WRITING AS A PROCESS.pdf

Writing As A Process Department of English Faculty of Social Sciences College of Humanities and Social Sciences Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Some Approaches to Writing Process approach Product approach Genre approach  The Process Approach...

Writing As A Process Department of English Faculty of Social Sciences College of Humanities and Social Sciences Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Some Approaches to Writing Process approach Product approach Genre approach  The Process Approach The Process Approach aims to reflect what real writers do in real situations. It considers writing as non-linear 3 Views on Process Approach to Writing 1 Views on Process Approach to Writing 2 Writing is messy, recursive, convoluted, and uneven. Writers write, plan, revise, anticipate, and review throughout the writing process, moving back and forth. The process approach appeals to ‘common sense’ and many life activities such as cooking, sweeping, dressing, and even vocations sewing, carpentry, painting, etc. The motto of the Process Approach is: Writing is rewriting. The process approach focuses on the steps involved in creating a piece of work. Views on Process Approach to Writing 3 Good writers organize, plan, and re-write throughout the writing process, changing things lots of times if necessary, and writing multiple drafts Good writers may rehearse or discuss what they want to write before they actually do it Good writers read their writing carefully, trying to imagine how clear their ideas are to a reader. If something isn’t clear, they change it. Writing is a process which requires several identifiable steps. What the Process Approach emphasizes 1. the importance of writing multiple drafts 2. the importance of revision 3. the importance of planning throughout 4. the importance of making your writing reader- friendly 5. the importance of writing in different styles for different audiences Stages/Steps in Process Approach 1 Prewriting Writing Stage Post-writing Stage (Provide Stage (select a drafts, revise and keeping (edit and topic and proofread the plan what making changes. work, publish) to write) Stages/Steps in Process Approach 2 THE PRE-WRITING STAGE  Sub-steps in the pre-writing: Define your audience (audience analysis) 1 Know the audience you are writing to: Gender Age Status Religion Educational background Nationality Belief systems/ideology Sub-steps in the pre-writing: Topic selection 2 Factors to Consider in Selecting a topic. Relevance Availability of resources Availability of information Accessibility of information Personal interest Strength or competence Duration (time assigned) Length of the work NB: The topic should not be too narrow nor too broad. After selecting the topic, what next? The Vice Chancellor, as part of her “Motivating- Students-to-Excel Agenda” has donated GhS20, 000.00 to this class. What must we use the money for? Students’ Activity: Let’s Generate Ideas 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Etc.  Sub-steps in the pre-writing: Brainstorming 3 It is a creativity technique by which efforts are made to gather a list of ideas spontaneously. People are able to think more freely and they suggest as many spontaneous new ideas as possible. All the ideas are noted down without criticism and after the brainstorming session the ideas are evaluated.  Rules Underpinning Brainstorming Go for quantity: This rule is a means of enhancing divergent production, aiming at facilitation of problem solution through the maxim quantity breeds quality. Withhold criticism: Criticism of ideas generated should be put 'on hold'. Focus on extending or adding to ideas. Reserve criticism for a later 'critical stage' of the process. Welcome wild ideas: To get a good long list of suggestions, wild ideas are encouraged. They can be generated by looking at new perspectives and suspending assumptions. Combine and improve ideas: Build ideas by a process of association/clustering.  Sub-steps in the pre-writing: Clustering 4 It is a way of narrowing your thoughts by classifying related ideas. Cluster analysis or clustering is the task of grouping ideas such that those in the same group are more similar to each other than to those in other groups. See the next slide  Sub-steps in the pre-writing: Outlining 5 An outline is a way of organizing key ideas An outline helps to set up an essay or a research paper An outline is a tool to help revise an essay or research paper. An outline can be a study tool to help you summarize key ideas in reading  Outlining It is the skeleton of the main points or ideas of an already written essay, or a yet-to-be-written essay Types: formal and informal  THE FORMAL OUTLINE A formal outline shows, in logical order, what you will be writing about. A formal outline helps you separate main ideas and supporting ideas A formal outline gives you a foundation from which to build an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. A formal outline often changes after you write your first draft. It will show you where you need to add more research or make other changes.  Principles of Outlining Heading Labeling (numbering) NB: Ideas of the same rank are given the same label. Structuring (topic or sentence forms)  Addressing Immigration Challenges I Introduction * Criteria for immigration A. Political refugees B. Relatives of citizens C. Other applications II. Screening Criteria 1. Medical Screening 2. Interview 3. Psychological screening 4. Background check III. Students 1. Purpose of study 2. Commitment to study A. How long will they stay? B. How will they finance their education and support themselves? 3. Value to our educational system IV.. Government oversight 1. Obligation to have periodic checks on immigrants and students 2. Reporting any legal violations or suspicious behavior 3. The government needs to limit the number of immigrants V.. Conclusion IV.. Government oversight 1. Obligation to have periodic checks on immigrants and students 2. Reporting any legal violations or suspicious behavior 3. The government needs to limit the number of immigrants V. Conclusion  THE WRITING STAGE 1. Freewriting on the developed outline (No focus on grammar and language) 2. Produce a draft 3. Revise the drafts severally  Post-writing Stage: Editing & Proofreading TYPES OF EDITING Self-editing Peer-editing Group-editing  FOCUS OF EDITING: CONTENT 1 Relevance Adequacy Consistency Accuracy  FOCUS OF EDITING: STRUCTURE 2 Generic requirements (letter, memo, abstract, etc.) Well-organized (introduction, developing paragraphs, and concluding paragraphs) Logical sequencing Transitional markers  FOCUS OF EDITING: CLARITY 3 At word, phrase, clausal, and sentence levels Ambiguity and vagueness Dangling or misrelated constructions Sentence fragments and run-on sentences Awkward sentences Inappropriate lexical choices  FOCUS OF EDITING: STYLE 4 Level of formality Appropriate tone Sentence beginning, length, variety, and complexity Paragraph length Gender-sensitive language Nominalization Verbalization N.B. Many factors affect style: aim, audience, and topic  FOCUS OF EDITING: FORMATTING 5 Lecturer’s/department’s/institution’s guidelines Spacing, font size, font type, Margins Bold, italics, underlining Pagination Table, figure, and chart References/Bibliography Word limit  FOCUS OF EDITING: CONCISENESS 6 Replace several vague words with specific words Adopt effective sentence combining practices Replace a phrase with a word Dispense with words that have very little utility value: ‘actually’, ‘basically’, ‘practically’ Avoid redundancies: ‘basic fundamentals’, ‘free gift’, ‘large in size’, ‘round in shape’ ‘colour red’,’ in my opinion I think that…’  PROOFREADING This may be termed surface revision. It largely focuses on the mechanics of language use. FOCUS OF PROOREADING 1.Concord 2.Spelling 3.Punctuation 4.Tense 5.Repetition of words (e.g. Africans must be be patriotic)  SOME GUIDELINES FOR EDITING/PROOFREADING Maintain some distance from the text in terms of time Decide what medium allows you to edit most carefully Find a quiet place Edit and proofread in several short blocks of time, rather than all at once