1 The Writing Process Every essay in’ this book is the result of a struggle between a rhe and his or her material: 1f the writer's struggle is successful, "he finished essay is welded together without a seam, and the reader aS NO sense of the frustration the writer experienced while hunting for the right word or rearranging ideas. Writing is no easy business, and even a professional writer can have a very difficult time. Still, although no simple formula for good- writing exists, some ap- Proaches to writing are easier and more productive than others. At this point you may be asking yourself, “So what? What has this got to do with me? I'm not a professional writer.” True enough, but during the next few years you will be doing a good deal of writ. ing. Throughout your college career, you will need to write mid- terms, final exams, quizzes, lab reports, and short essays. I~ your professional life you may have to write Progress reports, Proposals, business correspondence, memos, and résumés. As diverse 1 these assignments seem, they have something in common: They can be made easier if you are familiar with the writing Process—the way in which effective writers begin with a subject, decide on a thesis, and eventually put together an essay’ In general, the writing process has three stages. Durin, sometimes called prewriting, you decide exactly what about. Then’you gather ideas and informa what you cid how oH are Boe oO in araft yond reuts -econsidér ideas several drafts as your tly defin But although these neatly led ae easier, they do not ,, writing process iter knows ; actually write. As any wr! keys, fe ideas dg no from the pen or computer © 2nd the conte’) iB invention, Sa: and refi Stag2 THE WRITING Prag ; » essuy thal you ulti- oUt Lo develop is not always reflected in ee suarls, with ideas mately write. Often writing progresses in fits h good writing fact, much goo F vecurring unexpectedly jor not at all, In fe Teac ienatin evolves out of a writer's getting stuck or being confus ve or on the Ming to work until ideas begin to take shape on the pag sereen . ‘The writing process that we discuss throughout this book reflects the concerns and choices that writers have at various stages of com P Becauisé writing can be such an erratic process, the writing Process does not move in a linear fashion, with one stage ending {fore another begins. In fact, the three stages overlap. Most Writers engage in invention, arrangement, and drafting and revision sumultaneously—finding ideas, considéring possible methods of or- Banization, and looking for the right words all at the same time. In addition, no’ two writers approach.the writing process in ex- actly the same way. Some people cutline; others do not. Some take elaborate notes during the Prewriting stage; others keep track of everything in their heads. But regardless of these differences, one thing is certain: The more you write, the better acquainted you will become with your personal writing process—the one that works for you~ and with ways to modify it to suit various writing tasks. ‘The rest of this chapter will help you to define your needs as vriter and to understand the options available as you face the diverse ing assignments you-will encounter both in and out of college. writ- STAGE ONE: INVENTION Invention, or prewriting, isan important part of the writ ' “ess. Oddly enough, imy people totally ignore this Stage, cither be cause they underestimate the importance of Preparation or beca sy simply donot know how to plan to write. In, college and ran ward, you will often eee sessehMent at least a general one, and you: may-be tempted to plunge into a first draty immediately, Before writing, however, you should take tha aoe nd_decide wh W 8a) See first step should be toimake su, ovat. Next limit yout 808% by og urpose, audience, Wn ques lig pee subject. Using tec! ine and brainstorming. YOU. th lO ‘Nwhich may be very broad—to a mandgeably narrow ae oe techniques will, also prepare you Lo gather and organize ideas i tacts until, finally, you are able to formulate a thesis—the main 1s of your essay, the point you waht to make. Understanding the Assignment Almost everything you write in college will begin as an assign: ment. Some assignments will be direct and easy to underst. Write about an experience that changed your life Discuss the procedure you used in this experiment. But others will be difficult and complex: ‘According to Wayne Booth, point of view is central to the understanding of modern fiction. In a short essay discuss-how Henry James uses point of view in his Turn of che Screw. Therefore, before beginning to write, you need to understand whet you are being asked to do. If the assignment is a written question read it Carefully. several times und underline its key ideas. If the assignment is read aloud by your instructor, be sure