How Do I Do That? The
Process Analysis Paragraph
Eng 050
Analyzing a Process
We’re well on our way to becoming experts in writing
paragraphs! Now we’re going to go over how to analyze a
process.
Analyzing a process is a fancy way is saying giving
instructions. This type of paragraph can range from how to
put together a bike or program your iPhone to dressing for
success and starting a business.
The trick with the process analysis paragraph is to give clear,
concise instructions without leaving anything out. You can
also make the process analysis part of a larger story…we’ll get
to that later.
Analyzing a Process
You see books, TV shows, podcasts, radio shows, etc.,
on a constant basis that do this very thing. Examples:
Any cooking show (Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray)
Any DIY show (such as House Hunters and This Old
House)
Books such as How to Win Friends and Influence People
and Relationship Rescue by Dr. Phil
If you train people at work, you are giving them a
process analysis.
Analyzing a Process
Let’s read the paragraph on page 167. It is taken from the
book “Playing to Win: Do You Think Like a Champ” by
Mike Shanahan.
But the Process Analysis is not just a “how-to” guide.
It also can evaluate the steps or sequence of the events and
offer solutions for improvement.
It can also examine how something works, and how
something happened.
Say you are doing a process analysis on how a jury is chosen.
You can explain the steps, and then explore whether or not
that is the best way, and offer alternatives.
Analyzing a Process
As always, you need to do some prep work before
beginning to write. This can involve doing some critical
reading and looking at examples (part of what we are
doing now). Now let’s read the examples on page 168
and 169.
Let’s go over the guidelines of the Process Analysis
paragraph.
Analyzing a Process
Process analysis writing falls into two general categories
How to do something
This is your general “how to change a tire”
How something happened or how it works
How a jury is selected
How the Civil War started
Why the Phillies choked during the division playoffs
You’ll need to understand the prompt of the assignment in
order to decide how you will write this
For our purposes, let’s stick to the general “how-to” style.
Analyzing a Process
In step one, state in the topic sentence what the reader
should be able to do or understand by the end of the
paragraph. Examples:
“I am going to tell you how to make a really good cup of
coffee.”-- Simple and to the point
“Everyone can make coffee, but I have a secret for
making the best cup of coffee you will ever taste.”—This
sentence really grabs your attention
As always, the topic sentence is the roadmap to your
paragraph. In this paragraph more than any of the
others, you cannot stray from the topic sentence.
Analyzing a Process
In step two, explain the rest of the process in the remainder
of the paragraph.
When you do this in your real life, you need to consider the
audience.
If you explain how to use an iPhone, you will explain it
differently to your friends (who probably already have smart
phones and understand how they work), than you would to
your great grandmother (who most likely needs more
rudimentary instruction).
Be sure not to skip steps, which is very easy to do when you
are very familiar with a topic.
Think of it as though you were giving directions to your
house. If you leave out a major intersection, your guests will
mostly likely get lost.
Analyzing a Process
In step three, organize your material in chronological
order. This is one of the few times that chronological is
the only order you can choose when organizing your
papers.
I’ll repeat: be sure not to skip steps!
Think of it as though you gave your friend a recipe for
making bread, and you skipped the part where they
needed to add the yeast. The whole loaf is ruined and
they’ve gone through a lot of work for nothing.
Analyzing a Process
Now we can begin to write our paragraph.
The book gives us a number of open-ended topics from
which to choose. So let’s brainstorm.
A good rule of thumb for this assignment: stick with
something you know and know well.
It can be a hobby, a skill, a special talent, a recipe…what
have you.
Analyzing a Process
So let me think of a topic…
Hobbies—does reading books count? Or shopping? Or
watching TV? That’s it for hobbies.
Special talent—I can spot a fake Coach bag at 3 miles.
But is this actually a “special” talent? It’s certainly not
necessary for…anything.
How to put together a lesson plan…boring!
How to make meatballs---bingo!
It’s a fun topic, it’s something I know well, it’s a useful
skill
Analyzing a Process
We can’t forget our prewriting exercises! Let’s start by making a list
of the steps.
Gather the following ingredients:
Ground beef (preferably 93% fat free)
Grated cheese
Garlic
Parsley
Breadcrumbs
Eggs
Onion
Knead all ingredients together in a large bowl
Separate into small balls
Fry in olive oil
Analyzing a Process
Remember again how organization is important, and
how you can’t skip steps. I didn’t skip any steps in my
recipe. But I still haven’t explained how to do it, or
why it’s important.
