1. Focus on Writing: Chapter 1 Understanding the Writing Process

2. Understanding Paragraph Structure Paragraph – a group of sentences that is unified by a single main idea. Topic Sentence – states the main idea Supporting details – provides evidence (details and examples) to support the main idea Transitions – words and phrases that show how one idea is related to another. Summary Statement – conclusion – summarizes the main idea.

3. Focusing on Your Assignment, Purpose, and Audience Assignment – what are you expected to write about? What is the assignment? Do you have a word or page limit? When is the assignment due? Will you be expected to complete in class or at home? Will you be working with others? Will you be allowed to revise before and after you hand it in?

4. Focusing on Your Assignment, Purpose, and Audience Purpose – reason for writing Share feelings Inform reader Entertain reader Persuade reader

5. Focusing on Your Assignment, Purpose, and Audience Audience – who is your reader – characteristics will influence the detail and tone you use. Determining your audience Who is your audience? How many audiences do you have? List them. What does your audience need? What do they want? What is most important to them? What are they least likely to care about? How might you organize your essay in a way that will be best for your audience? What do you have to say or what are you doing in your research that might surprise your audience? What do you want your audience to think, learn, or assume about you? What impression do you want your writing or your research to convey?

6. Focusing on Your Assignment, Purpose, and Audience Audience – who is your reader – characteristics will influence the detail and tone you use. Characteristics Age Gender Race Socioeconomic standing Political views Religion Family background

7. Focusing on Your Assignment, Purpose, and Audience Audience – who is your reader – characteristics will influence the detail and tone you use. Determining your Audience Characteristics Kinds of Details Vocabulary Approach

8. Finding Ideas Writing subject – broad idea Writing topic – narrowed down idea

9. Finding Ideas Strategies Listing – spill out every idea that occurs without evaluating how good each is Scratch outline – remove ideas you don’t like, then order them logically how they will appear Brainstorming – asking questions Who, what, when, why, where, how, etc. Clustering – idea in center, connect to related ideas Once you have finished one, pick a topic, then do another using the topic as the center Free-writing – nonstop writing for 10-15 minutes about anything and everything that comes to mind. No censoring. Journaling – explore ideas and feelings Solve problems Get in touch with feelings Vent anger Find significance Discover opinions Working together – Ask others what they think, go through one of the other strategies as a group. Often new ideas will arise that an individual may not have thought of.

10. Identifying Your Main Idea and Writing a Topic Sentence The Topic Sentence Central point of your paragraph Lets the readers know what the paragraph is about

11. Identifying Your Main Idea and Writing a Topic Sentence Writing Effective Topic Sentences Avoid statements of fact Avoid very broad topic sentences Avoid vague words Avoid formal announcements Avoid using a pronoun to refer to something in the title Place the topic sentence first

12. Identifying Your Main Idea and Writing a Topic Sentence Consider Your Writing Process: Planning, Writing, and Rewriting Your Topic Sentence When you write the rough draft, use a topic sentence, and then make it more effective as you revise. Assertion – Decide what you want your reader to believe before you write your topic sentence

13. Arranging Your Supporting Points don’t expect your reader to believe what you say, just because you said it, demonstrate it. Supporting Details – explain or prove the topic sentence by being: Adequate – enough facts and opinions to explain or prove

14. Arranging Your Supporting Points don’t expect your reader to believe what you say, just because you said it, demonstrate it. Supporting Details – explain or prove the topic sentence by being: Specific – helps a reader form a clear, detailed understanding of the writer’s meaning Gives reader a clearer mental picture Opposite would be a general statement Use Specific Words – ex. Collie instead of dog Follow General Statements with Specific statements

15. Arranging Your Supporting Points don’t expect your reader to believe what you say, just because you said it, demonstrate it. Supporting Details – explain or prove the topic sentence by being: Relevant – supporting details are directly related to the topic and assertion Relevance problem – when details stray (problem with unity)

16. Arranging Your Supporting Points don’t expect your reader to believe what you say, just because you said it, demonstrate it. Supporting Details – explain or prove the topic sentence by being: Transitions and Repetition for Coherence – relevant details must be arranged in some kind of logical order to help the reader understand and believe the topic sentence Coherence - understand how ideas relate to each other, and the connections need to be smooth and graceful Transitions – help reader understand the order and relationships See chart pp. 41 Can also repeat key ideas or key words

17. The Closingbring the paragraph to a satisfying finish Refer to the topic sentence Answer the question, “So what?”

18. Drafting Your Paragraph Ideas in a preliminary form – first draft aka rough draft Expect it to have problems in grammar, content, and spelling Don’t get discouraged Refer to your scratch list If you have trouble, write as though you are writing to a friend Don’t make changes as you go, save them for next stage If you have trouble flowing ideas, try speaking them into a recording device

19. Drafting Your Paragraph Don’t worry about grammar Don’t worry about spelling or punctuation

20. Revising Your Paragraph most important and time-consuming part of any writing process Consider Content Add details? Are there unrelated details that need to be deleted? Is anything unclear? Are the details appropriate for audience and purpose?

21. Revising Your Paragraph most important and time-consuming part of any writing process Consider Organization Are the details arranged logically? Will the reader understand how my ideas relate?

22. Revising Your Paragraph most important and time-consuming part of any writing process Consider Wording Is word choice appropriate? How is do the sentences flow?

23. Revising Your Paragraph most important and time-consuming part of any writing process Get a Different Perspective – you know what you meant to say, the reader doesn’t Take a break If you wrote it by hand, type it before revising Read it out loud to yourself or have someone read it to you

24. Revising Your Paragraph most important and time-consuming part of any writing process Work in Stages – don’t get overwhelmed. Pick an area to focus on for each draft Perhaps focus on one section of questions for each draft or work on the easier questions first. Make sure you allow yourself plenty of time to make it through all the stages before your piece is due.

25. Revising Your Paragraph most important and time-consuming part of any writing process Get Reader Response –others can give you information about strengths and weaknesses which you can consider as you revise Reader Response sheet – p. 22 Trust Your Instincts – if you think there is a problem, there is

26. Editing Your Paragraphfinding and correcting grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling Get a Fresh Perspective – You will see what you meant to write rather than what you wrote Take a break Read your draft out load, or have someone read it to you Read backwards, last sentence to the first Work Slowly – the faster you go, the more you will miss Take it one word, then one line at a time Work in Stages – read through your work several times, focus on a particular error each time. Pay special attention to the mistakes you make habitually Learn the Rules – the better you know the rules of grammar, the faster and more confidently you can edit. Trust your Instincts – if something doesn’t sound write, there is probably something wrong, even if you can’t figure out what it is.

27. RewritingProofreading Your Final Copy Proofreading – run a final check for copying or typing errors Before reading through for the last time, leave it for a few hours to refresh yourself and increase your odds of finding the mistakes. Proofread slowly