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!