to copy it aécu rately because a missed word can make quite a difference. Whatever the.case, da not’ be'afraid to ask your instructor for clarification if you are confused. Remember that an essay, no matter how well writ- ten, will be unacceptable if it does not fulfill the assignment Setting Limits Once you are certain you understand the assignment, you should consider its length, purpose, audience, and Scéasion, as wwell.as your i Krowledge of the subject. Pach of these considerations limits WHat you-will Say about your subject and simplifies your writing task. Leng Often your instructor will specify an approximate Ikngth for a paper, or your writing situation will determine how much you can write. Your word or page limit has a direct bearing on your paper's focus. For example, you would need a narrower topic for a two- or three-page essay than for a ten-page paper. Similarly,4 CE WHITING PROCK during an hour exam you could not discuss @ question as thoroughly as you might in a paper prepared over several days, If your instructor sets no length, consider how other aspects of the assignment might indirectly determine length. A summary of a PTL Or ay anticle, (or instance, shrauld be much shorter’ san the original, whereas an analysis of a poem usually will be longer than the poem itself. If you are uncertain about the appropriate length of your paper, discuss ideas for the paper with your instructor. Purpose. Your purpose sets another limit to what you say and how you say it: For example, if you were to Write to a prospective employer about a summer job, you woul é different as- pects of college life from those you woulc Wletter to’ a friend. In the first case,.you would want to persuade the reader to hire you-To do so you'might include your grade-point average or a list of the relevant courses you took. e, you would want to inform and perhaps entertait € anecdotes about dorm life or describe one of your favorite instructors. In both cases, your purpose would help determine what information you need to evoke a particular response in your audience. In general, you can classify your purpose for writing accor ‘ing to your relationship to the audience. Your purpose in a piece of writing can be to express feelings or impressions to your readers. ;" xpres- , sive’ writing. includes.diaries. personal letters, and journals. Quite ‘Often you write nazratives.and descriptions that fall into this cate- gory (although’they could fall into other categories as well). Your purpose can also be to inform readers about something, Informative writing includes much of the.writing.that you do:in college. Essay~ ‘=xaminations, lab reports, book ‘reports, expository essays, and some research papers are primarily informative. Finally, pose can be to persu aders to think or act in a certai iting includes editorials, argumentative essays, and many ore oot san resrasch papers, Whey (Seek t0 persuade, 0 , t 3 i Jour assertions ‘onvince.your.audience.to-accept In addition to these general more specific F 7 tnay algo want to ana eam in addition to info rize, question, r : ‘ain, hypothesize, Kcsuion. Fepdrl, recommend, suggest Count, request or instr Re eee ey ineidonés 6F ATDS in your hee 2 ir nity bet inform readers of the sine oUF Beneral Purposes, you can have a number of rming, you » assess, summa- Purpoe might t also want toTHE WRITING PROCESS 5 asses the progr avoid contracting $10N Of the disease a y the int diseuse and to instruct readers how to * I e virus that causes it n college. car S it. EL, regardless of the specifi i to achieve in a partes specific purpose or purposes you wish Semone ular writing assignment, you always write to aes Mastery of the subject matter, your reasoning abity. and uur competence as a writer. When assigning a college paper ¥ r instructor may provide some guidelines about purpose. nany cases an assignment (such as a discussion of the eco- nomic causes of the Spanish-American War) may seem-to require only an informative paper. But a successful paper will ust 'ly do more than provide information. It will convince readers that you know what you are talking about and that your point deserves their thoughtful attention Audience. To be effective, your essay should be written with a particular audienééin mind, Audiences, however, can be extremely cried” Aw audience can be an individual—your instructor, for exam- ple—or it can be a group, like your ‘classmates or coworkers. Your essay could address a specialized audience; like 9 group of medical doctors or econoifis€s, OF a general or, univ audience. whose members share no particular expertise, like the readers of a newspa- per or news magazine When you write most collegeessays, the audience is your instruc: tor, and the purpose is to convince him or her that your facts are valid and your conclusions are reasonable and intelligent. Other