On the Process of Writing

I. Topic sentence:

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.

II. Body

A. Planning (first major support)

1. decide on topic

2. narrow topic

important:

a. if too broad, insufficient detail

b. if too narrow, lack of info to cover topic

3. Brainstorming and clustering useful for # 1 and #2

4. consideration of purpose, audience

a. purpose: inform or entertain

b. audience: housewives or surgeons’ conference?

c. tone: serious or humorous?

5. develop outline

a. sketches out shape and structure (like artist’s sketch)

b. helps writer clarify and organize thoughts

c. facilitates writing

B. Writing (second major support)

1. transfer from outline into prose - focus

2. reconsider purpose, audience, tone

major impact on structure and language choices

a. research paper: formal

ex. “the concept originated in. . .”

b. humorous speech

ex. “we came up with the idea to . . . “

C. Revising and editing (third major support)

1. focus on polishing

2. revising

a. examine content

1. all important info included?

2. any irrelevant info?

3. order effective?

b. rewrite if necessary or go to editing

3. editing (proofreading)

a. grammar

1. subject-verb agreement
2. verb tense

3. passive voice construction

b. mechanics
1. spelling
2. Capitalization
4. Final version

IV. Conclusion
There is no end to writing