Humanities I
Mrs. Cave-Mattie
PSSA Writing
Writing in Everyday Life
Writing is a very important part of everyday life, especially in today’s society.
Consider when and where you write. Consider why people write. Writing will remain an
effective method for communicating ideas in our society indefinitely. Writing can be
very simple or very complex, and it can stir up emotions in both the person writing and
the person or people reading.
Writing is a very effective way to communicate. Writing can help you express
and share your thoughts or ideas with others. It can also tell you a lot about yourself; it
can help you discover traits about yourself that perhaps you never knew existed. In
essence, writing can be a very powerful tool if used correctly.
Qualities of Good Writing
 Focus
o Unified throughout
o Staying on the topic
 Content (FRED)
o Facts
o Reasons
o Examples
o Details
 Organization
o Paragraph Structure
o Sentence Fluency
o Order of ideas
 Style
o Voice
o Word Choice
 Conventions
o Spelling
o Grammar
o Usage and mechanics
Planning to Write
 Choose an effective location
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Budget your time
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Know when to stop
Types of Writing
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Narrative
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Descriptive
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Persuasive
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Informative
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Research
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Response to Literature
The Writing Process
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Prewriting: exploring topics, choosing a topic, beginning to gather and organize
details
Drafting: getting ideas down on paper in a rough format
Revising: reworking the first draft to improve its content and structure
Editing and Proofreading: correcting errors in grammar and spelling, usage and
mechanics
Publishing and presenting: sharing your work with others
Prewriting
The prewriting stage helps you get your creativity flowing. It is a way for you to
brainstorm for ideas and prepare for writing the eventual rough draft. No matter what
you are writing, you should always do some sort of prewriting before beginning the
writing of the rough draft.
During the prewriting stage, you will be faced with one or all of the following:
 Choosing a topic
 Narrowing the topic
 Considering the audience
 Considering the purpose
 Gathering details
o Creating lists
o Creating an outline
o Cluster diagrams, etc.
Prewriting is a very important step in the writing process. Through brainstorming, you
will have the chance to get all of your thoughts down on paper so that you don’t forget
anything. It will also help you make sure that you consider every possible element before
you begin to write.
Drafting
The way that you draft your writing depends upon the type of writing you are
asked to complete. However, regardless of the type of writing, there are some things that
are common to all forms. Each of the following should be considered when you write
your rough draft:
 Grab the reader’s attention from the first sentence
o Motivator or Grabber
 Quote
 Statistics
 Question
 Story
 Restate the prompt
o Restate for the reader what you are discussing in the first paragraph
o Try to do so without using the word “I” or “In this essay you will read
about”
 State your main points in the introduction so that when you discuss them further
in the body of the paper, the reader will know what you are talking about.
 Discuss only one main point in each paragraph
 Try to make each paragraph at least 7 sentences
 Make the first sentence of your paragraph the topic sentence
o topic sentence = a sentence that tells what the whole paragraph is about
 Use creativity and interesting words throughout the essay
 Make your essay exactly 5 paragraphs long
o Introduction
o 3 body paragraphs discussing 3 main pts
o Conclusion
 Be sure to have a conclusion!
Understand that when you are writing the rough draft, everything does not have to
be perfect. That is why it is called a “rough” draft! You will most likely make changes
to your rough draft down the road. If you make spelling or grammar mistakes in the
rough draft, it’s ok. In fact, it is expected! You will have time to make changes when
you revise and proofread. Your final draft is the only draft that is supposed to be as close
to perfect as possible.
Revising
Once you finish drafting the rough copy, you must then go back and make
revisions. In order to do this, you will need to re-read what you wrote several times,
checking for places where you can make improvements. This is probably the most
important stage of the writing process, but it is also the most difficult for many students.
There are five steps to the revision process.
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Step 1 = Revising your overall structure
o Check your organization. Make sure that it makes sense and is consistent.
Sometimes it is necessary to re-organize parts of your paper so that it
sounds better.
o Make sure that your introduction grabs your reader’s attention and that
your conclusion will leave a lasting impression.
o Make sure you have provided enough support for your main idea
Step 2 = Revising your paragraphs
o Make sure that each paragraph focuses on only one main point of your
topic
o Make sure all sentences in the paragraph relate to each another
o Eliminate any sentences that are not clearly related to the others in the
paragraph.
o Try to have at least 7 sentences per paragraph
o Be sure that each paragraph has a topic sentence.
Step 3 = Revising your sentences
o Make sure that you have some sentences that are longer and some that are
shorter. You do not want all of your sentences to be exactly the same
length.
o Try to use transitions
o Do your best to use all different types of sentence beginnings so that your
paragraphs do not sound monotonous or repetitive.
Step 4 = Revising your word choice
o Take a close look at your word choice
o Try to find places where you can use more unique or precise words
o If you have words that you use again and again, try to use other words that
have the same meaning (synonyms)
Step 5 = Peer Review
o Once you have finished revising on your own, have someone else read
your paper!
o Have a fellow student, a parent, or a family member read your paper and
tell you what, if anything, needs revision.
o It is always helpful to get another person’s opinion on your paper!
Editing/Proofreading
In order to effectively edit and proofread your paper, you will need to re-read it
several times, each time focusing on one of the elements mentioned below:
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Spelling: run a spell check first. Then, go back and check for spelling errors on
your own. Remember, spell check will not check for errors in homonyms, proper
nouns, etc.
Sentences: check for run-ons, comma splices, and fragments. Fix them utilizing
the methods we went over in class.
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Capitalization: make sure that you have capitalized all necessary words such as
proper nouns, words in the beginning of the sentences, etc.
Punctuation: make sure each sentence ends with the correct punctuation mark,
and check to see that your commas, semi-colons, etc. are correct throughout the
paper.
Publishing and Presenting
Once you have fully revised and edited your paper, re-read it one more time,
checking for any other mistakes. Have someone else read it one time as well, just to be
sure you haven’t missed anything. Prepare the final copy, print it, and hand it in to your
teacher. You may be asked to share this as well with your fellow students, so be sure you
are prepared to present your writing to the class.
Save your work. You want to be sure that you save a copy of your work
somewhere, just in case, by mistake, it gets lost. That way, you won’t have to re-do the
paper from scratch. When your paper is graded and returned to you, take a moment to
reflect on the teacher’s comments. It is always a good idea to learn from your mistakes
and find areas where you can improve your writing. Plus, each piece of writing you
complete says something about who you are as a student, and it will be neat to look back
on those when you get older!