The Writing ProcessWelcome to The Writing Pr.docx

The Writing Process
*
Welcome to “The Writing Process.” This presentation is
designed to introduce your students to three major elements that
constitute the writing process (invention, composition, revision)
and the strategies for inventing, composing, reviewing, and
proofreading. The eighteen slides presented here are designed
to aid the facilitator in an interactive presentation of the nuts
and bolts of the writing process. This presentation is useful for
the beginning of a composition course and/or for the beginning
of a writing project. This presentation may be supplemented by
OWL handouts, links to which are mentioned on the specific
slides.
Directions: Each slide is activated by a single mouse click.
Transitions inside slides are animated: clicking will lead to
skipping the content.
Notes:
How often do you read manuals? Only, when you buy something
with “some assembling required” label? Would you be able to
assemble your purchase without the manual? Most likely, you
would. It might take a few hours of trial and errors, a few
unnecessary parts left, and, probably, some disappointment in
the purchase, but eventually you’ll get it assembled. If you
follow the steps suggested in the manual, however, you will

save your time and avoid the mistakes that can ruin your
purchase. Manuals are helpful even if we do not like that they
are too prescriptive.
Let’s consider this presentation the Manual to the Writing
Process. You might choose not to follow every step in the
manual, but knowing the stages, strategies, and techniques of
the writing process will help save your time, so valuable in
college; prevent frustration you might feel reading your
teacher’s feedback, and, eventually, will help you get a good
grade in a composition class. Manuals are a boring reading, but,
after all, they are designed to walk you through the process
rather than to entertain you.
Suggested warm-up activity: Prior to the presentation, the
facilitator might conduct a brief discussion of what the writing
process is and ask the students what steps they usually make
when they write. (Optional: the facilitator puts on the board
some popular elements of the writing process: writing an essay,
generating ideas, coming up with the thesis, proofreading for
spelling and punctuation errors, organizing support to the thesis
in a certain manner. S/he then asks the students to arrange these
actions into the order they follow when they write). The
facilitator might also find useful to compare the writing process
to the process we follow when cooking something. It is
important to know the right sequence of actions when your
cook. When cooking spaghetti, we don’t drain water before it
boils for at least 7 minutes! Otherwise, we can end up hungry.
However, unlike the linear cooking process, writing is
recursive. Writers do not go straight from generating and
organizing ideas to composing, they re-think ideas and re-
organize the paper when they revise it.
Writer and Designer: Jennifer Liethen Kunka
Contributors: Muriel Harris, Karen Bishop, Bryan Kopp,
Matthew Mooney, David Neyhart, and Andrew Kunka

Revising Authors: Elena Lawrick and Allen Brizee, 2007
Developed with resources courtesy of the Purdue University
Writing Lab
Grant funding courtesy of the Multimedia Instructional
Development Center at Purdue University
© Copyright Purdue University, 2000, 2006, 2007
Introduction
What you will learn from this presentation:
How to invent, compose, and revise.
The presentation starts with showing three major elements of
the writing process, each of which is further discussed in terms
of What is…? (i.e. its main stages) and How to..? (i.e. its
strategies). E.g., the slide Inventing. How to invent? is followed
by 1/the slide presenting major steps of invention and 2/the
slide Inventing Strategies. The graphics presenting the writing
process, i.e. the grey oval including invent-compose-revise
elements, is consistently repeated throughout the presentation to
make them memorable.
Notes: When we write, we conduct three actions: we invent,
compose, and revise. And, we invent again, and then compose,
and then revise. Hopefully, we can stop the circle at a certain
point when we realize that the piece of writing we are working

