7.

Writing Short Paragraphs

Subjects
The Writing Process:
Inventing
Planning
Drafting
Revising
Editing
Publishing

Goals
This material is lead students to understand the process of "writing" that include: discovery,
planning, preparation, revise, and edit in more depth, so that students can truly understand
and apply the process of "writing" in paper form.

Inventing
Inventing is an activity that involves the writer in discovering and generating what he wants
to say. It can take place at any time, even during drafting. Some examples of inventing
activities are reading, talking, thinking, brainstorming, doodling, going over notes, and using
a specific inventing method (such as a set of questions) to examine a topic.

Planning
Planning is the activity by which a writer tries to determine how to say what he wants to say.
It involves answering such questions as:
 What is my thesis and intention in this text?
 Who is my audience for this text?
 How much information is relevant to the task? How will it be presented, in what
form and in what order?
 What tone (humorous, serious, ironic, etc.) is best?

Drafting
In order to produce a first draft, writers, whether skilled or not, require certain implements:
pencil and paper; a typewriter and paper; or a word processor and printer. The writers have
done enough preliminary inventing and planning to have a fairly detailed conception of what
they want to say and how they think they want to say it. They are writing first drafts that will,
eventually, become finished texts. While drafting, they will go back and forth between
inventing and planning, drafting, and even editing, they revise as they write, when and if it is
necessary to do so.

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Revising
Revising is not the same as proofreading or editing. It involves rethinking and changing the
text – possibly changing the introduction, or a paragraph, or several paragraphs, or part of a
paragraph, or a major argument. Revising involves adding new writing, or cutting out writing,
or rearranging what is written, or substituting another way of saying something.

Editing
Editing means polishing a piece of writing by making word-level changes: in spelling (I’ve
misspelled ‘apparent’ again), mechanics (I need to use a comma here), usage (I’d better
check the past tense of ‘lie’), word choice (I’ve used ‘justify’ three times in two sentences;
maybe I can substitute another word), and so on. Most often, writers edit a piece of writing
at the end of the writing process, after the piece is finished in all other respects. This gives
them one last opportunity to inspect the piece and to determine whether it meets their
standards.

Publishing
Publishing means getting a piece into the hands of any reader. Publishing goes beyond getting
a piece in a magazine or newspaper. Getting a friend or teacher or parent to read a piece is
publishing too. By knowing that others will read a piece a writer will work harder to make
certain the piece reaches its highest possible potential.

Exercise
 Write three short paragraphs.
 Choose one of the following topics:
a. “My first esperience as college student of Metallurgical Engineering”
b. “My first trip to the mineral processing industry that I never forgot”
c. “The best plan I arrange to be the best metallurgical engineering students and to
finish my study less than four years.”
d. “To be a Metallurgical Engineer is the best choice to step up my career in the
future.”
e. “Many good things that I will do as the best Metallurgical Engineer”
f. “I will construct my agenda and manage myself for being the best student of
Metallurgical Engineering” (recommended)

Example: My first field trip experience at Sangatta

I never imagined about going to the field before. I was so excited when the time was
coming. I departed at Sangatta as scheduled. How lucky I was I met the Field Manager of
Kaltim Prima Coal, Mr. Arnold Schuan. He told me about the field areas, the operations, the
productions and many things. I was so amazed, especially when he explained about Prima
Coal operation area is located in two fields: Lembak Field, it is in the north of Sangatta River,

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and, Samarinda Field, it is in the north of Samarinda City. The operation is using open-pit
mining project. The production target is about 33.9 millions tonnes/year. A coal quality is
estimated according to its ash content, total water content, sulphur content and its calory
value. Our coal quality is the best in the world, because it has got high calory value but low
ash content, sulphur content and total water content.

Mr. Arnold Schuan clearly described them, and he patiently answered anything I asked
him about. He gave details about the departments that I would learn about in the whole
weeks. As I knew that Prima Coal has six departments, each with a manager. Those are
Offsites, Mine Development, Mine Services, Mine Production Equipment, Mill Services, Mill
Service Buildings and Concentration Departments. I was sure that my time would be full of
some interesting and wonderful moment. It was really my first worthwhile field trip experience
ever.

References

Calderonello & Edwards. 1986. Rough-drafts: The Process of Writing. USA: Houghton Mifflin
Company.

Huck, Geoffrey J. 2015. What is Good Writing? New York: Oxford University Press.

Reinking, James A. and Robert Von Der Osten. 2017. Strategies for Successful Writing. US:
Pearson.

Rosa, Alfred and Paul Eschholz. 2007. Models for Writers. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s.

VanderMey, Randal, Verne Meyer, John Van Rys, and Pat Sebranek. 2006. The College Writer:
A Guide to Thinking, Writing, and Researching. USA: Wardsworth.

Thank You

AN OUNCE OF PRACTICE IS WORTH MORE THAN A TON OF THEORY.

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