1. Process Writing:
Overview
Emily Williamson
AACC – Advanced Writing
Fall 2014
(click the speaker picture for audio)

2. Process
(noun)
a series of actions that produce something
or that lead to a particular result
http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/process

3. Process: Examples
 Cooking homemade soup
 Building a house
 ?

4. Process Writing
 You can’t just sit down and type a good
essay.
 A quality essay is developed.
 Generally, there are seven steps.

5. The Seven Steps
Adapted from
Great Writing 4: Great Essays, 4th edition, by Keith
Folse, 2014, NGL Cengage

6. All Seven
1. Topic
2. Brainstorm
3. Outline
4. First Draft
5. Feedback
6. Revise
7. Proofread

7. 1. Topic
 Sometimes the teacher chooses
 Sometimes the students chose
 Be careful not to stray from your topic!

8. 2. Brainstorm
 Busy, stressed students (and teachers)
want to skip this step.
 Don’t skip it!
It helps produce thorough work efficiently.

9. 2.5 Thesis
 Tells the reader what will be in the essay.
 Feels like a mini-outline.
 Concise summary of all of your content.

10. 3. Outline
 Choose and organize your content
 Benefits:
 No grammar!
 Few words to spell!
 Easy to see organization

11. 4. First Draft
 Outline  sentences and paragraphs
 Some grammar and spelling necessary
 NOT time to be perfect

12. 5. Feedback
 About content and organization
 Focus / relevance?
 Ideas make sense?
 Logical order?
 Good essays are easy to read. Listen to
your readers’ points of view.

13. 6. Revise
 Choose what changes to make.
 If you make a lot of changes, maybe you
will want more feedback now!

14. 7. Proofread
 Seek perfection!
 Grammar
 Spelling
 Capitalization
 Punctuation
Word choice
 Neat/typed

15. Important Notes!
 Your first draft will not be perfect!
 Your first draft and your final essay will look
very different!
 Proofreading before your essay is mostly
finished will just waste your time.