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Abdulrahman 4

Abdulrahman Albatili

English 111: College Writing I

Dr. Mardy Philippian

04/3/2017

Writing any assignment requires consideration in terms of time and content. For any writing process to be effective, a writer should divide their time to carry out three crucial stages. These are the prewriting stage, the drafting phase and finally, the editing and proofreading phase. A consideration of these three steps not only ensures well-researched content but also, one that shows knowledge of the key writing strategies. In this essay, the writer will describe the three stages of writing, through analysis of the writing process.

Before one undertakes any given assignment, they are required to go through the pre-writing phase as it involves all the necessary preparations before drafting can commence. Here, a writer is expected to take their time and attentively go through the assignment. They are then required to decide and choose a topic of choice, one that they feel can communicate to a particular audience and communicate a given purpose. It is also at this stage of writing that research has to be undertaken. Among the key prewriting strategies that are helpful at this juncture are, coming up with a list of possible topics for a given idea, reading and taking notes in line with the chosen topic. Others are, creating a visual map of ideas, discussing the topic with others to gain their perspective on ideas and creating an outline for the paper. The outline is a road map of ideas that can guide the writer on paragraph arrangement and how to organize their thoughts to ensure an effective transition.

Drafting is the second phase of the writing process. It is in this phase that the writer starts to consolidate all the ideas that they have gathered in the prewriting phase. Once the drafting process begins, there are several things that the writer should have in mind. These are consideration of a thesis statement, appropriate topic sentences for each paragraph, enough supporting evidence, as well as paragraph coherence and unity. These five factors are considered the effective writing techniques and are the fundamental principles that every writer should consider during their writing process to make their assignment a worthy read.

The thesis statement lays out the basis for the entire paper. It is usually included at the end of the first paragraph, which is, the introduction, and is a one sentence statement that ushers the reader into an understanding of what the paper is going to discuss. Every paragraph that follows the thesis statement should show support for the statement.

After the introduction and definition of the thesis statement, the writer then spells out their key ideas, which are mainly arranged in a paragraph form. Every section is supposed to offer a detailed explanation of one idea or concept in support of the thesis statement. However, it is imperative that every paragraph starts with a topic sentence that offers a glimpse of the main ideas to be discussed in that particular paragraph. Just like the thesis statement creates an understanding for the entire paper, the topic sentence creates an understanding of the contents of every paragraph. Hence, it is from the topic sentence that the reader/audience can be able to tell what the section seeks to explain.

Even though topic sentences map out the ideas presented in a paragraph, they are not enough to convince the reader of a given phenomenon. Thus, a writer should endeavor to back up their topic statement with ideas that support their position. There are several ways to which an author can support their topic sentences. These are through descriptions, statistical examples, interviews, case studies, hypothetical situations, defining the statement among others. After this is done, it is imperative that they back up their ideas using evidence, which is mainly possible through referencing. Most of the ideas gathered through a writing process are usually as a result of reading other journal materials, books, newspaper articles among others, which offer enough opinion about the research topic. In effect, a writer should always cite their source to give credit to the original owners of the ideas. Unless it is a case study that the writer has personally conducted, any other secondary sources that are used to expand on the topic and to offer more insight should be cited.

After all the paragraphs have been put together, and the document is complete, the writer should also ensure that their work is coherent. That is, all the ideas should be able to tie in together to contribute to their main idea. It should be easy for a reader to seamlessly transition from one paragraph to another and still be able to retain the meaning of the write-up. For better coherence, the writer should apply transition phrases and words to help create a linkage between sentences and paragraphs.

After completion of the draft, most of the writing process is almost complete. Thus, the writer should revise the assignment and be able to see if it fits in the thesis statement. Other details that the writer could cross check are whether every paragraph has a topic sentence, that there is a seamless transition between paragraphs, that all sections are sufficiently supported and cited.

Finally is the need to edit and proofread. It is at this stage that the writer checks for grammar and spelling mistakes. It is here that the writer can be able to identify the minimal mistakes that have been made during the writing process and correct them.