The Writing Process: An Introduction to Writing

1. TheWriting Process:An Introductionto Writing
By AhsanAhmad

2. Why We Write
 Writing isoneofthekeyforms ofcommunications.
 Withwriting, youdemonstratewhatyouknow aswell as howyou think.Ina word,writing isa wayof
discovery.Youdiscoveryourownthoughts,explore whatother’s think,andhowwell youthinkabouta
topic.In addition,youdiscoveryourownwriting style/ writing habits.
 Theprocess ofwriting helps youdo thefollowing:
 Shareyourideas/knowledge
 Develop critical thinkingskills
 Raise questions/ critically analyzeother’s views
 Makeconnectionsby researching and using theresearch tosupport yourviews
 Finally,demonstratingyourposition ona specificissue andshowingthe audience whyyoubelieve in
somethingthroughstrong analysis

3. Writing:A Process
 To communicateinwriting, we go throughanentire process.
 Whatisthat process?
 Firstly, knowingwhatwe need to sayor whatwe have tosay.This meansa topicis necessary to
write aboutsomething.
 Sometimesthe topicsarevague.Sometimesyouwill be givenanexact topicto write about.
 This is where you will need your abilitytoquickly think and put down yourthoughts in a well organized
manner.
 Secondly,youneed to defineyouraudience.Whowill be reading yourwork? Whodo youhaveto
convincetosee thethings yourway.
 Thirdly, researching aboutthetopicis extremely important.
 Why? We donot know everything. Somuch literature mayexist about the topic, so it is your
responsibility to address the key points and use those key points tosupportyour views.
 Lastly,younotedownallyourthoughts,use theresearch tosupport yourpoints,andaffirmin
whyyoubelieve insomething.

4. Different forms of Writings
 Ask yourself the following questions to define what kind of writing do you have to do?
 Is your main purpose to persuade readers to see something your way or move readers to a
certain reaction? This aims leads to a persuasive writing or argumentation.
 Example: Should GRE exam be mandatory for individuals who wish to continue to a
graduate school? Explain your position whether you agree or disagree.
 Is your main purpose to explain an idea or provide information? Writing with this
purpose is called Expository writing.
 Example: Rules are important. What are the most important rules at your work place
and why are they important?
 Is your main purpose to create an original poetry, story, novel or an art piece? This form of
writing is called creative writing.
 Is your main purpose to record and express your own experiences, observations, ideas or
feelings? In humanities, such topics are called expressive, autobiographical, or
personal writing.
 Example: Describe one of your life experiences that helped you change for better.
 Is your main purpose to describe experiment or a detailed procedure or to report on
laboratory results? Writing with this purpose is asking you to write a scientific,
technical or a business form of writing piece.
 Example: Assume you are the delivery manager of the company that supplies for
computer software products. You have received a letter from a regular customer
complaining that orders have been late and deliveries have arrived with broken
equipment. Write a letter in response detailing your company’s policy and procedures

5. The WritingProcess: The Bigger Picture
Planning/Pre-writing:
1: This involves critical thinking (thinking about the key ideas you
what to address in your writing and how you want to address
them)
2: Define your purpose, audience, and tone
3: Pre-writing: which means setting up your thoughts that you wish to
highlight. Work on your thesis, write down your strong and weak
points, filter your strong points by critically thinking what relates best to
your thesis. 4: Research the topic. Look at the existing literature and
write the key points you agree/disagree with.
Writing/Drafting:
Once you have an
outline, give your
thoughts an essayform.
This is where you also
addthe research and
relate it your views.
Revise/Edit:
Lastly, revise everything you have
written down, re-arrange ifyou
feelthat you can makeyour
paragraphs stronger or say
something in another words
better than before. Look for
punctuation errors.

6. WritingStructure:
Support
• Reason why you agree or disagree
• Highlighting expert’s view to support
your stands and critiquing another’s
research as why you do not believe in
an other research by emphasizing your
stand.
Thesis statement
• What is your stand on the topic
• Do you agree/disagree or do you
believe in something else entirely, and
if you do it has to address the issue at
hand.
Structure:
• Your writing should have a structure:
Introduction, body paragraphs, and
Conclusion

7. Writing Tips/Tools
 Alwaysremind yourself of thefollowing whenwriting:
 Have a purpose toyourwriting. Whyare youwriting somethingandwho is your audience?
 Keep yourwriting simple. Do notshare allpoints in onecontinuoussentence. Breakdown
yourchainofthoughtand relate them to eachother logically.Avoidrun-ons.
 Donot be redundant. Donot keep repeating thesameideas/thoughtsindifferent words. This
meanskeep yourwriting fresh bysharing keeping yourperspective fresh. Readers mayget
bored byreading the same things repeatedly.
 Alwaysproof read. Proof reading helps yousee yourownmistakes.
 Itwill help youfilter out the clutter inyourwriting.
 Youcanavoidmanygrammaticalmistakes andpunctuationerrors by proof reading.
 Time managementis crucialcomponentofwriting well. Plan!

8. Writing Exercise
 Imagine yourself as a carsales person. A customer comesto you and tells you they have
looked into mid-size SUV and a standard SUV, but they are not surewhich one to get. Your
boss tell you that you have to meet the sales goal for sellingstandard SUV's this month.
Persuade your customer as to why should s/he buy a Standard SUV instead of a Mid-size
SUV.
 In this writing exercise,what I would like to seeis the writing process we discussed. Aside
from your standard essay, I would like you to submit your pre-writing/ orthe writing
process you went through to write the essay.