The Writing Process
By: Katie DeSantis
A series of flexible steps to help you write well:
1. Prewrite: Come up with ideas for the work.
2. Draft: Get the ideas down in rough form.
3. Share: Receive feedback on the draft from a reader or listener.
4. Revise: Make reflective choices based on ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency.
5. Edit: “Clean up” the piece. Check for correct capitalization, punctuation, spelling, paragraphing, grammar, and usage.
6. Publish: The writer goes public.
Effective Qualities of Writing
Ideas- Make up the main message.
- Select a fresh and original idea, narrow your focus, and develop the main idea.
Sentence Fluency- The music created by your words.
- Listen for how words and phrases sound, vary sentence length and structure to create a rhythm, and construct sentences that enhance meaning.
Organization- The glue that holds ideas together.
- Write a bold beginning, add a mighty middle, and tie it up with an excellent ending.
Word Choice- The usage of rich language.
- Use verbs that show precise action, use nouns that are specific, and use adjectives that are vivid.
Voice- How you bring the writing to life.
- Show how much you care about the topic, speak directly to the reader. The tone is identifiable.
Conventions- Guide readers through the text.
- Use standard spellings, follow grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphing rules, and edit carefully.
References
Culham, Ruth. 6 1 Traits of Writing. New York: Scholastic, 2005. Print.
Culham, Ruth. The Traits of Writing: A Big Classroom Reference Guide. New York:
Scholastic, 2006. Print.