PREWRITING ● gather your thoughts and ideas ○ read, research, interview, experience, discuss, reflect ○ brainstorm, list, journal, freewrite, cluster ● direct your writing ○ determine your purpose (what you want your paper to do) ○ focus and direct your ideas to address your purpose ○ topic, thesis, capsule summary ● tailor your writing ○ determine your audience ○ choose vocabulary, syntax, formality, appeal, organization, approach ○ capture essence and flavor of paper ● plan your writing ○ organize your ideas into an outline or plan ○ chronological, spatial, topical, priority ○ inductive (exploratory), deductive (argumentative) DRAFTING ● get situated ○ comfortable, stimulating, no distractions ● express your ideas without worrying about mechanical details ○ let thoughts flow ○ do not struggle with words, spelling, punctuation, other details ○ do not follow urge to reread, restructure, rewrite ○ write quickly, informally ○ concentrate on main ideas and message ● stick to subject ○ avoid digression into interesting examples ○ follow outline or plan (with minor modifications) ○ use transitions to connect and show relationships between and among ideas ● write draft in one sitting ○ consistent tone, smooth continuity ● consider writing a second, independent draft ○ compare the independent drafts and pull out best parts of each ● take a break when your draft is complete REVISING ● re-envision what you have written ○ ensure your paper fulfills its purpose (what you want the paper to do) ○ consider alternative ways to more effectively, efficiently and meaningfully deliver your message and serve your purpose ○ consider modifying your whole paper, or starting over, or parts of your paper ○ consider moving parts around ● check your paper's structure ○ begin with an attention-getter ○ include your thesis statement (establishes meaningful content and order of paragraphs) ○ maintain unity (sticking to your subject) and transition ○ conclude with a thesis reflection (summarizes paper; states final, sometimes clincher, observation related to your thesis) ○ consider alternate methods of development which might be more effective, efficient (inductive or deductive delivery) ● check your paragraph structures ○ include a stated or implied topic sentence ○ support with specific details ○ maintain unity, transition with other paragraphs ○ maintain conciseness, transition of ideas within paragraph ○ conclude with a clincher ○ maintain logical organization (consider alternatives) ● check your sentence structures ○ vary types, way begin, lengths ○ use specific details, strong nouns and verbs, active voice, appropriate vocabulary, figures of speech, imagery ○ omit excessive linking verbs, adjectives, adverbs, trite expressions, wordiness ● check your emphasis ○ place main ideas in main clauses, supporting ideas in subordinate clauses ○ conclude sentences with most important ideas, begin with second most important ideas, omit irrelevant, confusing or insignificant ideas ○ establish a rhythm, use parallel structures ○ avoid dangling modifiers, ambiguous modification structures ● check your consistency ○ use most effective point of view ○ be consistent or obvious with purpose ○ use appropriate, consistent verb tense Revisit, Rethink, Revise, Renew EDITTING ● check your syntax ○ ensure you have complete sentences ○ ensure your sentences make sense (sound right) and fulfill their purposes ○ avoid fragments, run-ons, incorrect location of sentences ○ avoid sentences that start one thought and conclude another ○ avoid awkward structures, too many ideas in one sentence, bad wording ○ avoid ambiguous sentences, sentences that inappropriately stick out ○ ensure clauses, phrases and parallel structures work properly ○ ensure tenses, subjects are consistent and correct ● check your transitions ○ ensure your sentences flow or transition smoothly into each other ○ ensure your paragraphs flow or transition smoothly into each other ● check your paragraphs ○ ensure completeness, main ideas (stated and implied), supporting details, clinchers ○ ensure correct formatting (indented or separated by spaces, consisting of sentences) ○ ensure meaningful and significant purposes for paragraphs PROOFREADING ● check punctuation and mechanics ○ use correct punctuation appropriate to sentence purpose and meaning ○ use correct capitalization, spelling, document reference, superscripts ● check grammar and usage ○ use correct subject-verb, noun-pronoun, noun-pronoun number, gender, verb form and object case agreement ○ maintain nominative case after a linking verb ○ use adjectives and adverbs correctly, not interchangeably Sorenson, Sharon. (1996.) Writing basics: Step by step. Webster's New World Student Writing Handbook. John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. Lane, Barry. (2010.) Four tools to aid revision. On Demand Revision: How to Teach it, Learn it, Love it! http://www.ncte.org/consultants/lane. 1. grow leads from questions; 2. dig for details using binoculars; 3. write snapshots and thoughtshots, replacing typical “show don’t tell”; 4. play with time by exploding moments and shrinking centuries. Harper, Laura. (1997.) The writer's toolbox: Five tools for active revision instruction. Language Arts, Vol. 74, March 1997, 193 – 200. 