on is good enough for submission. Or, that we’ve run out of
time….As you can see, three main elements of the writing
process are invention, composition, and revision. Invention is a
starting point of the process, at which writers come up with the
game plan and ideas for the writing assignment. Composition
focuses on generating the thesis and organizing ideas to support
it. Revision consists of reviewing the paper for organization and
support and also of proofreading it for mechanics errors. The
writing process is “a circle in a circle” in a sense that the three
actions take place at every stage. When writers brainstorm
ideas, they jot them down and assess them critically: that is,
writers compose and revise when they invent! When revision
happens, writers work with ideas by cutting and rearranging
them, or by adding new ones: that is, writers invent and
compose when they revise!
*
How do we write?
We…
Compose
Invent
Revise
The presentation starts with showing three major elements of
the writing process, each of which is further discussed in terms
of What is…? (i.e. its main stages) and How to..? (i.e. its
strategies). E.g., the slide Inventing. How to invent? is followed
by 1/the slide presenting major steps of invention and 2/the
slide Inventing Strategies. The graphics presenting the writing

process, i.e. the grey oval including invent-compose-revise
elements, is consistently repeated throughout the presentation to
make them memorable.
Notes: When we write, we conduct three actions: we invent,
compose, and revise. And, we invent again, and then compose,
and then revise. Hopefully, we can stop the circle at a certain
point when we realize that the piece of writing we are working
on is good enough for submission. Or, that we’ve run out of
time….As you can see, three main elements of the writing
process are invention, composition, and revision. Invention is a
starting point of the process, at which writers come up with the
game plan and ideas for the writing assignment. Composition
focuses on generating the thesis and organizing ideas to support
it. Revision consists of reviewing the paper for organization and
support and also of proofreading it for mechanics errors. The
writing process is “a circle in a circle” in a sense that the three
actions take place at every stage. When writers brainstorm
ideas, they jot them down and assess them critically: that is,
writers compose and revise when they invent! When revision
happens, writers work with ideas by cutting and rearranging
them, or by adding new ones: that is, writers invent and
compose when they revise!
*
Inventing
How to …?
Compose

Invent
Revise
Invention a starting point of the process. At this stage the writer
comes up with the game plan and ideas for the writing
assignment.
Notes:
Now, when you are familiar with the main stages of the writing
process, let’s look at each stage in terms of “How to..?” and talk
about the strategies that can be used to invent, compose, and
revise. Remember, this presentation is your Manual to Writing ,
whose ultimate goal is to equip you with the bank of techniques
you can choose from when you write. So, what exactly is the
invention and how do we invent?
This slide can be complimented by invention and prewriting
material on the Purdue OWL.
*
Inventing
Devise a game plan: schedule the writing process
Ask questions to explore your rhetorical situation:

*
This slide deals with What is..? part of the explanation and
presents two necessary initial steps of writing: scheduling a
particular writing process and assessing the assignment in terms
of a rhetorical situation.
Notes:
Do not rush to start composing right after you’ve received a
writing assignment. Pause for a moment and think of it as of a
business project. Devise a game plan, schedule your project: it
will help you time-manage it, especially if you are a lover of
procrastination. Are you the one? Then do not ignore this step:
generating a game plan will guarantee that you will not “wake
up” the night before a deadline.
Since invention is about generating ideas for the paper, which is
a struggling process for many writers, thinking of the
assignment in terms of a rhetorical situation can be a way out of
the ‘labyrinth’. Do NOT think about the assignment globally: it
can be overwhelming; think locally: just start answering simple
questions. Who is my audience? What is the purpose of this
paper? What is the genre of this assignment? What do I know
about this genre? What about the style? Do I want to sound
informal or formal? What kind of research do I have to conduct
to gather information for the paper?
Invention Strategies

