PROCESS
ESSAY
Life is a
PROCESS
ESSAY
(cognitive & social development)
PROCESS ESSAY
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*BRIEF DEFINITION:
 the careful, detailed explanation of a particular
procedure
*TYPES of PROCESS-ANALYSIS:
 DIRECTIVE: how to perform a task
o *you will write this type of process essay
o how to change of flat tire
 INFORMATIVE: explain how something works
o how the gulf stream works
TRAITS
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Process Essay
VS
First 3 Essays
PROCESS ESSAY vs.
FIRST ESSAYS
*DESCRIPTIVE:




dominant impression
sense details with similes (to support DI)
arranged spatially
pan like a camera
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PROCESS ESSAY vs.
FIRST ESSAYS
*ILLUSTRATIVE:




reasons, proof, examples
supported by stats, anecdotes, instances
arranged logically
emphatic order—save the best for last
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PROCESS ESSAY vs.
FIRST ESSAYS
*NARRATIVE:
 narrative details of a moralistic story
 arranged chronologically
 linear time sequence—beginning, middle, end
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PROCESS ESSAY vs.
FIRST ESSAYS
*PROCESS-ANALYSIS ESSAY:





detailed steps in a process
arranged chronologically
step by step by step
use description, narration, illustration
use transitions between steps
 AND…..
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YOU, YOU, YOU
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* The Process Essay is the only one in which you
are directly addressing the reader, so get all
the you’s out of your system now.





you, you, you, you, you
“you are”
“you’re” is NOT allowed (no contractions)
“UR” is NOT allowed (no text-messaging lingo)
“your” is allowed
POV
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“YOU”
 2ND-person POV
 directly addressing the reader
“I”
 1st-person POV (*more informational process essay)
 speaking from personal experience (*more Narrative)
“YOU” with “I” (*recommendation*)
 directly addressing the reader (“YOU”)
 offering personal examples for illustration (“I”)
 “For example, I prefer to add my fabric softener at the
end of the third cycle.”
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
**SCENARIO:
 Create a context for this process
 What situation would dictate the reader
needing to know how to perform this task?
 Why should the reader know how to do this
activity?
 purpose: answer the “so what?!” factor
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INTRODUCTION
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*OVERVIEW:
Now that you have gained our interest and
created a need by virtue of the scenario, now
tell us exactly what we are in for in an overview
of the entire process—
 How many steps?
 What is the difficulty level?
 How long should it take?
 Divide into recognizable parts
 Describe the result (sense details; “After following my
easy, five-step process, you will have safely, properly
changed your flat tire.”)
INTRODUCTION
**PURPOSE STATEMENT:
 like a thesis statement
 what essay will concern
 why readers should do
 combine “overview” with your purpose to get
a thesis statement:
In six easy steps that should take you
approximately ten minutes, you can create a
new, exciting, flattering look for yourself.
purpose: answer the “so what?!” factor
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INTRODUCTION
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*PURPOSE STATEMENT*
**DO NOT ANNOUNCE:
 Rather than “I am going to tell you how to
make this” OR “In this essay I will show you
how,”
 Write “If you follow this easy six-step process,
you will be able to create…”.
INTRODUCTION
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*EXAMPLES OF CREATING A SCENARIO &
INTRODUCING THE TOPIC:
1) Have you ever been driving home late at
night on a dark, deserted road out of cell phone
range when you felt the car pulling sharply to
one side and you heard the unmistakable
thumping sound of a flat tire?
 BODY’s 1st sentence: The first step in
changing a tire is to….
INTRODUCTION
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*EXAMPLES OF CREATING A SCENARIO &
INTRODUCING THE TOPIC:
 2) Girls, are you tired of being seen as only sex
objects? OR Feminism is dead, and women are now,
more than ever, seen as simply sex objects. Girls, if
that is how they are going to treat us, then we should
use it to our advantage. One of the best instances to
use, as Mama always said, “the gifts th’ Good Lord gave
ya” is when you are pulled over by a police officer for a
moving violation. I have three simple steps for getting
out of a speeding ticket. (*from a student essay*)
 BODY’s 1st sentence: The first step in getting out of a
speeding ticket is to….
BODY
BODY
*COHERENCE:
*CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
*TRANSITIONS
o first, then, next,
o * “First, get the….” AND “Next, use the…”
(vs.) “The first step is to…” AND “The next
task involves…”
*SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
o after, before
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BODY: Transitions
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BODY: Transitions
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I. COHERENCE:
 In the end, you want your essay to be a unified
whole--a strong link chain, if you will.
Coherence, the technical term for this
chain effect, points to not only the
logical flow of ideas, but also the
interconnectedness of ideas. In other words,
coherence measures how well the ideas relate
to each other. This is where transitions come
in: they help build coherence.
