The Writing Process

1.  Choose your topic.  There are several ways to choose a topic:  listing, questioning, brainstorming, freewriting, interviewing, etc.

2.  Narrow the topic

3.  Consider your audience, the person(s) who will be reading your work.

4.  Determine your purpose
       a.  To analyze-break apart
       b.  To describe
       c.  To entertain
       d.  To inform
       e.  To persuade-change someone's mind

5.  Gather information

6.  Outline the paper
  a.  An outline is simply an organizational plan for your writing.
  b.  A Tentative outline is one in which the writer does not use numerals or letters and is unconcerned about parallelism of points or making sure that the points are fully developed.
  c.  A topic outline uses only words or phrases-no complete sentences and no verbs except verbals.
  d.  A sentence outline is a complete sentence for every point.

7.  Drafting
  -The first draft should never be thought of as a finished work.  It is rather a work in progress, a preliminary version
  -Try writing through an entire point in your outline at one sitting.

8.  Writing Exposition
  a.  Expository writing is writing that systematically explains, analyzes, or informs about a subject.
  b.  Narrative or creative writing is writing that is characterized by expressiveness, imagination, and originality.
  c.  Mode is the term given to the form or method of writing that you choose.
    1.  Descriptive-describes an object, person, or place
    2.  Expository-Informs about a topic; explains or analyzes a process; defines or classifies a topic
    3.  Narrative-Relates a story or an event
    4.  Persuasive-Persuades readers to take action or to change their position on a topic.
    5.  Academic-Focuses on demonstrating a specific academic skill
    6.  Personal-Tells an individual's own thoughts or feelings

9.  Thesis Statements.  In the planning stage you asked yourself WHAT IS MY PURPOSE?  Your answer to that question will become the basis of the thrust of your writing.  That thrust, or main idea, is called the THESIS STATEMENT.  The thesis statement is usually expressed in a single declarative sentence.  The thesis statement should be verifiable.

10.  Introductions should capture the reader's attention
    a.  Analogy
    b.  Anecdote
    c.  Fact or statistic
    d.  Question
    e.  Quotation

11.  Paragraph Development
    a.  Most writing is composed of a series of paragraphs, groups of sentences closely related to one another and to the main idea of the piece.
    b.  A topic sentence expresses the main idea of a paragraph in a single sentence.

12.  Supporting Sentences
    -Supporting sentences develop, or support, the topic sentence.
    -Facts and statistics, details, and anecdotes---these are some of the ways writers support topic sentences and build paragraphs.