2. Process of Writing
How to write an essay?
Technical writing is not unplanned
It requires proper planning / steps
Different types of messages require different organization
plans
3. Process of Writing
Steps to write
Pre Writing Writing Post Writing
i. Identify your Purpose Drafting Revising
ii. Analyze your Reader Editing
iii. Choose your Ideas Proofreading
iv. Collect your Data
v. Organize your Message
4. Process of Writing
1. Identify Your Purpose
• First step is to determine your specific
purpose
• Purpose determines the tone of writing
• Why are you writing this document?
• Is the purpose informational? Announcing
your firm’s new location or announcing the
opening of new office
• Is the purpose persuasive? Asking customer
to buy your product
• Is the purpose directing? Making your
employees aware of new policy of the
company
5. Process of Writing
Purposes can be..
•To inform
•To instruct
•To persuade
•To order
•To recommend
•To request
•To apologize
•To propose
•To report
•To invite
6. Process of Writing
2. Analyze the Reader
• Adapt your message to your receiver’s views,
needs, mental filters, and cultures
• Your reader also determines the appropriate tone
of writing
• Different people have different mental filters and
they are affected by their education, view points,
interests, attitudes and even cultures as
• Dear Mr. Raza
• Mr. Raza Sb
7. Process of Writing
Readership involves …. Whether the person is
Business or Professional person, laborer,
superior, colleague or subordinate, woman or
man, new or routine customer, young, middle
aged or elderly, educational level, attitude and
probable values, already informed or uninformed,
and whether he or she will react positively or
negatively.
8. Process of Writing
3. Choose your Ideas
•Keeping the purpose and receiver in mind,
choose your ideas for your message
•If you are answering a request, underline the
main points to discuss and write your ideas in he
margin.
•If writing unsolicited or complex message, begin
by listening ideas as they come to you and
choose the best ideas for your receiver
• The choice of ideas depends upon the type of
message to be communicated
9. Process of Writing
4. Collect your Data
• Determine whether you need specific facts,
figures, quotations or other form of evidence
to support your points
• Data includes names of individuals, dates,
addresses, and statistics.
• Sometimes you need to include brochure,
table, picture, or sample of product
• Facts and figures make the ideas more
persuasive and acceptable
10. Process of Writing
5. Organize your Message
• Before writing first draft organize the message
mentally or on paper
• Disorganized, rambling messages are not
effective
12. Organizing Message
Four types of Messages
Good News
Direct Request
Persuasive Messages
Bad News
13. Writing
Drafting
When you have established your
purpose, your readers’ needs, and your
scope and have completed your
research and your outline, you will be
well prepared to write a first draft.
Expand your outline into paragraphs,
without worrying about grammar,
refinements of language usage, or
punctuation. Writing and revising are
different activities; refinements come
with revision.
14. Writing
Write the rough draft, concentrating entirely on converting
your outline into sentences and paragraphs. You might try
writing as though you were explaining your subject to a
reader sitting across from you.
Do not worry about a good opening. Just start. Do not be
concerned in the rough draft about exact word choice unless
it comes quickly and easily—concentrate instead on ideas.
Even with good preparation, writing the draft remains a chore
for many writers. The most effective way to get started and
keep going is to use your outline as a map for your first draft.
Do not wait for inspiration— you need to treat writing a draft
as you would any on-the-job task. The entry writing a draft
describes tactics used by experienced writers—discover
which ones are best suited to you and your task.
15. Writing
Consider writing an introduction last because
then you will know more precisely what is in the
body of the draft. Your opening should announce
the subject and give readers essential
background information, such as the document’s
primary purpose. For longer documents, an
introduction should serve as a frame into which
readers can fit the detailed information that
follows.
Finally, you will need to write a conclusion that
ties the main ideas together and emphatically
makes a final significant point. The final point
may be to recommend a course of action, make
a prediction or a judgment, or merely summarize
your main points—the way you conclude
depends on the purpose of your writing and your
readers’ needs.
