WRITING AN OUTLINE
Directions: Read the following paragraph and write an
outline that reflects the major and minor
supports
included. Use single spacing but double space between all major points. Be sure
to include a title and use the correct letter and numbers in your outline.
On the Process
of Writing
Most people
think that writing is merely the act
of putting one’s thoughts onto paper; in fact, however, writing is a process
that occurs in three major stages.
The first
stage is the planning stage. In the
planning stage, the author decides on a topic and narrows it down so that the
scope of his writing is neither too narrow nor general. Narrowing down a topic
is a very important step, for If the topic is too general, the writer may end
up with too much to cover and thus not be able to write with sufficient detail.
Conversely, if the topic is too narrow, he may not find enough information on
which to adequately cover his topic. Brainstorming and drawing cluster diagrams
are both useful techniques for choosing and narrowing down a topic. In the
planning phase, the writer also makes some fundamental decisions as to purpose
(does he wish to inform or entertain?), audience (housewives or a conference of
surgeons?) and tone (serious or humorous?). Once a suitable topic is decided
upon, the writer, much like an artist, sketches out the overall shape and
structure of his work. This is accomplished by the writing of an outline. An
outline helps a writer the writer clarify
and organize his thoughts, and thus simplifies the actual writing of the first
rough draft, which marks the beginning of the second stage of the writing
process.
In the
transfer of thoughts from an outline into prose, purpose, audience and tone should be
reconsidered, since they will have a major impact
on the form and language choices the writer employs. For example, someone about to write a research paper must keep in
mind that his choice of grammar structures and
vocabulary must be formal in nature. He would never write “we came up
with the idea to . . .” This thought would instead be expressed as “the
concept originated in . . .” On the
other hand, if the writing task is a humorous speech whose purpose is to
entertain, grammar and vocabulary choices will be rather informal. In this
context, language like “we came up with the idea to . . .” would be desirable.
Although the writer in this stage does consider language and grammar choices,
his focus is mainly on transfering his thoughts from an outline into written
prose.
The actual
polishing of his ideas mainly takes place in the third major stage of the
writing process, revising and proofreading. In this stage, the focus of writing
is on polishing the previous effort. The writer first must examine the content
of his writing. Are all major points inluded?
Is there any irrelevant information? Is the information accurate? Is the
order effective – maybe the piece would be more effective if paragraph #1 were
switched with paragraph #2. Sometimes, the content changes are minor and the
writer can directly proceed to editing. Sometimes, though, there are so many
changes during revision that a second rough draft should be produced in order
to be able to effectively edit. In editing (proofreading), grammar is a major
focus. Accordingly, agreement, verb tense, and aspects such as passive voice
construction are checked for errors or improvements. Mechanics, which involves,
spelling, capitalization, and the like is the other major focus of editing . After
revising and editing, the writer should produce a second rough draft. This
second version should be read again for
content and grammatical errors.
After
corrections are made to this version, a final version should be produced –
and this final product should also be
carefully read. The truth is, with every rereading further improvements can be
made; indeed, the process of writing is limited only by time.
– Alyx
Meltzer, Fall 2000