Explore classic topics
Ask stasis questions
Use tagmemics
Record ideas without revising or proofreading
Invent and organize ideas visually to explore relationships,
processes
Write personal explorations and reflections on ideas
Ask more critical questions
Freewrite & brainstorm
Map & cluster
Keep a journal
This slide presents four strategies to generate ideas for the
paper: 1) questions, 2) free writing and brainstorming, 3)
mapping and clustering, and 4) keeping a writer’s journal. Each
strategy is complimented by a short and vivid
explanation/example that pops up on the left-hand side of the
slide.
Notes:
There are several techniques you can use to come up with the
ideas for your writing assignment. It is helpful to be familiar
with and try all of them because you never know which one will
work today. For example, you are experiencing a writer’s block:
your mind got blank and not a single idea comes to it. Try
freewriting, and then use it as a starting point for clustering the

ideas. Or, you are having a whole bunch of ideas, but you do
not see how they are related. In this case, listing and clustering
will help you out. So, let’s built up the bank of strategies
writers use to invent ideas.
Ask critical questions: The technique that works for every
writer! Ask yourself simple questions nosy journalists love to
ask: What? When? Where? How? E.g., what would I like to
learn about it if I were a reader? When did it happen? Look how
easy to work with reporter’s questions. Let’s say you wrote a
sentence: Mike walked into the room. Boring? Then, be curious:
How did Mike walk? What was the room like? Who was there?
Why did Mike walk there? (This is a great opportunity for a
facilitator to engage the audience, invite the students to come
up with answers, and generate a sentence full of details and
vivid words).
Brainstorm the topic: jot down any idea that pops up in your
mind. Do not assess whether it is relevant or not, you’ll figure it
out later. Your task now is to build up a collection of ideas you
associate with the topic.
Freewriting is a useful technique when you experience a
writer’s block. How many of you felt at least once that you were
not able to squeeze anything out of your mind? In such cases,
writing without stopping for five to ten minutes is the best
remedy. Turn off you inner critic: forget about spelling or
punctuation rules. You are not going to show your writing to
anyone, you just give a voice to your mind! Besides being an
urgent care for a writer’s block, freewriting is a great source of
ideas. You will be surprised how many fresh ideas you can find
among a junk yard of spelling errors and awkwardly-phrased
sentences.
Mapping & Clustering: Have you ever created a web of ideas?
Do you like to draw bubbles and put words into it? Even if you

don’t, clustering is a great way to sort out the thoughts you
have generated so far. (Or, the ones you have found in your
freewritten passage). Clustering helps to see which idea is not
developed enough or not supported with sufficient details.
Keep a journal: If you like to keep a record of the events
happening in your life, or, if you just like to express your
feelings on paper, then your journal can be an excellent
collection of ideas for your writing assignments. Reread the
entries: you might find something related to the theme of your
writing project. Journals are not for everyone, but they might be
the treasure cave for those who keep them.
Suggested activity: After presenting these strategies, the
facilitator can engage the audience into a discussion of
strategies students find more efficient as well as encourage the
students to try new ones. As an optional follow-up activity the
facilitator can divide the audience into six groups and ask each
group to generate ideas for the assigned topic by using one
strategy. All groups will work with the same topic, however the
means of coming up with the ideas will be different. Class
discussion wraps up the activity.
*
Composing
How to….?
Compose

Revise
Composing is a complex process ranging from conducting
research to writing the first draft. Often, students struggle with
writing a paper because they mistake composing with drafting;
that is, they reduce composing to writing the first draft. Hence,
conducting the research, narrowing the topic, developing the
thesis statement, and arranging supporting ideas in a logical
manner escape the students’ writing process. As a result,
students have to deal with the issues of organizing papers and
communicating ideas at the revision stage. It is essential to
point out the importance of every step of composing and show
how each step contributes to the ultimate successful first draft.
Notes:
The next element of the writing process is composing. Unlike
the common stereotype, composing is more than writing a draft.
It is a complex process that involves major decisions regarding
the topic and organization of the paper, in which drafting is
only a final step. It will be fair to sat that composition is the
main strategic element of the writing process. After all, you are
in an introductory COMPOSITION class. Just don’t forget that
we can’t compose a decent essay without invention and
revision.
*
Composing
Conduct research