16. Revision
When you revise your draft, read and evaluate it primarily
from the
point of view of your audience. In fact, revising requires a
different frame of mind than writing a draft. To achieve that
frame of mind, experienced writers have developed the
following tactics:
• Allow a “cooling period” between writing the draft and
revision in
order to evaluate the draft objectively.
• Print out your draft and mark up the paper copy; it is often
difficult to revise on-screen.
• Read your draft aloud—often, hearing the text will enable
you to
spot problem areas that need improvement.
• Revise in passes by reading through your draft several
times, each
17. Revision
When you can no longer spot
improvements, you may wish to give the
draft to a colleague for review—especially
for projects that are crucial for you or your
organization as well as for collaborative
projects.
18. What to revise?
Completeness. Does the document
achieve its primary purpose?
Will it fulfill the readers’ needs? Your
writing should give readers exactly what
they need but not overwhelm them.
Appropriate introduction and conclusion.
Check to see that your introduction
frames the rest of the document and your
conclusion ties the main ideas together.
Both should account for revisions to the
content of the document.
19. What to revise?
Accuracy. Look for any inaccuracies
that may have crept into your draft.
Unity and coherence. Check to see
that sentences and ideas are closely
tied together (coherence) and
contribute directly to the main idea
expressed in the topic sentence of
each paragraph (see unity). Provide
transitions where they are missing
and strengthen those that are weak.
20. What to revise?
Consistency. Make sure that layout and design,
visuals, and use of language are consistent. Do
not call the same item by one term on one page
and a different term on another page.
Conciseness. Tighten your writing so that it says
exactly what you
mean. Prune unnecessary words, phrases,
sentences, and even
paragraphs. See conciseness.
Awkwardness. Look for awkwardness in
sentence construction—especially any garbled
sentences.
Ethical writing. Check for ethics in writing and
eliminate biased language.
21. What to revise?
Active voice. Use the active voice unless the passive voice
is more
appropriate.
Word choice. Delete or replace vague words and
unnecessary intensifiers. Check for affectation and
unclear pronoun references.
Jargon. If you have any doubt that all your readers will
understand
any jargon or special terms you have used, eliminate or
define them.
Clichés. Replace clichés with fresh figures of speech or
direct
statements.
Grammar. Check your draft for grammatical errors. Use
computer grammar checkers with caution. Because they
are not always accurate, treat their recommendations only
22. What to revise?
Typographical errors. Check your final
draft for typographical errors both with
your spell checker and with thorough
proofreading because spell checkers
do not catch all errors.
Wordy phrases. Use the search-and-
replace command to find and revise
wordy phrases, such as that is, there
are, the fact that, and to be, and
unnecessary helping verbs such as
will.
24. Proofreading
Proofreading is essential whether you are
writing a brief e-mail or a résumé. Grammar
checkers and spell checkers are important
aids to proofreading, but they can make
writers overconfident. If a typographical error
results in a legitimate English word (for
example, coarse instead of course), the spell
checker will not flag the misspelling. You may
find some of the tactics discussed in revision
useful when proofreading; in fact, you may
find passages during proofreading that will
require further revision.
25. Proofreading
Whether the material you proofread is
your own writing or that of someone
else, consider proofreading in several
stages. Although you need to tailor the
stages to the specific document and to
your own problem areas, the following
Writer’s Checklist should provide a
useful starting point for proofreading
26. Proofreading
FIRST-STAGE REVIEW
Appropriate format, as for reports or
correspondence
Consistent style, including headings,
terminology, spacing, fonts
Correct numbering of figures and
tables
27. Proofreading
SECOND-STAGE REVIEW
Specific grammar and usage
problems
Appropriate punctuation
Correct abbreviations and
capitalization
Correct spelling (especially names
and places)
Complete Web or e-mail addresses
Accurate data in tables and lists
Cut-and-paste errors; for example, a
result of moved or deleted text and
numbers
28. Proofreading
FINAL-STAGE REVIEW
Survey of your overall goals:
audience needs and purpose
Appearance of the document
Review by a trusted colleague,
especially for crucial documents
