How Do I Do That? The Process Analysis ParagraphEng 050

Analyzing a Process

We’re well on our way to becoming experts in writing paragraphs! Now we’re going to go over how to analyze a process.

Analyzing a process is a fancy way is saying giving instructions. This type of paragraph can range from how to put together a bike or program your iPhone to dressing for success and starting a business.

The trick with the process analysis paragraph is to give clear, concise instructions without leaving anything out. You can also make the process analysis part of a larger story…we’ll get to that later.

Analyzing a Process

You see books, TV shows, podcasts, radio shows, etc., on a constant basis that do this very thing. Examples:

Any cooking show (Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray)

Any DIY show (such as House Hunters and This Old House)

Books such as How to Win Friends and Influence People and Relationship Rescue by Dr. Phil

If you train people at work, you are giving them a process analysis.

Analyzing a Process

Let’s read the paragraph on page 167. It is taken from the book “Playing to Win: Do You Think Like a Champ” by Mike Shanahan.

But the Process Analysis is not just a “how-to” guide.It also can evaluate the steps or sequence of the events and offer solutions for improvement.

It can also examine how something works, and how something happened.

Say you are doing a process analysis on how a jury is chosen. You can explain the steps, and then explore whether or not that is the best way, and offer alternatives.

Analyzing a Process

As always, you need to do some prep work before beginning to write. This can involve doing some critical reading and looking at examples (part of what we are doing now). Now let’s read the examples on page 168 and 169.

Let’s go over the guidelines of the Process Analysis paragraph.

Analyzing a Process

Process analysis writing falls into two general categories

How to do somethingThis is your general “how to change a tire”

How something happened or how it worksHow a jury is selected

How the Civil War started

Why the Phillies choked during the division playoffs

You’ll need to understand the prompt of the assignment in order to decide how you will write this

For our purposes, let’s stick to the general “how-to” style.

Analyzing a Process

In step one, state in the topic sentence what the reader should be able to do or understand by the end of the paragraph. Examples:

“I am going to tell you how to make a really good cup of coffee.”-- Simple and to the point

“Everyone can make coffee, but I have a secret for making the best cup of coffee you will ever taste.”—This sentence really grabs your attention

As always, the topic sentence is the roadmap to your paragraph. In this paragraph more than any of the others, you cannot stray from the topic sentence.

Analyzing a Process

In step two, explain the rest of the process in the remainder of the paragraph.

When you do this in your real life, you need to consider the audience.

If you explain how to use an iPhone, you will explain it differently to your friends (who probably already have smart phones and understand how they work), than you would to your great grandmother (who most likely needs more rudimentary instruction).

Be sure not to skip steps, which is very easy to do when you are very familiar with a topic.

Think of it as though you were giving directions to your house. If you leave out a major intersection, your guests will mostly likely get lost.

Analyzing a Process

In step three, organize your material in chronological order. This is one of the few times that chronological is the only order you can choose when organizing your papers.

I’ll repeat: be sure not to skip steps! Think of it as though you gave your friend a recipe for making bread, and you skipped the part where they needed to add the yeast. The whole loaf is ruined and they’ve gone through a lot of work for nothing.

Analyzing a Process

Now we can begin to write our paragraph. The book gives us a number of open-ended topics from which to choose. So let’s brainstorm.

A good rule of thumb for this assignment: stick with something you know and know well.

It can be a hobby, a skill, a special talent, a recipe…what have you.

Analyzing a Process

So let me think of a topic…Hobbies—does reading books count? Or shopping? Or watching TV? That’s it for hobbies.

Special talent—I can spot a fake Coach bag at 3 miles. But is this actually a “special” talent? It’s certainly not necessary for…anything.

How to put together a lesson plan…boring!

How to make meatballs---bingo! It’s a fun topic, it’s something I know well, it’s a useful skill

Analyzing a Process

We can’t forget our prewriting exercises! Let’s start by making a list of the steps.

Gather the following ingredients:Ground beef (preferably 93% fat free)

Grated cheese

Garlic

Parsley

Breadcrumbs

Eggs

Onion

Knead all ingredients together in a large bowl

Separate into small balls

Fry in olive oil

Analyzing a Process

Remember again how organization is important, and how you can’t skip steps. I didn’t skip any steps in my recipe. But I still haven’t explained how to do it, or why it’s important.