au- y. include. classmates..professional.colleagues,.and mem- diences may 7 i pers ot'a community. Considering the age and sex of Evour-audience: ional |r and ies political and religious values, its social and educat : us Interest In Your SUbjeel may help you to define it. For example, i you were Selling life insurance, Lhe siles lettérs you prepared for people with young children would probably differ from those you repared for single people. Likewise, you might promote a local park from one angle for retired péoplé andtrom another for working cou- cles. aa ea Often you 7 ly find that your audience is just too diverse to be categorized. In such cases, many writers imagi i f z y ‘agine a universal audi- ence and write for it, making points th i points that they think will appeal many different readers. Sometimes, write i aa cal individual in the audience—perhs Sere pe 'aps a person they know—so that oe t other times, writers solve this an peas a role that interests or ‘or example, when a report on§ ‘THE WRITING PROC toy safety asserts, “Now is the time for concerned consumers to dangerous Loys be removed from the market," it, auto- sts ita audience in the role of “concerned consu. .ers."" vd your audience, you have to determine how much or how little ita members know about your subject. In addi- tion, you should decide how much background information your eaders need before they will be able to understand the discussion. ‘Are tiny highly informed or relatively uninformed? In the first case, suring detailed kniowledgs of your subject, you would make veur pomes directly. In the latter case, you would have to include ‘ieitnicions ef key terms, background information, and summaries of s cecearch, Keep in mind that even an expert in one field. will «a! hwe around information in an area with which he or she is unfa mriliar. Mf, for example, you were writing an essay analyzing the char- ‘eters in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, you could assume that che literature instructor who assigned the novel was familiar with it and would not need a plot summary. Still, that same instructor might not know a great deal about African political history and might appreciate some background information. However, an vssay for your history instructor that used Heart of Darkness t7 illus: trate the evils of European colonialism in nineteenth-centur, : .frica would need some plot summary. Just because your history instruc: tor knows a lot about African colonialism does not mean that she is familiar with Conrad's novel. demand ¢ matically ¢ Onee you have def Occasion. In academic writing; the occasion is most often a sc ecgom writing exrase oF ai aChoite assignment. Although pase situations may seem artificial, they serve as valaable practice for writing you do outside the elassroom—for example, writing @ mémno oF a report for your job, Writing a letter to your representative re Gongress, or preparing a flyer for an organization. Each of these pecasions, in or out of college, requires, a special approach, to_ your ‘writing. A.mémo to your co-workers, for instance, might be informal ‘and more limited mm Scope than a report to your company's 7 dent. A notice about a meeting, sent to your fellow bere Pilec tors, might be strictly informational, whereas a letter to aco tor about preserving a local historical landmark would be persuasive as well as informational, Similarly, when you ar See room exerese, remember that collage WIllAe iscoreni, ey and should contain precise diction nnd tote eel ing. Keep in mind. however sree ree Srammar and spell- classes, each with diferent cecaeig en yee erent kinds of casions for writing. A response suit- might not be acceptable bl 5 able for a psychology class or a history classTHE WRITIN . E G PROCI for an English class, mes os just as a yx ficient on a midterm Kood answer on a quiz might be insuf- Knowledge. Obvi a 0 : viously, what a subject limits : you know (and a eiuiea qe what you can say about it, Baer erin sea aed ) hould ask yourself the following questions: ” What do I know about t the subject’ What do I need to find out? ict What do I think about the subject? Different assignments or writing situations require different + nds of knowledge. A personal essay may draw on your own experi- ences and observations; a term paper will require you to gain new knowledge through research. Although your experience riding city buses might be sufficient for an impromptu essay in ‘composition class, you -will need to research. the subject of rapid transit for an urban sociology paper. Sometimes you will be ‘able to increase your knowledge about a-particular topic easily because of your strong background in the general subject, At other times, when a general subject is new to you, you will need to select a specific topic particu: larly carefully so that you do not get out of your depth. Ta many cases, the time ‘allowed to do the assignment and its page limit will guide you as you onsider what you already know and what you need to learn before you can write knowled EXERCISES Decide if the following topics are appro; Write a few sentences for each topic to jv Wi fiverhundred-word paper: A history ©: she Louis! Civil Liberties Union b. A two-hour final exar American Revolutionary War c. A one-hour in-class essay: Au interpretation rf painting of Campbell's Soup cans a. A letter to your college peer; A discussion of your <¢ vestment practices sinte for the sta ality your conclsh. 