The Writing Process
Five Steps to Writing it Right
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Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
Do you know how to use all five
steps of the writing process?
PREWRITING
DRAFTING
REVISING
PROOFREADING
PUBLISHING
STEP 1 – PREWRITING
Prewriting means jotting down ideas for
your story or article before you begin
writing it in paragraphs.
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
PREWRITING
Graphic organizers are great tools to use
for prewriting. You might want to use a
web, a timeline, or an information chart.
You can even make up your own graphic
organizer.
YOUR TURN
Choose one of the topics below. Then
complete a graphic organizer to generate
ideas about your topic.
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
STEP 2 – DRAFTING
Drafting means writing a rough copy.
Use the ideas from your graphic
organizer and write them in the form of
one or more paragraphs.
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
DRAFTING
When you write a rough draft, just keep
going. You don’t need to stop to correct
things like spelling, capitalization,
punctuation, or grammar. You can
correct them later. And if your rough
draft gets a little unorganized, you can
fix that later, too. You can even add or
delete sentences later. When you are
writing a rough draft – just keep going.
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
YOUR TURN
Look over the ideas that you wrote
in the PREWRITING step. Then use
those ideas to write a rough draft of
a paragraph.
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
STEP 3 – REVISING
Revising means improving your writing.
It means making major changes such as
adding details, deleting parts that don’t
fit, and reorganizing.
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
REVISING
Here are some things that you can do to revise
your writing.
•Add descriptive words.
•Add descriptive phrases.
•Add more facts or details (if you are writing
non-fiction).
•Add more action (if you are writing fiction).
•Delete anything that is repeated by accident.
•Delete anything that doesn’t stick to your
topic.
•Rearrange any sentences that sound like they
are not in the right order.
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
YOUR TURN
Look over the rough draft that you
wrote in the DRAFTING step. Make
at least five improvements. You can
do this by writing in the margins,
crossing out, or whatever you need
to do. It doesn’t need to be neat –
yet.
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
STEP 4 – PROOFREADING
Proofreading means correcting errors in
your writing. It means checking for and
correcting errors in capitalization,
punctuation, grammar, spelling, and
format.
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
PROOFREADING
There are many, many kinds of errors that you
can look for when you proofread. Here are just
a few.
* Does every sentence begin with a capital
letter?
* Did you capitalize all proper nouns?
* Did you use end punctuation correctly to
avoid run-on sentences?
* Did you use commas for words in a series?
* Did you use quotation marks for a speaker’s
exact words?
* Do you subjects and verbs agree?
* Did you check the spelling of any words that
you are unsure of?
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
YOUR TURN
Look over your improved draft from
the REVISING step. Check for and
correct each of these kinds of errors
– one at a time.
•Capitalization
•Punctuation
•Grammar
•Spelling
•Format
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
STEP 5 – PUBLISHING
Publishing means presenting your
finished product to an audience.
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
PUBLISHING
There are several ways to publish your
work. Here are a few.
•Hand in a neat final copy to your
teacher.
•Type it in a class magazine or
newspaper.
•Read it aloud to the class.
•Illustrate it and post it on a bulletin
board.
•Make it into a booklet.
Do you have other ideas?
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
YOUR TURN
Look over the paper that you
corrected in the PROOFREADING
step. Create a neat final copy that is
ready to be published.
Then, decide how you will present it
to the class.
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
Now, let’s see if you know
all of the steps!
Choose the five steps of the writing process
from the boxes below and put them in the
correct order?
Revising
Predicting
Prewriting
Publishing
Proofreading
Spelling
Concluding
Drafting
Check your answers on the next slide.
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
Answer Key
Prewriting
Drafting
Revising
Proofreading
Publishing
Can you explain what a writer needs to do at
each
of these steps in the writing process?
Prewriting
Drafting
Revising
Proofreading
Publishing
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
Answer Key
Prewriting – Use a graphic organizer to jot down ideas
for your paper.
Drafting -- Write a rough copy.
Revising -- Make major changes such as reorganizing
or adding or deleting parts.
Proofreading – Correct capitalization, punctuation,
grammar, spelling, and format.
Publishing – Write a neat final copy and choose a way to
present it to the class.
Now that you know how to use
all five steps of the writing
process, remember to put them
to work in your next piece of
writing.
PREWRITING
DRAFTING
REVISING
PROOFREADING
PUBLISHING
Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian
More Writing PowerPoint Presentations
by Ms Fabian’s Room
• Prewriting – Tips and exercises help
students make better use of this step of
the writing process.
• Revising – Ideas and exercises teach
students various ways to revise a piece
of writing.
• Proofreading – Specific suggestions
guide students as they improve their
proofreading skills.
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