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The Writing Process
Language Arts
A Five Step Process
• Step 1: Pre-writing . . . Organizing ideas for writing
• Step 2: Drafting . . . First putting ideas on paper
• Step 3: Revision . . . Reviewing to “fix up” writing, if necessary
• Step 4: Editing . . . Correcting grammar, punctuation
• Step 5: Publication . . . Sharing work with others
All steps are necessary to produce
quality pieces of writing!
Step 1: Prewriting
• This is the most important step in the writing process. Think of it as the chance to “shop” for as many ideas as you can to include in your writing.
• Before you start writing, you must generate and organize ideas – it is always easier to work with a plan!
• First step is to clarify your task – make sure you understand what you have been asked to do. Use this as the beginning of your master plan for writing.
• The best way to clarify your task is to use RAFTS.
• What is RAFTS, you ask?… let’s find out!
Prewriting - RAFTS
• R = Role: who are you writing as?
• A = Audience: who are you writing for?
• F = Format: what type of writing do you have to write?
• T = Topic: what have you been asked to write about?
• S = Strong Verb/Action Word (to ________): what is your purpose for writing?
Let’s try one together
• Let’s say you are given the task of writing a descriptive paragraph about your favourite holiday.
• To begin writing, fill in the RAFTS chart on this page to help clarify your topic.
• R ole:
• A udience:
• F ormat:
• T opic:
• S trong verb: to
Prewriting continued: Gathering Ideas • Once you have finished your RAFTS chart to clarify your purpose,
you can begin gathering ideas.
• This is a very important step in the writing process – as mentioned earlier, think of it as “shopping”.
• There are a number of different ways to gather ideas. What is important to remember is that you should:
- write down as many ideas as you can think of – don’t worry about whether or not you will end up using them
- write down anything that comes to your mind
- don’t worry about grouping or ordering ideas now – that will come later
- remember that the more ideas you have, the more you have to choose from.
Gathering Ideas
• There are many ways you can gather ideas:• Brainstorm a web• Talk to an expert• Discuss it with family, friends and classmates• View a picture or movie about the topic• Read some research
** This step provides you with ideas for your supporting details for the content of your writing – make sure you do
it well!!!
Let’s go back to our example…
• Example: write a descriptive paragraph about your favourite holiday.
• I could…
- look at pictures of my holidays
- talk to family/friends/classmates
- create a brainstorming web
My favourite holiday
Gathering ideas is Gathering ideas is crucial to your successcrucial to your success
• The ideas are the contentcontent of your writing! They are the key to your writing
success!
Prewriting continued…
• Now that you have completed your RAFTS chartRAFTS chart to clarify your task & you have gathered ideas by brainstormingbrainstorming, you are ready for the last step of prewriting … choosing and choosing and organizing your best ideas.organizing your best ideas.
• This is where “shoppingshopping” with your ideas is going to pay off because the more ideas you have, the more choice you have in choosing and grouping them.
• If you did not come up with enough ideas, you will have a hard time choosing which ones fit your topic and adding detail to your writing!
The best ideas…
• Are on topictopic
• Are concrete and concrete and specificspecific
• Often appeal to our sensessenses
• Help us picturepicture the topic
I get it! Create a picture in the
reader’s mind!
Organizing Your Ideas• There are a few different ways to organize your ideas. You should choose the
one that works best for you.
• For example, you could:
- underline similar ideas with different coloured pens
- rewrite your ideas into categories
• Once you have organized your ideas, you are ready to begin writing.
• Use your organized ideas as the plan for writing – just turn your ideas into sentences – and your sentences into the required writing format.
• You are ready for Step Two of the Writing Process
Your organized ideas are the pieces to your
writing puzzle – you have to put them together to form a whole piece of writing.
Step 2: Drafting• The next step of the Writing Process is
DraftingDrafting.• This involves taking your ideas and turning
them into sentences to form the required writing format.
• Similar to brainstorming, when writing a draft, let your ideas flow!
• Focus on writing what you want to say about the topic – do not worry about any errors. We use revising and editing for that purpose.
• Your draft will be read by others to help point out any corrections that are needed.
• Remember that it will take at least one or two drafts to get a piece of writing that you are satisfied with – do not expect perfection with your first draft. You will want to add or remove words, sentences, and/or ideas before you have the piece of writing you are looking for.
I see! I need to
continuously
improve my
writing before
it will be what
I want it to be.
Step 3: Revising• This step is where you try to improve on
what you have written.
• Based on your evaluation of the writing &/or responses and suggestions of others, you may want to make changes in the content and organization of the writing.
• You may want to:
- add or take out information
- change the order or your sentences or paragraphs
- replace words with stronger vocabulary
• Don’t worry about grammar, spelling & punctuation yet…that is the next step.
Doing revisions on your own is always important – but it is very helpful to have the input of others to help you clarify ideas, strengthen vocabulary, and to make sure that all ideas are on topic!
Step 4: Editing (proofread)• Now that you have checked & revised
your writing for content and organization, you can move on to Step 4.
• This is the step where you check your writing for errors in:- spelling- punctuation- capitalization- grammar
In this step, you look for and correct any final errors before making your final draft.
Like Step 3, it is a good idea to check over your own writing and have someone else check it for you as well.
SpellingSpelling
PunctuationPunctuation
CapitalizationCapitalization
GrammarGrammar
Step 5: Publication• This is the final step of the
writing process.
• In this step, you get to share your writing with an audience.
• This can mean presenting it to your classmates, reading it to your friends & family, or handing it in to your teacher.
• If you take the time to go through the first 4 steps carefully and thoughtfully, you will have a piece of writing that you are proud of to share with others!
After 4 steps & a lot of work, my writing is
ready to be published!