Writing

Writing

Throughout the year, we will work on three types of writing:

The Writing Process

Writing is a Process

Writing is a recursive process. That means that there are several steps that authors go through as they create a new composition. The author may not always follow the steps in order, and they may repeat a step more than once as they write. Every writer has a unique way of writing, so they may follow the steps in a different order or repeat them at different times. Knowing and putting into practice the different steps of the writing process will help you become a better writer.

The writing process includes the following five basic steps: prewriting and planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Remember, you may or may not go through all of these steps in this order, but more than likely you will repeat some or all of these steps as you write. The resources below are designed to help you learn about and use each of these steps.

Prewriting and Planning

The word prewriting is made from the base word "write" with "pre-" at the beginning. The prefix "pre-" means "before," so the word prewriting means anything that you do before you actually start writing sentences and paragraphs.

Good authors always begin the writing process by prewriting. They try to get all of their ideas out of their head and on to paper. The following activities are all things that you might do to help you prepare to begin writing: brainstorming, planning, researching the topic, writing list or an outline, making a diagram, using graphic organizers, or creating a storyboard.

Drafting

The drafting stage is when writers take all of their ideas from prewriting and begin to create their composition. As good writers complete the drafting stage, they write important details that describe the main idea that they are trying to write about. Sometimes authors will get "stuck" or have a hard time thinking up ideas to complete some parts of their writing. When this happens, they may go back to the prewriting step to help them organize and devleop new ideas.

Revising

Good authors are not finished writing after their first try. They are always looking for ways to make their writing better by adding more details, using words that carefully describe their writing, and explaining their ideas. An author's job is to effectively communicate their ideas to the reader. Often, authors will make changes and write a new copy or draft of their composition several times before they decide that it is ready to be read by an audience.

Editing

The most important reason for writing is to communicate to others. When writers edit their work, they check several things to make sure that their writing is communicating to the audience correctly. When you edit your writing, you check some of the following things:

• Are the words all spelled correctly?

• Is the writing organized into groups of ideas or paragraphs?

• Does each sentence begin with a capital letter and proper punctuation?

Publishing

The reason that authors write is to share information or to communicate their ideas to another. Publishing is one of the most exciting parts of writing. Once an author has completed their work, they share it with others by publishing it. There are many ways to publish a piece of writing:

• book

• essay

• letter

• magazine

• newspaper

• poster

• report

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