"why should i care about writing?"
What Makes Writing So Important? Well...
- Writing is the main way in which your work, your learning, and your “smarts” will be judged—in college, in the workplace, and in the community.
- Writing expresses who you are as a person.
- Writing helps you move easily among facts, thoughts, and opinions without getting confused—and without confusing your reader.
- Writing promotes your ability to ask worthwhile questions.
- Writing ideas down saves them so that you can think about them later.
- Writing out your ideas helps you to determine the logic of your argument.
- Writing is an essential job skill.
"what are some reasons that people choose to write?"
WHY
- To express feelings
- To share information
- To report news
- To make money
- To improve their writing skills
- To teach
- To communicate
- To express thoughts
- To give information
- To tell a story
"what are some different kinds of writing?"
Writing has too many types, styles, and genres to list them all...
TYPES/GENRES
- Poems
- Lyrics (rap, rock, etc...)
- Screenplays (movies)
- Scripts (television, plays, news, etc.)
- Comic books/graphic novels
- Nonfiction books(biographies/ histories/etc.)
- Fiction novels (sci-fi, horror, adventure, comedy, etc.)
- Narratives (to tell a story)
- Expository (to tell information)
"what is the process, or how-to, for writing?"
HOW/PROCESS...it's easy, think P.O.W.E.R.
- Pre-writing
- Organizing
- Writing
- Editing
- Revising
"P.O.W.E.R.?"
p...pre-writing
Brainstorming is a critical feature for pre-writing.
P stands for Pre-writing. This is the first step in any writing. Before you begin writing anything it is important to know about what you want to write about, and to know some things about what you choose. It usually starts with you picking something to write about and then brainstorming, or getting as much information as possible for what you plan to write about...
O...Organizing
Graphic organizers will help you put your ideas into action.
O stands for Organizing. After you have decided what you want to write about, and what you want to say about it, it can be very helpful to organize those thoughts/facts/ideas. This is probably the most important step of writing, yet it is one that students often skip over!!! This is "crazy talk"...just look how much fun it can be to create an organizer to help you draft a piece of writing. During this step you may want to use various outlines/bullet lists/charts/etc. to help you put your thoughts into order in preparation for the next step.
w...writing
After you have organized...you write!!!
W stands for writing. This is also called "drafting", this is where you physically write out what you planned to say. This is where you use the brainstorming ideas and notes that you have organized to help you put it all together to form, or draft, a piece of writing. The first time you complete a piece that you write, it is called a "rough draft". This is the part where many students forget to look at their notes/outlines/organizers. Don't let this happen to you!!! You did the work to help you...so use it!!!
e...editing
Think of editing as fixing small mistakes.
E stands for Editing. This, and the final step of revising, seem to be the part that many students somehow "forgot to do it". Editing can be thought of as fixing the small mistakes. Things like punctuation (commas, apostrophes, capitalization, periods, etc.), grammar (spelling, word usage, etc.), and any other small mistakes you notice and want to change. It is proofreading your paper to catch the small mistakes. These changes are made on your rough draft. Always remember to make the changes when you make your next draft (e.g., when you rewrite the paper).
r...revising
Think of revising as fixing the big mistakes.
R stands for revising. Revising, like editing, is largely brushed over, or sometimes just completely forgotten, when many students are considering turning in a piece of writing. Revising can be thought of as fixing the big mistakes. Things like sentence structure. To fix this, read a sentence and ask yourself, "does it sound right?", if not then change it to how you want it to sound. Look at your word variety. Try circling verbs and nouns that you use more than once (e.g., run or good) to see if you can make it sound better (e.g. dashed or awesome). Revising also includes reviewing, or re-reading your paper. This is the single best way to catch large mistakes or improvements you want to make on your paper. Some ways to review are peer review (you and a partner read each other's papers and make suggestions), reading backwards (start reading your paper from the last sentence to the first...this one really helps you with organization of sentences), and finally read it from start to finish (this helps you see what you want the final draft to look like). After you have made the revisions you like, be sure to make the changes on your next draft (e.g., when you rewrite the paper).