How to Write Your Best Paper: Discovering and Refining Your Writing Process

1
How to Write Your Best PaperDiscovering and
Refining Your Writing Process
Presented by Judith M. Davis, Director Writing
Technology Laboratory Student Support
Services October 30, 2002
2
Understand that writing is an individual,
recursive process

• Planning
• Prewriting
• Organizing
• Drafting
• Revising
• Editing
• Proofreading

3
Planning

• Think!
• Analyze the assignment
• Requirements
• Topic
• Purpose
• Audience
• Research
• Preliminary
• Topic focused

4
Prewriting

• List
• Brainstorm
• Cluster/mind-map/web
• Freewrite
• Outline

5
Organizing

• Outline important ideas from prewriting
• Structure a thesis
• Plan primary and secondary support

6
Drafting

• Just do it! Write without editing
• Consider opening strategies
• Hook the reader
• State the thesis
• Forecast the direction of the essay
• Layer the paragraphs
• Topic sentence
• Primary support
• Secondary support

7

• Leave a strong final impression
• Restate thesis
• Sum-up key ideas
• Make a concluding statement

8
Revising

• Re-see your essay
• Check organization
• Ensure sufficient development
• Examine use of sources
• Build smooth transitions
• Order
• Repetition of key ideas
• Use of transitional expressions
• Evaluate opening and closing

9
Editing

• Read aloud
• Read for trouble
• Read backwards

10
Proofreading

• Read for new errors
• Read backwards to re-check spelling
• Check formatting