Chapter: 1

Getting ready
to write.

College of Arts Course: English 101

Department of English Language and Literature Instructor: Ms. Fatema Ali AlMehaizea
 Part one

Objectives:

1. Students will be able to write paragraph identifying subject,

purpose and audience.

 General question?

1. What kinds of writing do you think will be required to do at university?

2. What do you do to ensure a good piece of writing?

Keep in mind that -Writing is a skill that you need to practice in order to master it.
 What are the elements of good writing?

1- Subject – (what)
Choose a subject that you know well and
understand.

The three most important elements 2- Purpose – (why)

of writing are Have a clear purpose for writing.

3- Audience – (who)
Identify the audience (the reader) of your
writing.

known as SPA = S-Subject + P-Purpose + A-Audience

 Step 1-What is meant by a Subject?

The subject is the topic that you choose to write you essay about.

 In the pre- writing stage it is important to ask you self- “ what am I going to write about?”

 It is very helpful to choose a subject that is within you interest and that you have a knowledge and an understanding

about it.

 Or when you are assigned by your teacher to work on a certain subject, try to find an angle about it that interest you to

explore and write about.

 It is important to choose a subject that is not too broad nor too general the more specific the better.
 Practice general to specific:
Which one the following general subject is narrowed down to become a specific subject.

A B

 Entertainment

 Movies  Entertainment

 Hollywood movies  Movies

 Hollywood history  Hollywood movies

 Hollywood stars in the 80s  Hollywood stars

 Practice general to specific:
Which one the following general subject is narrowed down to become a specific subject.

A B

 Food

 Food  Arabic food

 Arabic food  Gulf food

 Gulf food  Bahraini food

 Bahraini food  The traditional Bahraini food

Assessment Finding a Subject
Instructions:

1. Write your answers in the blackboard conversation.

2. State your name and students ID (for participation marks to be counted).
3. Write the general topic followed by the process of narrowing as stated in the pervious slides.
4. It should be minimum of 5 subjects to a maximum of 8 subjects.

 Now, narrow down each of the following general subjects to specific subject.

1- Television 2- Natural disaster 3- technology 4- Health

 Step 2-What is meant by a Purpose?
The purpose is the reason.

 In the pre- writing stage it is important to ask you self- “ why am I writing this?”

 It is very important to think about your purpose, the purpose is the reason or the massage you are trying to send to

the reader.

 The three most common purpose for writing are:

1- To entertain 2- To inform 3- To persuade

 However, its not always separated it is possible for a piece of writing to include several purpose at the same time.
 Assessment Remember
State the types of writing
Instructions:
A piece of writing to include several purpose at
the same time.
1. Write your answers in the blackboard conversation.
2. State your name and students ID
(for participation marks to be counted).

 Now, classify the types of writing is it – entertainment -E / informative- I / persuasive- P

Types of writing

Advertisement Jokes Blogs

For example

Directions Letter Poems

E/I/P
Emails Articles Report

Novels Essays Textbooks

 Step 3-What do we mean by audience?

The audience are the people to whom you write.

 In the pre- writing stage it is important to ask you self- “ who is going to read this?”

 What you write about (subject) and your reason for writing (purpose) are greatly affected by whom you are writing

for (audience).

 While writing with your audience in mind, it will help you communicate your ideas more effectively as it will be

reflected in your writing style.

 Writing for different audiences: formal writing and informal writing.

 The elements of good writing Reminder

1- Subject – (what)
Choose a subject that you know well and
understand.

The three most important elements 2- Purpose – (why)

of writing are Have a clear purpose for writing.

3- Audience – (who)
Identify the audience (the reader) of your
writing.

known as SPA = S-Subject + P-Purpose + A-Audience

 For examples and practice

For practice: please refer to the text-book Pg. 6-9.

For example and practice: please refer to the text-book Pg. 10-12

Good luck 
 Part Two

Objectives:

1. Students will be able to write paragraph identifying subject,

purpose and audience.

 General question?

1. What is your writing process?

 The writing process
Most writers spend a lot of time thinking before writing.

 In the pre- writing stage it is important to spend some time thinking, researching, reading to help you create the required a

foundation ground about a certain subject.

 It takes patience as well as skills to write. The writing is a process of three main steps:

Step one: Prewriting Step two: Writing Step three: Revising and Editing
Generating and organizing ideas Using your ideas to write a first draft Improving what’s written
 Step 1-Prewriting – generating ideas

The hardest part of writing is getting started.

 Prewriting is a way to“ warm up your brain” before you write.

 What are the ways that will help you start your writing?

Generating ideas: How?

Most popular ways are : Brainstorming / clustering / free writing/ keeping a journal.
 Brainstorming
 It is a quick way to generate a lot of ideas on a subject.

 The aim is to come up with as many ideas as you can it can be in a form of words, phrases, sentences, even questions.

1- Begin with the board topic.

2- Try to answer questions that are related to the topic like: who? What? When? Where? Why? And how?

3- Group the items that get along together.

4- Cross out the items that does not belong.

 This will help you organize the items that you would like to cover in your writing essay.

Tip: the goal is to write down as many ideas as you can about the topic. Then choose the best of it.
 Clustering
 It is the visual way of generating ideas.

 It show the connections among your ideas using circles and lines.

1- Write the topic in the centre of the paper and draw circles around it.

2- Think about your topic and write any ideas that comes in circles around the main circle.

3- Connect these ideas to the centre circles with lines.

4- Write more related ideas in circles around them and connect them to their corresponding ideas with a line.

 This will help you organize the items that you would like to cover in your writing essay.

Tip: this type is recommend for the people that work better with visual things.
 Free writing
 Free writing is writing as much as you can, as fast as you can, without worrying about mistakes.

 It helps if you have hard time focusing on a board subject.

1- Write your general topic at the top of the page.

2- Start writing as much and as fast as you can for a certain time.

3- Don’t stop for any reason. Don’t worry if your mind wanders away from your original idea. Don’t worry about the

mistakes, let your ideas flow. Than go back revise and edit.

4- Write more related ideas in circles around them and connect them to their corresponding ideas with a line.

5- Read your free writing and see if there are any ideas you can develop into a paragraph.
 Keeping a Journal
 When you are not given a specific topic to write on, you can refer to your journal for possible topics.

 It helps to improve your thinking and writing skills.

1- Get yourself a note book.

2- Set a time for writing . It can be a few minutes everyday.

3- It helps in finding valuable ideas and source for your future writing.
 Step 1-Prewriting – Organizing

 Make an informal outline of your ideas you generated from the prewriting styles presented earlier.

 In this stage you plan your writing process.

 You organize your ideas for each paragraph (categorize)

 What will be included and why?

 For examples and practice

For practice: please refer to the text-book Pg. 14-16.

For example and practice: please refer to the text-book Pg. 17/18

For example and practice: please refer to the text-book Pg. 19/20

For example and practice: please refer to the text-book Pg. 23/24

Good luck 
 THANK YOU

College of Arts Course: English 101

Department of English Language and Literature Instructor: Ms. Fatema Ali AlMehaizea