BODY: Transitions
II. NO SENTENCE IS AN ISLAND.
 Incoherent writing is characterized by
short, choppy, unrelated sentences.
The writer has not demonstrated any
relationships between ideas: each
desert-island-sentence floats in the
ocean-paragraph with no bridge
connecting any of them. Consequently,
just like someone stranded on an island,
the idea soon shrivels and dies.
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BODY: Transitions
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 Transitions are the bridges between sentences
that connect ideas and build a unified
paragraph. Some of the relationships they
show include cause or effect, comparison or
contrast, emphasis, sequence, and summary.
BODY: Transitions
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 When each paragraph becomes a cohesive
whole, then we use transitions to connect each
of them, too. In order to build a larger point
throughout the essay, we can employ
transitions between paragraphs to reference,
contrast, or continue a previous idea.
BODY: Transitions
 Thus, the final essay represents a series of
associations, of relationships, of links--of
bridges--between ideas. Because of this
interconnectedness, the writer's thesis is
logical, sound, and coherent, and the reader
can easily follow the course of the argument,
crossing from one point to another.
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BODY: Transitions
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 To carry this metaphor to its (merciful)
conclusion: transitions provide the valuable
infrastructure necessary for a reader to travel
uninterruptedly between each of the islandstates (ideas), and the final unified essay
created with them has become like a
centralized form of government uniting a group
of island-states under one flag (thesis,
argument, point).
BODY: Transitions
III. LINK:
 Transitions provide links between the
following:
o SENTENCES: Also, the temperature of the
oven must be set on high to achieve this
goal.
o PARAGRAPHS: Another reason I dislike
Mondays involves highway traffic.
o SECTIONS: As noted in the previous
chapter, the theme of equivocation
dominates Shakespeare's Macbeth.
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BODY: Transitions
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IV. FORMS:
 Transitions often come in the following forms:
o SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS: since,
because, if, when, although
o COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS: and, but,
yet, or, nor, for, so
o PREPOSITIONS: after, during, behind,
beyond, during
o ADVERBS: once, never, always, frequently
BODY: Transitions
V. Transitions for the Process-Analysis Essay:
Time and Sequence/Order
 First, second, third
 Next, then, finally, lastly
 After, afterwards, following,
 At this time, at this point
 Simultaneously, concurrently
 Subsequently, while, meanwhile
 When, during, immediately, now, later, in the
future, earlier, sometimes, always, never,
whenever, once
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BODY: Transitions
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* Examples of transitions in a process essay:
1) First, pull off the road a safe distance from any
possible traffic, and park on a flat surface.
2) Next, put the car in park and put on your
emergency brake.
3) Then, after you activate your four-ways, you
must gather all the necessary equipment, such
as a flash light, crow bar, jack, and, of course,
spare tire. All these items should be located in
your trunk.
BODY: Transitions
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 The latter sentence actually employs 2 chronological
transitions: “then” and an introductory subordinate
clause that begins with “after.” While both indicate
time, the second allows you to put 2 steps into 1
sentence, and it tells you the order these 2 steps are to
be performed.
 Also, you noticed that these transitions appeared at the
start of their sentences. Typically, this is good practice,
for it enumerates each step and makes it easier for the
reader to follow along. However, their position can be
as fluid as that of most adverbs:
 Pull off the road first, at a safe distance from traffic,
and park on a flat surface.
BODY: Transitions
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VI. Pitfalls of These Transitions:
1) The List: your essay resembles a recipe
card on which your steps are numerically
listed.
o 1)
o 2)
o 3)
2) The Ad Naseam: you abuse the sequential transitions.
“First, second, third, …twenty-third!”
3) The M*A*S*H Mistake: improper chronology
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M*A*S*H: “The Army-Navy Game”
 Set-up: An unexploded shell lands in the middle of the
compound, and the surgeons have to disarm the
weapon.
Henry, the commanding officer,
reads directions from behind the cover
of mattresses to the two surgeons.
Trapper and
Hawkeye are the two surgeons
who have to “operate” on the bomb. At this point, they
have successfully removed the access panel and are
now at the infamous wire-cutting stage.
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M*A*S*H:
“The Army-Navy Game”
 HENRY: "And carefully cut the wires to the fuse at the head.”
 NARRATOR: Trapper cuts the wire.
 HENRY: "But first remove the fuse.“
 NARRATOR: Everyone exchanges panicked looks; Trapper listens to the
bomb with a stethoscope.
 TRAPPER: "Psst. Psst.”
 HAWKEYE: "You spring a leak?“
 TRAPPER: "It stopped ticking.”
 HAWKEYE: "Let's get the hell out of here. We've only got 2 and a half
minutes, maybe."
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M*A*S*H:
“The Army-Navy Game”
BOOM!
Luckily, it is only a CIA propaganda bomb.
