When Writing is a Challenge
What Students Can Do
Can’t Think of an Idea?
Try Looping
• Write nonstop for 3 to 5 minutes on the
topic, noting whatever comes to mind.
• Reread what you have written to look
for a spark, or emerging idea.
• Begin with that spark and write for a
few minutes more.
• Find a new spark and write a summary
sentence.
• Repeat this process until a central idea
emerges.

When Planning Your Writing
• Avoid outlines, dictionaries, and grammar checks
until you have your thoughts on paper!
• Think about what you would say about the topic if
you were talking to a friend about it.
• Write your ideas just as they come into your mind.
• Quickly bracket words, phrases, and sentences
that don't sound right to you and then move on.
• Come back to what you have marked after you
have gotten all your initial ideas down on paper.
For the First Draft
•
Reread the assignment. What are the requirements?
•
Reread your ideas. Have you addressed the requirements of
the assignment?
•
Who is your audience?
•
Which methods of development will work best for the
requirements, your ideas, and your audience?
•
How will you support your ideas? Do you need to do some
research to find supporting details?
•
Organize the ideas you wrote down and write a complete
draft.
•
Go back to the words, phrases, and sentences that you
bracketed and think about how you can be more clear and
effective in your wording.
Some Examples of Revision
What Does It Mean to Revise My Draft?
• Revision is changing ideas, organization, or
voice, which requires deeper and more sweeping
changes than correcting errors. It is sometimes
called global revision or deep revision.
• Revision is best done early in the writing process
before you are too committed to the direction
you are going to want to make big changes.
Some Areas to Consider Revising
• The focus: What is most important?
• The purpose: What do I want from the audience?
• The type of writing: Would this work better as a
narrative or an essay?
• The point of view: Whose voice should come
through the piece?
• The sequence: What order works best?
• The types of organization: Which methods of
developing my ideas would be most effective?
Some Examples of Editing
What Does It Mean to Edit My Draft?
• Editing is making minor changes in word choice,
sentence fluency, or conventions, which requires
only surface corrections. It is sometimes called
local revision or surface revision.
• Editing is best done just before the writing piece
is complete.
How Do I Know What to Edit?
• Review your portfolio.
• What errors have teachers marked in your
previous writing?
• Use a style book or a Web site to help you figure
out how to correct those errors.
• Once you understand your mistakes, review the
current piece again to ensure that you have not
repeated the errors.
A Caution about the Thesaurus
• A thesaurus does not give the connotations or shades of
meaning of a word. Consider this example:
• The parents explained to their children that cheating on a
homework assignment is immoral.
• If you want to replace the word immoral, the word lewd is
among the synonyms listed in the thesaurus, but the word
lewd means immoral in a way that is crude or vulgar. This
is clearly not appropriate for the sentence above.
• Thus, use the thesaurus to remind you of words you know.
• If you are considering choosing a word you don’t know, look
at examples of the way it is used and be sure that you
understand any implied meanings before you use the word.
Some Resources for Writers
• NCTE’s National Gallery of Writing:
• http://www.galleryofwriting.org/piece_search.php
• Diana Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference
• Strunk and White’s Elements of Style
• The OWL at Purdue University:
• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/
• Grammar Girl
• http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/
• Ask Oxford by Oxford Dictionaries
• http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/?view=uk
Tips for Successful Writing
• Write every day--outside of school.
• Review the rubric before you begin an assignment.
• Write down ideas first without worrying about structure, form,
or correctness.
• Do a draft well before the assignment is due to allow the draft
to “get cold” so that you can be more objective about it.
• Have a parent read the rubric and what you have written and
provide feedback.
• Have your parents host a writers’ conference for you and your
friends who have the same assignment.
• Ask for the teacher’s help if these strategies are not enough.