Narrow the topic
Develop the thesis
Organize ideas
Write the 1st draft
*
This slide names the steps of composing: 1/conducting research,
2/narrowing the topic, 3/developing the thesis, 4/organizing
ideas to support the thesis, 5/writing the first draft. It might be
useful to stress that the composing stage of the writing process
is linear and sequential. The key to a strong first draft is to
follow the steps in the order listed: from conducting research
and narrowing a topic to the developing a thesis statement and
arranging its support. In the long run, this can save a writer
time and effort.
Notes:
Here are five major steps writers takes when they compose :
Research the subject. Research makes your argument more
credible, it provides specific details and supports to the
statements you make. There are different kinds of research: you
can go online or to the library, conduct an interview, or even
observe the subject—the research you’ll do depends on the
writing assignment you are working on. Narrow the topic. Think
of your writing assignment: Is the topic you’ve chosen narrow
enough? It is extremely difficult to discuss a broad topic like
“Smoking on campus” on two or three pages. Choose one aspect

of the problem you want to discuss. Broad topics lead to
generalizations and shallow argumentation, that is why the topic
should be narrow enough to give you space to develop and
support your claim. For example, instead of “Smoking on
campus” you can discuss the reasons why the students on your
campus do not abide anti-smoking rules.Now, when you know
more about the subject, after you narrowed the topic, it is time
for developing a thesis statement. The thesis is the major claim
of your argument, it is a main strand around which you will
weave other ideas. The way you will word the thesis will
depend on a kind of paper you are writing: analytical,
expository, or argumentative. (You will find more specific
advice on creating a thesis statement on
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/01/)The rule of
thumb to organize a paper: ideas should be related to a thesis
and support it. The choice of a manner of organization can vary:
you might organize supporting details in a time, space, or
importance (from the weakest to the strongest) manner, but do
not forget that every detail should work toward the thesis and
should be coherently connected with the others. Otherwise, the
paper won’t flow. So, you are focused on a specific facet of the
topic, you have researched it, developed a strong thesis
statement, and arranged the support: it’s time to write the first
draft!
Suggested follow-up activity (next class session): The
facilitator might follow up the presentation by conducting a
case study of two drafts of a student’s paper which explores the
problems with one of these issues: the topic is too general, or
there is a conflict between the thesis and support, or illogical
organization of supporting ideas, or the lack of the thesis
statement/research. The facilitator can use this slide solely as a
grid for the analysis of the paper.

Organizing Strategies
I. Introduction
A. Set the context
B. Explain why the topic is
important
C. State the thesis
II. Body
A. Build points
B. Develop ideas
C. Support the main claim
III. Conclusion
A. Reemphasize the main
idea
B. Restate the thesis
Create an outline
*
This slide provides a sample of an outline and reminds students
of the basis structure of an essay and the functions of each part.
Notes:
Organizing the paper in the form of an outline helps visualize
its flow and coherence of ideas. The outline you see on the left-
hand side of the slide shows the basic structure of an essay. It
contains an introduction, body, and conclusion.
The introduction grabs the reader’s attention and introduces the

main idea or claim, often in the form of a thesis statement. The
body consists of several supporting paragraphs that help
elaborate upon the main claim. It is the body of the paper where
you build points, develop ideas, and support the main claim,
which you made in the introduction. The conclusion serves to
wrap up the argument and reemphasize the writer’s main ideas.
Whether you created an elaborated outline, like the one you
would submit to your teacher, or simply sketched the main
points of your paper, you immediately have a clear picture of
the strengths and weaknesses of the organization of the paper.
An outline shows your argument in a simple and comprehensive
manner, so you can save time and effort and re-arrange ideas
BEFORE you even start writing the first draft. Outlines are like
maps: they show directions and guarantee that you won’t get
lost when you write a paper.
This slide can be supplemented by the handout Developing an
Outline from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_plan1.html
Revising
How to…?
Compose
Revise
Although revision is the final element of the writing process, it
leads to re-inventing and re-composing. Thus, the three
elements make a circle.