BODY
*STEP-BY-STEP:




assume nothing
presume your audience=NOVICES
reader knows nothing about your topic
reader has never performed this task before
 DIRECTIVE (how-to, technical writing)
vs/
INFORMATIVE (close to narrative)
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BODY
*THIS IS AN ESSAY, SO…
*NO LISTS*
*NO RECIPES (keep in essay format)
*do not forget the ARTICLES (a, an, the)
*do not forget the INTRODUCTION &
CONCLUSION paragraphs
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BODY
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*DETAILS:
* STEP #1: gather all materials 1st (items
should NOT just magically appear in the middle
of the process)
* “HOW EXACTLY” (don’t skip over steps; the
devil is in the details)
 use DESCRIPTIVE DETAILS
 since this is not necessarily a 5-paragraph
essay, group steps into
related PHASES/STAGES
BODY
*FLAVOR:
 make PERSONAL SUGGESTIONS or
PREFERENCES (if no specific brand/flavor is
required) (i.e., amount of salt)
 make TIPS (better use a pot holder)
 give SPECIFIC INSTANCE if “it depends”
 briefly explain the REASON for a step if it is
not obvious (do this to prevent a mess)
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BODY
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*GRAMMAR:
spell “INGREDIENTS” correctly
no “THINGS” (steps, tasks) (items, utensils)
350 degrees (not the symbol for degrees)
medium-sized pan (hyphen, -ed)
“THEN”=not a conjunction (use “, and then”)
COMMAS (“Introductory subordinate clause,”)
(between two I.C. joined by a C.C.)
 COLONS (“First, gather the following
ingredients: milk, sugar, and flour.”)






CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
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*CONSIDER THE PROCESS AS A WHOLE:
 repeat/reference the PURPOSE of your process
(why did you tell us how to do this) (scenario)
 Process-as-a-whole:
o #/difficulty of steps
o *total TIME of process
o *describe the FINISHED PRODUCT (smells,
taste, sight, feel, sound)
 CLINCHER SENTENCE
LITMUS TEST
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*** CAN THE READER DO IT? ***
TOPICS
related to
cognitive & social development
TOPIC PROMPTS
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*PERSONAL PROTECTION:
 How to handle inappropriate and/or unwanted
sexual advances at work, school, social setting
 How to defend yourself if attacked
 How to determine that you are in and/or how
to leave an abusive relationship
 How to catch your significant other cheating
 How to get a PFA
 How to win a custody battle
TOPIC PROMPTS
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*PERSONAL IMPROVEMENT:
 How to quit smoking
 How to determine that you have a
drug/alcohol problem AND how get help with it
 How to deal with the death of a loved one
 How to start over
 How to begin a diet, exercise regiment
 How to train for your first 5k, 5-miler…
 How to perform a basic dance step
 How to find a new apartment/house
TOPIC PROMPTS
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*PERSONAL MAKE-OVER:
 How to give yourself a manicure, pedicure
 How to prepare a special bubble bath, facial
 How properly to wax, tan
 How to cut, treat, wash, perm, highlight your
hair
 How to have a tattoo removed
 How to select the best plastic surgeon for your
medically necessary condition
 How to buy a used or new car
TOPIC PROMPTS
*PERSONAL EDIFICATION:
 Take Notes
 Study
 Prepare for a Test, Mid-Term or Final Exam
 Prepare for a Job Interview
 Create a RÉSUMÉ
 Deal with Stress (in a healthy manner)
 Deal with a Death in the Family (and school)
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TOPIC PROMPTS
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*PERSONAL OCCUPATION:
 Job Orientation/Training
 As if you are training someone on his/her first
day on the job
 How to total the register, scan, waitress, bus
tables, prepare dishes, create a display, unload
a truck, stock shelves, stack a pallet, bundle
cardboard…
TOPIC PROMPTS
*PERSONAL INDISCRETION: On the Dark Side:
 How to plagiarize (and not get caught)
 How to cheat on a test
 How to cheat on your significant other
 How to tell a lie
 How to commit the perfect crime/murder
 How to get out of a speeding ticket
 How to file for ARD
 How to fail a particular course
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FINAL HINTS
FINAL HINTS
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*REMEMBER, this is an essay and not a recipe,
SO…
 essay format, no lists (does NOT look like a
recipe card)
 when gathering supplies, write as items in a
series (not as a list, not as a recipe card)
 “After doing that step, you will need to gather
the following materials: x, y, and z.” (notice
the colon after “the following”; do not use a
colon after a Linking Verb)
FINAL HINTS
 Commas, especially after “Intro Stuff”
 Less explanation and more direction
o Do not spend too much time justifying the
step or the process at the expense of telling
us how to actually perform the task
 Introduction with process-as-a-whole
 Conclusion with process-as-a-whole (time,
number, difficulty of steps) and describe final
product (sense details)
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PREWRITING
PREWRITING
1) LISTS:
 3 tasks done at work each time
 3 technical/electrical/mechanical skills
 3 tasks you have done for yourself lately
 3 weekly chores
 3 foods you like to make
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PREWRITING
2) STEPS:
 Brainstorm.