5 a Ames The role of Frencs and Ger:sany in the wast epee list of the different audiences to whom you speak or write in your daly iis (Consider all the different types of people you see rly, such as your family, your roommiat i boss, your friends, and so on.) aTHE WRITING PROCESS: a. Do you speak or write Lo ench in the sume way and about the same things? If not, how do your approaches to Uhése people differ? b. Name some subjects that would interest some of these people but not others. How do you account for these differences ¢. Choose a subject, such as your English class or local politics, and describe how you would speak or write to each audience about it. Moving from Subject to Topic Once you have considered the limits of your assignment, you need to_narrow your subject to a workable “topié ‘Within’ those limits Many writing assignments begin as broad areas of interest or con: cern, These general.subjects always need to be narrowed or limited to specific copics that can be reasonably discussed. For example, a subject like DNA recombinwnt research is certainly interesting. But it is too vast to write about except in a vague and generalized way. You need to narrow. such a subject into a topic that can be covered within the time and space available. Subject Topic DNA recombinant research One use.of DNA recombinant, research Herman Melville's Billy Budd Billy Budd as a Christ figure Constitutional law One result of the Miranda ruling : Microcomputers A comparison of the Apple Mac- intosh SE and the IBM PC 50 computers As these examples illustrate, a topic does more than a nerrow gen eral subject. A topic also defines the manner i, wis ‘ u rin ii eae) in which you will tr ‘To narrow a general subj cains that fall withi eat, ect, you need to expl i ‘ ‘plore the topics it cor your tn a and to consider what-you have to not make the mistake of ski a skipping this hoping that a topic will suddenly comerow THE WRITING PROCESS 9 our subjec! Cand g wall probs id genern ‘obably dis nte ideas, Like . scover by tr Like most other writers, you invention work bust ee and error which of Uhese methods of for you Getting Started: Freewriting to You can use a n use freewriting at any stage uf the writing process to generate information, or to find a thesis— our _subje but it is particularly useful_as a way to get started, Freewriting is, just what th implies, Begin wriling for a fixed period. usually es to mind. ite down everything.thal comes to mint t seem to relate to your subject. a {len your best five or ten mi Do not worry if your id The object of freewriting i 7 jdeas will come to you as & result of unexpected connections that wou make as you freewrite, When you freewrite, you should not pay ‘attention to spelling, grammar, or punctuation. Your goal is to get ser ideas down on paper so you can react to them. If you find that vou have nothing to say. write down anything until ideas begin to cmerge—and in time they will. The secret is to keep writing. mftor completing your freewriting, read it and look for ideas that ‘can use in your essay. Some sriters underline ideas they think they might explore in their essays. These ideas may. be- come supporting information for the writing topic, or they could become subjects for other freewriting exercises. For example_ifaftel reading your, freewriting you find a promising idea, you can free- write again, using your new idea.as. your focus, This technique— “iied looping—can yield a great deal of useful information and can “help you Fitive at a workable topic. In fact, many writers do a free- writing draft of an essay before they. do a more structured version. In this way, they ‘concentrate on ideas and do not become bogged gown in the more formal aspects of writing. If you do your freewriting on a.computer, you may find that star- ing at your own words can cause you to freeze. Or you may find that you are paying 80 much attention to what you are writing that your ideas just do not flow. A possible solution to these problems is to we down the brightness until the screen becomes dark and then Cae This technique allows you to block out distracting ele- aes saa your a Once you finish freewriting, turn aah 0 a new page and freewrite y