Notes:
Revision is the final component of the writing process. Simply
put, we revise when we change a written paper. We can make
global change to add, cut, or re-arrange ideas, or we can make
minor changes to correct punctuation and spelling errors. But
remember, when I introduced invention, composition, and
revision, I stressed that writing process is recursive. Revision
causes re-invention (writers brainstorm for new ideas) and re-
composition (you have to re-arrange the support and re-write
the entire paper). Since there is no revision without invention
and composition, it is helpful to keep in mind the strategies of
these initial elements of the writing process.
Suggested activity: The facilitator might ask students what
exactly they do when they revise the first drat and, building on
the responses, might explain that the efficient revision is two-
fold: reviewing and proofreading, or editing. This brief
discussion will make a smooth transition to the next slide.
*
Revising
Review
Proofread
*
The presentation shows revision as a hierarchy of reviewing for

higher-order concerns and proofreading for later-order
concerns. Revising a paper can be an overwhelming business
and students tend to focus on correcting grammar, punctuation,
and spelling errors; thus, loosing sight of the issues of
organization, clear communication of ideas, and coherence.
Therefore, it is helpful to divide revision into two stages:
reviewing and proofreading. The facilitator might want to stress
a prior order of reviewing over proofreading.
Notes:
Every writer at least once felt overwhelmed while revising the
paper. Revision is messy: you start with checking how clearly
your ideas are communicated, stumble at a comma in the wrong
place, and slide into correcting grammar, spelling, and
punctuation. It helps if the writer does revision into two steps:
first, review the organization, coherence, and clear
communication of ideas, and then, proofread the for grammar,
punctuation, and spelling. Hence, revisions is not messy any
more, and you focus on one thing at a time. It’s a bad, though
tempting idea, to proofread before review since it’s easier to do.
Reviewing might require major changes in your paper and
adding new paragraphs, so you will inevitably have to proofread
again.
Revising
Review

*
Notes:
Reviewing is revising the paper on the idea-level. Literally, it
is re-seeing the argument of the paper. Sometimes a first draft is
just that--a first draft. After completing it, the writer has a
better sense of the audience, purpose, and thesis statement.
Don’t feel chained to every word you wrote, look at your
writing as at an evolving piece of work and subject to change.
Ask for a feedback from your peers. Compare the message they
received from your paper with the one you intended to get
across. Do they coincide? If not, you might want to reconsider
the organization of your paper focusing on the clear
communication of ideas. Go over each paragraph: Does it have a
topic sentence? Does the body of the paragraph relate, clarify,
and illustrate the point a topic sentence makes? Are paragraphs
coherently connected? Does the paper flows? A simple trick
will help you to check the organization of the paper. Highlight
the thesis statement and topic sentences of every paragraph.
Now you can see crystal clear ONLY the skeleton of the paper,
the argument you are making. Is it logically and coherently
organized? If not, you need to employ review strategies.
This slide can be supplemented by the handout Higher Order
Concerns and Later Order Concerns (HOCs and LOCs) from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_hocloc.html
Reviewing Strategies

Refocus
Reorder
Add
Cut
*
In the process of re-thinking the argument, writers exploit the
following strategies: refocusing, reordering, adding, and cutting
ideas, sentences, and, sometimes, paragraphs. The strategies are
self-explanatory; however, the facilitator might use the example
of a sample outline to show how the clarification of the thesis
can lead to changing of the arrangement of the support.
Notes:
There are several strategies to re-think the argument in the
writer’s arsenal: The writer might refocus the argument, reorder
supporting ideas, add new details or cut the ones that irrelevant
or redundant. For example, after reading the first draft you feel
that the topic is still too broad to cover it in one paper, and one
aspect of it obviously dominates: it’s interesting to the reader
and you have sufficient research to illustrate it. Concentrate on
this aspect then and re-arrange the supporting ideas to show
every facet of it. If the thesis is strong, but the ideas in
paragraphs drift away from the main claim, the paper needs
reordering the supporting claims. Or, if you discovered a black
hole in your argument, brainstorm for new ideas, conduct
necessary research, and add. From time to time the writer has to
cut some sentences or even paragraphs. It’s a painful, but

