EDRG 3344 M&W chapter 3 blog

In class on Monday we learned that writing is a process. Our textbook states that the focus in the writing process is on the students and what they think and do as they write, and that it is writer centered. In class we also learned that there are five stages in the writing process. These stages are prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.

The Writing Process

1. Prewriting

Prewriting helps to organize your thoughts and is where you make sematic maps. Our textbook sates that during the prewritng stage students will choose a topic, consider the purpose, form and their audience. They will also generate and organize their ideas for writing. This is where the sematic maps come in. Some key features in prewriting are for students in engage in rehersal activities and to identify their audience and purpose for writing.

This is an example of a sematic map that I found on the internet. We also did an example of a sematic map in class using plants as the main topic of a narrative story. Prewriting is a very important stage in the writing process, Murray (1982) believes that about 70% of our writing time should be spent on the prewriting stage.

2. Drafting

Drafting is the stage where students get all their ideas down on paper. During the draftings stage the emphasis is placed on the content of the paper instead on the mechanics. This is why papers written during the drafting stage are commonly called sloppy copies or rough drafts, and they are usually messy. When students write during the drafting stage emphasis is placed on content instead of correct spelling and neatness.

3. Revising

Revising is the stage where were students can change/add or delete any sentences, content or ideas. Students make four types of changes -additions, substitutions, deletions, and moves- as they revise (Faigley & Witte, 1981). This is where they will clarify and refine ideas in their paper. In our textbook we learn that the word revision means "seeing again", and that this is the stage where the writer sees their paper again with help from classmates and their teacher. In class we discussed that in this part of the writing process we have writers workshops or conferences with either partners or in groups.

4. Editing

Editing is the stage where you put your writing in it's final form. Every stage before the revision stage content is what the focus was on, but during the revision stage the focus changes to the mechanics. During the revision stage the goal is to make the writing "optimally readable" (Smith, 1982). This is why duirng the revision stage students make corrections to the mechanics of their paper. These mechanics are the conventions like spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and sentence structure. This is also a part of the writing process when we have writers workshops or conferences with either partners or in groups. Something that may help students during the editing stage is a proofreader's mark page and an editing checklist.

5. Publishing

This is the stage where students will bring their writing to life. They will do this by either publishing or sharing them orally with an audience. In class we discussed that publishing can be putting the students work on walls and giving it social justice. In the publishing stage students will make a final copy of their writing and will share their writing with their class, parents and sometimes other community members.