Your paragraph should NOT be a list of steps. It needs to be in paragraph form. You are doing the steps as a guide.

There should be no Step 1, Step 2, Step 3 in writing a process analysis. You’ll be using a lot of transition words in this one.

Analyzing a Process

Now for some topic sentences. Here’s some samples:

“Making meatballs might seem easy, but in my family there is only one way to make them—our way.”

“Meatballs are a classic Italian food, and I will detail how I make them.”

“Spaghetti and meatballs are a classic pairing, and I will tell you how I make them.”

Any one of these sentences work, but I prefer the first sentence because it has some humor and personality.

Analyzing a Process

Now I want to go back to my list of steps. One way to do this is to expand on your steps and turn them into sentences.

My step one was to gather ingredients. I’m going to turn that into a sentence.

First you need to have all of the necessary ingredients on hand. These are ground beef (preferably 93% fat free); grated cheese (any Italian kind will do); breadcrumbs (the plain kind); garlic; parsley (I have no idea why this goes in there but that’s the recipe); and eggs.

Analyzing a Process

My step two was to knead the ingredients.

Combine all of the ingredients into a large bowl, and mix with your hands. You have to use your judgment on the ratio of eggs to breadcrumbs to cheese. Notice that I do not include any spices that one might expect in a meatball, such as oregano. Oregano was banned in my house growing up, and no truly respectable D’Emilio woman [D’Emilio was my mother’s maiden name] would ever use it in a recipe. The simpler the ingredients, the better the meatballs.

See what I did there? I gave the recipe some context, and also addressed a question before it could be posed—such as what exact measurements to use.

Analyzing a Process

My step three is to form into small balls.Once you have mixed everything properly, begin to break small pieces of meat from the mixture and roll into a ball. Then drop each ball into a large stock pot that is filled with hot olive oil. Fry until both sides are brown and meat is cooked, taking care not to let them burn. The meatballs are now ready to finish cooking in the oven, or in tomato sauce.

Analyzing a Process

Now it’s time to work on the concluding sentence.

“Once you’ve had meatballs made from the D’Emilio recipe, you’ll never get them from Wawa again.”

“Trust me, these are as delicious as they sound.”

“There you have it—authentically Italian meatballs from an authentically Italian family.”

Analyzing a ProcessNow let’s put it all together.

“Making meatballs might seem easy, but in my family there is only one way to make them—our way. First you need to have all of the necessary ingredients on hand. These are ground beef (preferably 93% fat free); grated cheese (any Italian kind will do); breadcrumbs (the plain kind); garlic; parsley (I have no idea why this goes in there but that’s the recipe); and eggs. Combine all of the ingredients into a large bowl, and mix with your hands. You have to use your judgment on the ratio of eggs to breadcrumbs to cheese. Notice that I do not include any spices that one might expect in a meatball, such as oregano. Oregano was banned in my house growing up, and no truly respectable D’Emilio woman would ever use it in a recipe. The simpler the ingredients, the better the meatballs. Once you have mixed everything properly, begin to break small pieces of meat from the mixture and roll into a ball. Then drop each ball into a large stock pot that is filled with hot olive oil. Fry until both sides are brown and meat is cooked, taking care not to let them burn. The meatballs are now ready to finish cooking in the oven, or in tomato sauce. There you have it—authentically Italian meatballs from an authentically Italian family.”

Analyzing a Process

Do we see any problems with the paragraph?

The lack of measurements. We should mention that this is a “pinch of this pinch of that” kind of recipe so people aren’t confused.

We introduced a new thought (putting it in the oven to finish cooking, or putting it in tomato sauce). Those things need to be explained or not mentioned at all.

After reading this, do you feel like you could make these meatballs?

Analyzing a Process

And let’s not forget our checklist:Subjects and verbs

Does each sentence have one of each of these? And do the tenses of the sentence and verb “agree”?

PronounsDo your pronouns “agree” with each other? More on that in the coming weeks…

Modifier ErrorsAre your modifiers as close as possible to the words they modify? More on that in the coming weeks…

Analyzing a Process

Checklist continuedPunctuation and mechanics

Are your sentences punctuated correctly?

Are your words capitalized when necessary (and not capitalized when not necessary)?

Word choice and SpellingDid you choose the correct words? Remember, when it doubt look them up, or use another word.

Spelling—Again, look up words you aren’t sure of.