION?
Brainstorming:
Thinking about the topic and discovering
your inner writer
TIPS ON BRAINSTORMING FOR AN ESSAY:
Ground Rules
1. Focus on quantity:
2. Withhold criticism:
3. Welcome unusual ideas:
4. Combine and improve ideas:
1+1=3
More Brainstorming:
TIPS ON BRAINSTORMING FOR AN ESSAY:
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling
Taking down our fabulous
brainstorming ideas: Starting to
Organize our Writing
• Really
Good
idea
• Best
idea
yet
Bad
Idea
So
So
Idea
Awesome
concept
Super
fabulous
ideas
• An
Even
better
idea
• Oh yeah, this
idea will get me
an A+
What is
this
thing????
Graphic Organizers
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganizers/
In order to really use these ideas, you must discover
what GRAPHIC ORGSNIZER is right for you. Check this out
when you have a few minutes…….
But for today’s workshop, let’s use my favorite Graphic
Organizer…..A Mind Map or Cluster Diagram.
Contact Me:
Mpizzorn@csusm.com
Ideas
for future
workshops?????????????
Sign
in Sheet
Questionnaire