Brochure

Intoduction: Every student can and should learn to write. However the process of learning to write often seems mysterious. Many former students remember with frustration the red marks on their grade-school papers and the expectation that they simply fix whatever was “wrong” and get it “right” the next time. Learning to write well is one of the most challenging tasks for students. It takes time, practice, and lots of encouragement. As your teacher I want to help develop these skills and, equally important, a love for words and writing. Stage 1: Pre-writing The key to a great paper is the planning. When you sit down to write something, you need to out what you are going to write about. Start with a topic, and then decide what you have to say about this topic. You might generate a working thesis or a main idea that you would like to explore, and then start collecting information and ideas that relate to that idea. Ways to Generate Ideas *Free write or use a journal *Brainstorm you likes and dislikes, and things, people, place, and hobbies that are important to you *Review assignments and notes *Determine the who, what, where, when, why, and how of a topic *Determine what you already know and what you still need to learn Ways to Plan Writing *Create a cluster, diagram, or web *Create a storyboard *Identify pros and cons *List supporting arguments *Sort and organize note cards by topic Stage 2: Drafting Drafting is where the formal writing begins. As you write, keep referring back to your notes and the plan that you determined in Stage 1, do not be afraid to change the plan when needed. During the drafting stage, you should concentrate on getting your ideas on paper, organizing your information, and developing your topic with enough detail for your audience and purpose. Drafts are for the writer: Our brain processes information as we write things down. You will find yourself making connections and discovering new ideas as you are writing your first draft. You should go back to the planning stage to work in the new ideas. Writers often wait to write their introduction until they have finished the body of the paper. Drafts are not perfect: You are really drafting for yourself, to understand your ideas and put them into words, you might be unhappy with your early results. Agonizing over every word and sentence will give you writer’s block! Get some words down on paper even if they sound silly or awkward. You can always go back and fix it later- this is what revision is for. Drafting takes time: The more complicated your writing is, the more time you should allow for drafting. As you discover new ideas you need the time to incorporate them into your plan! Stage 3: Revising Revision works best when you have the time to let your writing sit. You will be better able to look at your writing with a reader’s eye if you can put it aside for a day or two before working on it again. If drafting is for the writer, revision is for the reader. During revision you consider your writing from your audience’s point of view. Have someone else your writing, a reader unfamiliar can help identify which parts are working and which parts are still unclear. Revising for the Audience *Is the level of detail appropriate for my audience' *Are my ideas presented in a logical order that will be evident to the readers' *Do I use clear transitions to help the reader follow my train of thought' *Do I say what I mean and mean what I say' *Is my tone and style appropriate for my audience' Revising for Purpose: *Is my purpose clearly stated' *Did I maintain the purpose throughout the document' *Does my information clearly relate to the purpose' Did I organize my ideas to best fulfill my purpose' Revising for form *Did I follow the form I am writing' *Did I separate ideas into paragraphs' Stage 4: Editing While revising focuses mainly on making your content clear for your readers, editing focuses on making your document meet the conventions of stands written English. During the editing stage, check for the following: *Grammar *Sentence structure *Word choice *Punctuation *Capitalization *Spelling *Citation and document format Stage 5: Publishing Writing is communication-if you have written something, you must have intended for someone to read it, even if that person is only yourself. All of your writings will not be taken through the publishing stage, but even turning your paper into your teacher constitutes “publishing.” .