The Writing Process Part 1 Learning about writing

The Writing Process, Part 1 Learning about writing, of course, leads to writing. However, it can be hard to know how to start writing. To help us, there are some steps we can follow. Together, these steps called the writing process.

Step 1: Understanding the Assignment In academic writing, the first step to the writing process is to be sure that you understand the assignment. To do this, you have to answer the following questions. • What is the topic? • How much should I write? • When should I turn it in? • What format should I use? • Where do I get the information?

Step 2: Brainstorming You have a broad topic (the assigned one). You may need to limit the topic. Then, you need to think about what you could say about that limited topic. You can do the following: • Make lists. • Write down ideas in any way on a piece of paper. • Talk with a classmate.

Step 3: Organizing Your Ideas Now look at all of your ideas and choose that go together and that may form a paragraph. Once you have narrowed down your topic and grouped ideas that go together to support that topic, you are ready to write your topic sentence.

Step 4: Writing In this step, you decide on the major points you need to support your topic sentence, and these ideas become your major supporting sentences. Then you decide which major supporting sentences need more details. These details become your minor supporting sentences.

Step 5: Rewriting This step has two parts. The first part is called revising. When you revise your paragraph, look at the ideas, the organization, and the words. The second part is called editing. When you edit your paper, look for grammar mistakes, words mistakes, and punctuation mistakes. These may be hard to find. You might ask a classmate to help you find them and correct them.

Step 6: Writing the Final Draft You can go through (Step 4) and (Step 5) as many times as you want, but you will have to stop when the assignment is due. Then, write the paper that you will turn in to the teacher. This is called the final draft. Be sure to submit it in the format the teacher requires (typed or handwritten).