Writing Essays An Introduction to the Writing Process The writing process is a series of actions writers take in order to produce a piece of writing. It is not uniform among writers, meaning that no two writers’ processes are alike and no individual produces writing the same way every time. Overall, the writing process can be divided into three stages, 1) pre-writing, 2) drafting, and 3) revision. The first, pre-writing stage of the writing process is often called invention. Some teachers insist on certain steps being followed to the letter, such as outlining or starting a writing task by formulating a thesis. Though pre-writing should aim for a draft thesis to give a draft essay focus and direction, I don't believe everyone has to follow this exact sequence. Some students find that extensive freewriting is the best way for them to discover their ideas, and they will just start writing until they produce something that catches their attention. Writing can be a journey during which some writers get a little lost, make unexpected discoveries, retrace their steps and make side trips before they reach their goal - a finished piece of work. It is a mistake to think that good writers who write and reflect about complex issues simply sit down and write, beginning at the beginning and going in a straight line to the end. That may happen in informal writing or very short papers occasionally, but for most writers, the process requires far more recursions and revisions from the very beginning. If you are not sure of yourself as a writer and if you are often dissatisfied with what you write, it’s a good idea to consciously experiment and try out different approaches. Pre-writing prepares you for the next stage, drafting.Usually, time spent on pre-writing and invention pays off when you start to write a first draft. You will find that you have generated all kinds of ideas and even figured out how they connect with each other, and thus you will find it quite easy to organize and complete a first draft. Once a first draft is completed, it usually receives feedback from a teacher or peers. Essay assignments for this course have been sequenced so they will be all be submitted for feedback. Some of that feedback will involve peer review, but most will come in the form of my comments and suggestions for improvement between a first and final draft. Feedback often brings up the problem of being understood. Sometimes long teacher comments may make a student think, “What's wrong with my paper?” Sometimes teachers use technical language and ideas that are unfamiliar. The truth is, communication, written or oral, is difficult. It’s very hard to make oneself understood and it’s also hard to understand what someone else has said and get the point. A second problem is that basically no one likes to be criticized, yet a teacher who doesn’t provide honest feedback is not doing his or her job. Professors understand document design and know the established conventions for college writing. It is their responsibility to pass on that knowledge to their student writers, and sometimes, that responsibility involves pointing out errors and omissions. The final stage of the writing process is revision. Some students have the misconception that revision means fix the errors and 'clean up' the language of a paper. What all textbooks and writing teachers say is to leave this type of editing and proofreading for last. Re’ n involves more than fixing errors. It often means re-writing and adding ideas, improving the support, explaining better. As a result, revision changes a draft, sometimes substantially. It makes sense to wait and proofread towards the very end,for a final polish. After you have reviewed the ideas and organization of your essay—and only then!—are you ready for that final proofreading. It is necessary at that stage to draw back, to separate yourself from your work, pretend you didn’t write it, pretend you are a teacher looking at it. What we write often makes perfect sense to us, and that makes it difficult for us to see problems and errors. One strategy that can help is to read the essay aloud to get a fresh look. Some people start at the last sentence and work backward because that way they break the connections they have built up through the writing. This helps them just look at mechanics and find language issues. Another strategy is to let enough time go by so you no longer know the entire essay by heart. Again, this helps break the tendency all writers have to understand their work perfectly well, and thus to remain blind to its communicative short-comings. If enough time has gone by, reading your writing often reveals all kinds of slip-ups and typos that you just didn’t see earlier. Of course, this will only work if you don’t put off writing your essay until the last minute. And this brings us right back to planning, where we started. You have to plan for successful writing, and part of that planning involved managing your time so you give yourself the best chance to succeed! Writing well takes time, time to think, time to scribble, time to draft, time to review. You owe yourself that time now that you have chosen to go to college. Sources: Professor Marianne Boretz, English 101 Online, Fall 2004.PattheyChavez English 101 : Prewriting and Planning One common myth about writing is that good writing is inspired, and that writers often wait for inspiration to strike before they start their brilliant first novel or awesome, Oscar-winning screenplay. Inspiration does play a role for many writers working on such creative projects, but it rarely does in academic writing. For college writing projects, writers rely instead on prewriting and on planning. Prewriting can be conceptualized as a phase that precedes the actual