 List every step in the process.
 Number the steps in chronological order.
 List related sense details.
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PREWRITING
3) BEFORE YOU WRITE:
 Do the process yourself.
 Details are then fresh in your mind & you
will not skip any steps.
 Plus, suggestions make themselves
apparent.
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SAMPLE
PROCESSES
How to Change a Flat Tire
www.americredit.com/.../Learn2ChangeFlatTire.htm
1
2
3
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How to Change a Flat Tire
4
5
6
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How to Make
MACARONI & CHEESE
STEP
#1
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STEP #2
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STEP #3
65
STEP #4
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STEP #5
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STEP #6
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STEP #7
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CONCLUSION
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OTHER PROCESSES
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OTHER PROCESSES
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HOW TO BE A STAR
LOOK, SOUND, PLAY,
SMELL, TALK or SING
COUNTRY,
BLUES,
ROCK’N’ROLL,
GOTH,
PUNK,
GRUNGE,
RAP,
HIP-HOP,
’80s HAIR BAND, ….
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TOPIC PROMPTS
*HOW TO:
SCHOOL:
Take Notes
Study
Prepare for a Test
Prepare for a Job Interview
Create a RÉSUMÉ
Deal with Stress (in a healthy manner)
Deal with a Death in the Family
75
TOPIC PROMPTS
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PAMPER: give yourself a pedicure, make Jane’s
special bubble bath
CAR: change a tire, change brakes, change oil,
change wiper blades, pump gas, drive
standard/manual transmission (stick shift),
buy used car/the perfect car for you
JOB: waitress/server, nurse’s aide, transfer
patient, install carpet, customer service, job
search, resume, interview, raise
TOPIC PROMPTS
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HAIR: wash, perm, color, treat, highlight
CLEAN: wash hair, clothes, car, dog; clean
hamster cage, room, kitchen cabinets
MUSIC: how to read music, play specific chord,
play specific riff from a song
OTHERS: plan a vacation, plant a garden, ice
fish, follow the traditions of Islamic ablution,
convert to Judaism
TOPIC PROMPTS
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*HOW TO: (Journal topics only)
KIDS: brush teeth, tie shoe laces, tie a tie
FOOD: make lasagna, spaghetti, German apple
cake, cheeseburger, grilled cheese, PB&J,
home-made Easter candy, dye Easter eggs, JellO shapes
SPORTS: play football (be specific: block, pass,
punt, tackle); shoot foul shot, jump serve in
volleyball, swim (specific stroke or dive)
TOPICS
*HOW TO:
SCHOOL:
Take Notes
Study
Prepare for a Test
Prepare for a Job Interview
Create a RÉSUMÉ
Deal with Stress (in a healthy manner)
Deal with a Death in the Family
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TOPICS
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*HOW TO:
KIDS: brush teeth, tie shoe laces, tie a tie
FOOD: make lasagna, spaghetti, German apple
cake, cheeseburger, grilled cheese, PB&J,
home-made Easter candy, dye Easter eggs, JellO shapes
SPORTS: play football (be specific: block, pass,
punt, tackle); shoot foul shot, jump serve in
volleyball, swim (specific stroke or dive)
TOPICS
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PAMPER: give yourself a pedicure, make Jane’s
special bubble bath
CAR: change a tire, change brakes, change oil,
change wiper blades, pump gas, drive
standard/manual transmission (stick shift),
buy used car/the perfect car for you
JOB: waitress/server, nurse’s aide, transfer
patient, install carpet, customer service
TOPICS
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HAIR: wash, perm, color, treat, highlight
CLEAN: wash hair, clothes, car, dog; clean
hamster cage
MUSIC: how to read music, play specific chord,
play specific riff from a song
OTHERS: plan a vacation, plant a garden, ice
fish, follow the traditions of Islamic ablution,
convert to Judaism
FINAL HINTS
*REMEMBER, this is an essay and not a recipe,
SO…
essay format, no lists (does NOT look like a
recipe card)
when gathering supplies, write as items in a
series (not as a list, not as a recipe card)
“After doing that step, you will need to gather
the following materials: x, y, and z.” (notice
the colon after “the following”; do not use a
colon after a Linking Verb)
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FINAL HINTS
Commas, especially after “Intro Stuff”
Less explanation and more direction
Do not spend too much time justifying the
step or the process at the expense of telling
us how to actually perform the task
Introduction with process-as-a-whole
Conclusion with process-as-a-whole (time,
number, difficulty of steps) and describe final
product (sense details)
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