PPT

Module 4

Planning, Writing,
and Revising

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Planning, Writing, and Revising

To learn how to

 Increase the number of expert
processes you use.
 Use your time effectively.
 Revise after feedback.
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Planning, Writing, and Revising

Start by answering these questions:

 Does it matter what process I use?
 I don’t have much time. How should I
use it?
 What planning should I do before I
begin writing or speaking?
 What is revision? How do I do it?
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Planning, Writing, and Revising

Start by answering these questions:

 What is revision? How do I do it?
 Can a grammar checker do editing for
me?
 I spell check. Do I still need to
proofread?
 How can I overcome writer’s block?
 Can I use form letters?
 How can I get better feedback?
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Activities of Writing

 Skilled performances look easy and effortless. In

reality, as every dancer, musician, and athlete
knows, they’re the product of hard work, hours of
practice, attention to detail, and intense
concentration.
 Like all skilled performances, writing rests on a
base of work.
 writing process demands the highest-level thinking
skills, including analysis, problem solving,
organization, critical thinking, and synthesis,
among others.
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Activities of Writing

Planning
Gathering
Writing
Evaluating
Getting Feedback
Revising
Editing
Proofreading
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Activities of Writing

Planning: Analyzing the problem

Gathering the needed
information
Writing words on suitable media
Evaluating and measuring your
work against your goals. (re-
seeing your draft as if someone
else had written it)
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Activities of Writing

Getting Feedback from someone

else
Revising the whole writing
(change word, section)
Editing (correct spelling?)
Proofreading (free from
typographical errors) ( ‫تصحيح من‬
‫)األخطاء المطبعية‬
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Points about Activities of Writing

 Depending on the task, expert writers may use

some or all of these activities when writing

 Can come in any order (planning, writing,

gathering, ..etc)

 An activity can be done several times. (get

feedback and revise several times)

 Can be started while others are still being done.

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Does it matter what process I use?

 Using expert processes will improve your writing.

 writers can improve their writing by studying their

own processes.

 expert writers seem to use different processes than

novice (‫ )مبتدىء‬writers
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A Formula for Using Time

A Model for Writing
 ONE THIRD
 analyzing, gathering,
and organizing what
you have to say.
 ONE THIRD
 drafting/writing.

 ONE THIRD
Revising Writing Analyzing
 evaluating, revising,
editing, and
proofreading.
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Planning

 Answer the PAIBOC questions

 Gather information

 Organize the message

 The better your ideas are when you start, the fewer
drafts you'll need.

 If ideas won't come, try the following techniques:

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Planning

 Brainstorm: Think of all the ideas you can, without

judging them.

 Freewrite: Make yourself write, without stopping,

for 10 minutes, then read what you've written and
identify the best point in the draft.
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Cluster

 Cluster: Write your topic in the middle of the page

and circle it.
 Write down the ideas the topic suggests, circling
them, too.
 When you've filled the page, look for patterns or
repeated ideas.
 See Figure 4.2. Next slide
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Post-Writing Activities
 Revising: making changes that will better satisfy
your purposes and your audiences includes:
evaluating, Getting feedback, adding, deleting,
substituting, or rearranging.

 Editing: making changes that make the document

grammatically correct.

 Proofreading: means checking to make sure the

document is free of typos.
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Checklist for Thorough Revision

Content and Clarity

Does your document meet the needs of
the reader?
Have you given readers all the
information they need to understand and
act on your message?
Is all the information accurate?
Is each sentence clear? Is the message
free from contradictory statements?
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Checklist for Thorough Revision continued

Organization and Layout

Does the design of the document make it
easy for readers to find the information
they need?
Are transitions between ideas smooth? Do
ideas within paragraphs flow smoothly?
Are the important points emphasized?
Are the first and last paragraphs effective?
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Checklist for Thorough Revision continued

Style and Tone

Is the message easy to read?
Is the message friendly and free from
biased language?
Does the message build goodwill?
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grammar checker

 Can a grammar checker do my editing for me? NO

 Grammar checkers are good at finding missing

halves.

 You still need to know the rules (You need to know

the rules of grammar and punctuation to edit) so
that you can decide which changes to make.
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I spell check. Do I still need to

proofread?
 Yes.

 Proofreading is hard because writers tend to see

what they know should be there rather than what
really is there.

 you may want to swap papers with a proofing

buddy (Be sure the person looks for typos, not for
content).
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How can I get better feedback?

 To improve the quality of the feedback you get, tell

people which aspects you'd especially like
comments about.
 It's easy to feel defensive when someone criticizes
your work.
 If the feedback stings, put it aside until you can read
it without feeling defensive.
 Even if you think that the reader has misunderstood
what you were trying to say, the fact that the reader
complained means the section could be
improved.
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Revising After Feedback

 When you get feedback that you

understand and agree with, make the
change.
 If you get feedback you don’t
understand, ask for clarification.
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Revising After Feedback continued

 When you get feedback that you don’t

agree with,
 If it’s an issue of grammatical correctness, check this
book.
 If it’s a matter of content, recognize that something
about the draft isn’t as good as it could be.
 If the reader thinks a fact is wrong (and you know it’s
right), show where the fact came from.
 If the reader suggests a change in wording you don’t
like, try another option.
 If the reader seems to have misunderstood or misread
the text, think about ways to make the meaning clearer.
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Unit One

End of Module 4