necessary activity. Remember, your main concern in review is
the argument you are developing in the paper. Check for clear
communication, coherence, and relevance.
Revising
Proofread
*
After working on the quality of the content and organization at
the reviewing stage, writers then need to take care of
mechanics, including corrections of spelling, punctuation,
sentence structure, and documentation style.
Notes:
Now, when global issues of the paper are taken care of, it is
time to proofread for spelling, punctuation, grammar, and
documentation style. These issues might seem not important,
but they might impede the communication. After all, who likes
to struggle through grammar and spelling errors while reading?
This slide can be complimented with the handouts
Proofreading Strategies
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_proof.html,
Proofreading Your Paper
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_proof2.html,
Steps in Editing Your Papers
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_stepedit.html
,

Proofreading for Commas
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_commaproof
.html.
Proofreading Strategies
Run spell & grammar check
Read the paper aloud & backwards
Speak with your instructor
Visit your writing lab
*
This slide presents several efficient proofreading strategies.
Notes:
Start with running grammar and spell check. They will point to
basic errors. If treated with caution, checkers are a great help to
writers. It is important though, to caution students against an
overreliance upon computer checkers. The technology can not
think, it will not recognize “Good smelling (instead of spelling)
is important in college” as an error! Also, many grammar
checks function on computer-programmed patterns of words.
Often, they cannot process long or complicated sentences. Just
because sentences are long or complicated does not mean they
are wrong. Having an understanding of grammar yourself is the
best way to check over your work.

Read your paper out loud. Reading aloud forces the writer to
engage each word verbally. Often typos, spelling errors, and
sentence structure problems can be caught this way.
If spelling is a big problem, checking through the paper
backwards can also help writers to correct errors. Again,
checking backwards will help writers to engage every word.
Exchanging papers with a friend can also be a good way to
check for errors. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes helps.
However, writers need to remember that the paper belongs to
them and they are responsible for their work. If a friend
corrects something that you don’t think is incorrect, double
check with a grammar book, the OWL web site, or the Writing
Lab Grammar Hotline.
How do we write?
We…
Compose
Invent
Revise
Rationale: This slide takes the audience back to the three key
elements of the writing process: invention, composition, and
revision; thus, wrapping up the presentation in the summary. It

is important to remind the audience about the recursiveness of
the process where all three elements interact at every stage.
*
How can you get help?
from Purdue Writing Lab…
call
visit
email
This slide informs students that there are three ways to get help
from the Writing Lab with specific concerns: to come to the lab,
to call Grammar Hotline, and either email or search OWL
website.
Notes:
There are three ways to receive help from Purdue Writing Lab:
you are welcome to make an appointment and talk your paper
over with a tutor, you can call the Grammar Hot Line if you are
working on the paper and need urgent advice, or you can search
OWL website or email your question. Whatever means of
communication you choose, be sure that Writing Lab specialists
are happy to help you to enhance your writing.
*

Where can you get help?
Grammar hotline:
(765) 494-3723
Contact us:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/writinglab/email/owlmail
Writing lab:
HEAV 226, PU
Our website:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu
*
This final slide provides the detailed information regarding how
to reach Purdue Writing Lab.
Notes:
So, you are on West Lafayette Campus, the Writing Lab is
located in room 226 in Heavilon Hall. The lab is open 9:00am-
6:00 pm. For urgent telephone enquires call Grammar Hotline at
(765) 494-3723. OWL, Online Writing Lab, is a reach resource
of information. Its address is http://owl.english.purdue.edu. And
finally, you can email your questions to [email protected] and
our tutors will get back to you promptly.
The End

*
Writer and Designer: Jennifer Liethen Kunka
Contributors: Muriel Harris, Karen Bishop, Bryan Kopp,
Matthew Mooney, David Neyhart, and Andrew Kunka
Revising Author: Elena Lawrick, 2007
Developed with resources courtesy of the Purdue University
Writing Lab
Grant funding courtesy of the Multimedia Instructional
Development Center at Purdue University
© Copyright Purdue University, 2000, 2006, 2007

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