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This is the first of three videos for this lecture. I figured it would be easier to cover
this chapter if I broke it down into three parts. However, the three parts won't necessarily
be the ones you expect! Instead of concentrating each video on one part of the overall process
of writing, I am instead going to first give you an overview of the entire writing process
and then concentrate the next two videos on what I consider to be one of the most essential
parts of college writing: the preparation. The second video will concentrate on making
certain that you understand all the requirements for an assignment and where and how to get
that information and use it to your advantage. The third video focuses on creating an outline
for the writing assignment -- one of the most useful tools you will ever have for college
writing.
There are three steps to the writing process: Prepare, which is getting ready to write,
Draft, which is doing the actual writing itself, and Revise, which is going back over the paper
that you have written and revamping it. Let's take a quick look at each in turn.
The first step is Prepare. Take a look at the slide for a moment -- you will see that
two of the points have asterisks next to them. Those points will be the focus of the upcoming
videos, so I'll just mention them in passing here. The first thing on the slide, however,
says "Choose Your Topic." Sometimes your instructor will tell you exactly what to write about
and what your essay should contain, as I have done with the Book Phase. More often, your
instructor will give you a broad or general topic, or perhaps no real topic at all. In
that case, choosing your topic will become a more challenging step. You want to make
sure that it fits the length requirement of the paper. A short paper calls for a much
more narrow topic, for instance. Once you have chosen your topic, you then need to make
sure you have the information you need to write your paper. Most of the time, this means
you are going to be doing either some reading or some researching, and many times both.
Don't forget, we have an online library available here at Brown Mackie as well as a physical
library. We also have a great resource person in Mr. Jundi. He's terrific at helping students
with research projects or finding the material and information they need to complete assignments.
Don't forget to take notes and write down all the names of your sources and where you
got your information. You will need to include that in any research papers you do.
The next step is Drafting. If you're like me, you hate the idea of multiple drafts.
I would much prefer just to write once and be done with it. However, if you want a polished
paper, something you can be proud of, and that includes something that just might get
you that promotion at work, then you need to be willing to accept that Drafting is not
the last step! Instead, look at this whole process like Christmas Shopping. In the preparation
phase, you made your list, checked it twice, and then bought all the presents in some random
order. Now you're getting ready to wrap them. Depending on how organized your shopping was,
the wrapping part will be easy! However, once you're done wrapping, you are still not quite
done. You have to double check to make sure that you put the right tags on the right presents
or addressed the mailing labels correctly. That will be the Revision Phase! Okay, maybe
that analogy is a little bit silly, but you get the idea. Writing your paper is a cinch
if you started with a nice, detailed outline. All you'll need to do is follow your outline
and turn your bullet points into paragraphs and add additional interesting details. Don't
worry too much about your wording or things like grammar, spelling and punctuation. For
the first draft, it's the ideas that are important. You want to make sure you're saying what you
really want to say and not leaving anything out. So, when you're done, try reading what
you wrote out loud. Make sure it sounds the way you wanted it to!
The final step in the writing process is, unfortunately, NOT "review within 24 hours"
although I could make that fit in here if I wanted it to! However, here, the final step
is Revising or Editing. These two things are similar but not quite the same. Editing is
checking over to make sure you didn't make any errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation.
Here, you're going to look to see if all of your sentences are complete sentences and
not fragments. You'll make sure you are using the right verb tenses and that things match
up. You will also check your spelling. Don't forget about all those homonyms that we talked
about to death during the first week of class! Make sure you've chosen the right one in your
writing. A fresh pair of eyes for this phase is very helpful. Get someone else to look
it over; preferably someone who is good with English and spelling. To catch mistakes yourself,
try reading your paper backwards, word by word. That way, you won't skim over things
that you thought you put but are missing. Revising is a bit different. This involves
making sure that what you wrote really matches the topic of the paper and is in a logical
order. Again, having an outline right from the beginning helps this part immensely, because
you are less likely to go off on tangents if you wrote an outline to start with. If
you didn't, try taking what you did write and making an outline from it. This is called
"Reverse Outlining" and it can help you doublecheck to make sure your paper includes everything
you wanted or were required to say and that you didn't get off track. During this stage,
you also check to make sure that your paper is the right length and meets any other physical
requirements, like double spacing, etc. and that you put your name on your paper. Once
all that is done, it's ready to hand in.