writing of a first draft. Different writers use different prewriting activities. Some find it useful to spend fifteen to thirty minutes freewriting—letting their ideas flow and writing them down without worrying about form, grammar, accuracy, logic ... they just free associate and write without censoring themselves. Others prefer a slightly more structured form of brainstorming. They may use a subject map (illustrated on p. 25 of College English) or draw out lists of related ideas and then cluster them into related mini-outlines. Or they may use a technique used in journalism, the reporter's five w's, that is who, what, where, when, why to pose and answer questions about the topic (a final question that may become relevant is how). Still others will combine different techniques, or use different ones on different occasions. Going over assigned readings is another important prewriting step for many college writing assignments. Experienced writers will keep notes about all assigned readings. In these notes, they will typically: 1) identify the main ideas or major claims of each text; 2) list important supporting ideas; 3) perhaps ask some questions and examine whether and how the different readings are related.PattheyChavez é English 101 The time spent going over assigned readings and actively studying them really pays off when you start to write. The objective of all prewriting activities is a plan for writing. Good plans include two minimal elements for the future paper: 1) a draft thesis 2) arough organization. Few experienced writers will start to write before they have worked out a draft thesis statement. A thesis expresses the main idea of a paper, and thus provides the paper with focus and direction. We often qualify thesis statements as leading ideas or controlling ideas for essays. A good thesis can pull the rest of the paper along like a locomotive. It also controls what goes in and what stays out. Once you have clarified a main idea for your paper, you are ready to consider how best to fit different essay-elements together to communicate that controlling idea clearly. There are several basic patterns of organization and development—we will be exploring some in English 101. To complete a rough plan, writers usually pick a method of development and start to outline ideas for supporting paragraphs that they eventually turn into a first draft. Sources: D. Swire & H.S. Wiener (2005) Student's Book of College English (Tenth Edition). New York: Pearson Longman.PattheyChavez English 101 What is a good thesis? As stated in College English, a key step “in writing a successful paper is stating your main point clearly and succinctly” (2005, p. 35). Most writers use a thesis statement expressing a central idea that unifies their essay to get the job done. A thesis statement expresses a controlling idea; it controls what belongs and what does not belong in the essay. Another analogy for a thesis is as the "driver" of an essay. Just like a car without a driver, an essay without a thesis will go nowhere fast. In the prewriting and drafting stage, thesis statements also help writers plan their essays. Once a thesis statement has been drafted, all the other ideas that go into the essay have to connect to it. A thesis statement expresses a leading idea, and thus gives a developing paper direction. Experienced writers use them to identify good supporting ideas and appropriate examples for those supporting ideas. Many textbooks will state that a thesis must be about an arguable point, “one on which more than one opinion is possible” (p. 36). Thesis statements present opinions or interpretations; they express thoughtful analysis of a particular issue, question, or creative text. They express and help readers understand a writer's ideas, and that is what most college professors look for when they read student essays. A good thesis has the following characteristics: ¥ A good thesis can usually be stated in one or two sentences. Draft thesis statements especially should be stated in one sentence, though writers may subsequently need to explain their main idea at greater length.PattheyChavez English 101 ¥ Agood thesis presents an opinion or interpretation. For example, there is a difference between stating the fact that CSI shows are popular and offering an explanation for that popularity. Whether or not CSI shows are popular is a matter of fact; explaining that fact is a matter of opinion and analysis. ¥ Agood thesis is limited—that is, the stated idea can be clearly explained, supported, and illustrated in a short college essay. If I were to write an essay exploring the reasons for CSI’s popularity, I would limit it to one of the three currently existing shows. To explore the popularity of all three shows would require a longer format, perhaps a research report. ¥ Agood thesis has a central focus—it makes one point. Sometimes, writers have many ideas when they start writing, and are in danger of writing several loosely connected paragraphs that don’t add up to a good paper. A good thesis helps writers focus their attention on and choose one central idea. ¥ A good thesis is precise. Words such as good, interesting, impressive, many are too vague and general for a good thesis. If a writer states, “CSI shows are interesting,” she is not quite ready to proceed with the paper. She is ready to proceed after she revises that first, general observation into something more precise like, “CSI shows appeal to their audiences by presenting interesting puzzles that are solved by attractive and intelligent characters.” Use these guidelines and evaluate potential thesis ideas at the end of your pre-writing process. Such a review should help you choose a good thesis, and that in turn will help you write a good essay.