Your paragraph should NOT be a list of steps. It needs
to be in paragraph form. You are doing the steps as a
guide.
There should be no Step 1, Step 2, Step 3 in writing a
process analysis. You’ll be using a lot of transition words
in this one.
Analyzing a Process
Now for some topic sentences. Here’s some samples:
“Making meatballs might seem easy, but in my family
there is only one way to make them—our way.”
“Meatballs are a classic Italian food, and I will detail
how I make them.”
“Spaghetti and meatballs are a classic pairing, and I will
tell you how I make them.”
Any one of these sentences work, but I prefer the first
sentence because it has some humor and personality.
Analyzing a Process
Now I want to go back to my list of steps. One way to
do this is to expand on your steps and turn them into
sentences.
My step one was to gather ingredients. I’m going to
turn that into a sentence.
First you need to have all of the necessary ingredients
on hand. These are ground beef (preferably 93% fat
free); grated cheese (any Italian kind will do);
breadcrumbs (the plain kind); garlic; parsley (I have no
idea why this goes in there but that’s the recipe); and
eggs.
Analyzing a Process
My step two was to knead the ingredients.
Combine all of the ingredients into a large bowl, and mix with
your hands. You have to use your judgment on the ratio of eggs
to breadcrumbs to cheese. Notice that I do not include any
spices that one might expect in a meatball, such as oregano.
Oregano was banned in my house growing up, and no truly
respectable D’Emilio woman [D’Emilio was my mother’s
maiden name] would ever use it in a recipe. The simpler the
ingredients, the better the meatballs.
See what I did there? I gave the recipe some context, and also
addressed a question before it could be posed—such as what exact
measurements to use.
Analyzing a Process
My step three is to form into small balls.
Once you have mixed everything properly, begin to
break small pieces of meat from the mixture and roll
into a ball. Then drop each ball into a large stock pot
that is filled with hot olive oil. Fry until both sides are
brown and meat is cooked, taking care not to let them
burn. The meatballs are now ready to finish cooking in
the oven, or in tomato sauce.
Analyzing a Process
Now it’s time to work on the concluding sentence.
“Once you’ve had meatballs made from the D’Emilio
recipe, you’ll never get them from Wawa again.”
“Trust me, these are as delicious as they sound.”
“There you have it—authentically Italian meatballs from
an authentically Italian family.”
Analyzing a Process
Now let’s put it all together.
“Making meatballs might seem easy, but in my family there is only one
way to make them—our way. First you need to have all of the necessary
ingredients on hand. These are ground beef (preferably 93% fat free); grated
cheese (any Italian kind will do); breadcrumbs (the plain kind); garlic; parsley
(I have no idea why this goes in there but that’s the recipe); and eggs.
Combine all of the ingredients into a large bowl, and mix with your hands.
You have to use your judgment on the ratio of eggs to breadcrumbs to cheese.
Notice that I do not include any spices that one might expect in a meatball,
such as oregano. Oregano was banned in my house growing up, and no truly
respectable D’Emilio woman would ever use it in a recipe. The simpler the
ingredients, the better the meatballs. Once you have mixed everything
properly, begin to break small pieces of meat from the mixture and roll into a
ball. Then drop each ball into a large stock pot that is filled with hot olive oil.
Fry until both sides are brown and meat is cooked, taking care not to let
them burn. The meatballs are now ready to finish cooking in the oven, or in
tomato sauce. There you have it—authentically Italian meatballs from an
authentically Italian family.”
Analyzing a Process
Do we see any problems with the paragraph?
The lack of measurements. We should mention that this
is a “pinch of this pinch of that” kind of recipe so
people aren’t confused.
We introduced a new thought (putting it in the oven to
finish cooking, or putting it in tomato sauce). Those
things need to be explained or not mentioned at all.
After reading this, do you feel like you could make
these meatballs?
Analyzing a Process
And let’s not forget our checklist:
Subjects and verbs
Does each sentence have one of each of these? And do the
tenses of the sentence and verb “agree”?
Pronouns
Do your pronouns “agree” with each other? More on that
in the coming weeks…
Modifier Errors
Are your modifiers as close as possible to the words they
modify? More on that in the coming weeks…
Analyzing a Process
Checklist continued
Punctuation and mechanics
Are your sentences punctuated correctly?
Are your words capitalized when necessary (and not
capitalized when not necessary)?
Word choice and Spelling
Did you choose the correct words? Remember, when it
doubt look them up, or use another word.
Spelling—Again, look up words you aren’t sure of.