193 THE WRITER’S TOOLBOX: FIVE TOOLS FOR ACTIVE REVISION INSTRUCTION LAURA HARPER These revision tools provide students with a set of easily accessible options for getting their jobs done in writing. Revision is body work, overhaul Ratcheting straight the frame Replacing whole systems and panels Rummaging heaps of the maimed. With blowtorch and old rubber hammer Pound and pull, bend, use your ‘bar Salvage takes sweat but it pays well (Though never rule out a new car.) —Dethier, 1994, p. 43 I used to think of my classroom as a workshop. I set it up so that my seventh graders had the tools they needed to get their jobs done. Instead of the hammers, nails, and drills of a traditional workshop, I provided a trunk full of writing supplies —paper, markers, reference books, and stationery. Instead of blueprints, lumber, and scrap metal, I organized a file cabinet holding brainstorming lists and drafts and writing logs. Instead of being filled with the sounds of grinding and hammering, this workshop was filled with pencils scratching, fingers typing, and students conferring. “Functional,” I thought as I looked around the room. I was proud that my students had all the tools they needed for effective writing. Yet, two years after setting up the writing workshop, I had a nagging feeling that some of the most important “tools” for writing were missing. Yes, my students had choices. They had time. Certainly, they had the physical tools they needed. Yet, their final drafts and the steps they took to write them suggested that they lacked some basic tools. My students didn’t know how to revise. Revision seems like a natural process in books such as Nancie Atwell’s (1987) In the Middle and Linda Rief’s (1992) Seeking Diversity. These books suggest that, if you ask good questions during conferences and provide plenty of time for writing, students will be able to re-see their drafts and, thus, revise. I discovered, however, that student conference partners didn’t hear or couldn’t articulate the weaknesses in each others’ writings. If a partner did find something that needed work, the writer most often would simply add or delete a couple of words and pronounce the revision a success. After years of just being told “Revise!” without further explanation, my students had become furtive recopiers, adding a few words here and there and using neater handwriting to revise their drafts. In addition, my students’ revision difficulties were compounded by other language factors. Two-thirds of them came from limited English backgrounds—the majority speaking Spanish as a first language, with most of the other students from Native American homes. Most of my students lived in poverty, with three-fourths receiving free or reduced lunches. In addition, with parents working seasonally in agriculture, many of my students were migrant, spending time each year traveling south to Mexico and back. As a result, they wrote and read significantly below grade level. They had limited vocabularies and ways of expressing themselves in English. They had almost no natural “ear” for how English should sound. Try only to explain your own revision process, and it quickly becomes clear why it is a difficult thing to teach, even to the most able students. Revision is, according to Donald Murray (1987), “one of the writing skills least researched, least examined, least understood, and—usually—least taught” (p. 85). My students, like the inexperienced writers studied by Nancy Sommers (1980), “understood the revision process as a rewording activity” (p. 381). In addition to their limited English backgrounds, they “lacked . a set of strategies to help them identify the ‘something larger’ that they sensed was wrong” in their writing (p. 383). My students needed toolboxes full of strategies, or “tools,” Language Arts 194 with which to pound, saw, drill, and otherwise rebuild their writing. What should a Writer’s Toolbox do for writers? Well, consider what makes toolboxes so valuable to carpenters or mechanics. First, toolboxes keep tools immediately accessible. Carpenters or mechanics can grab their hammers or wrenches instantly and put them to quick use. A Writer’s Toolbox must do the same. I wanted my students to have quick access to revision options and not waste time in needless mental blocks or endless rewordings.