developing a writing strategy

Descriptive Writing

Descriptive writing involves painting a picture in words for readers. The writer describes a person, place, experience, emotion, or situation through the use of vivid language. Descriptive writing uses details to discuss a subject rather than simply stating what a subject is outright. A writer using descriptive language, for example, may say that this sunset is a blaze of orange and yellow stretching toward the horizon.

Developing a Writing Strategy

Developing an effective writing strategy can help you succeed in the written exercises and reports you're assigned in all of your class subjects. Typically, a writing strategy consists of four phases: Prewriting: This stage consists of gathering all the information you need to start writing. It includes brainstorming ideas and doing research. Drafting: In this stage, you write a rough draft of your essay. Revising: This stage involves revising your initial draft to enhance and polish your essay. Editing or proofreading: During this stage, you proofread your essay for any small surface errors that you may have overlooked during the revising phase. Although it's a good idea to follow the phases in the order noted above, you can modify the order or skip a step if that works best for you. You'll get the hang of it, and after some practice might not need to go through every single step.

Expository Writing

Expository writing provides information to readers. The writer assumes that readers do not have in-depth or prior knowledge of the topic. Expository writing is commonly found in nonfiction books, magazine features, and newspaper articles, but also sometimes in fiction.

Narrative Writing

Narrative writing is used to tell a story. A narrative essay is a form of nonfiction that includes all parts of a story: introduction, plot, characters, setting, climax, and conclusion. A writer might create a narrative piece in which a lesson is learned or insight is gained.

Revising

Once you've written your draft, take some time away from your essay. When you come back to it, you'll be able to read your writing with a fresh mind. Start by reading your paper aloud. Did you notice any mistakes that you missed earlier? Sometimes hearing the paper spoken aloud, instead of just reading it silently, helps you identify areas that don't sound quite right. Also, pay close attention to the content of your essay. Check the thesis statement and organization. Does your thesis make sense? Will readers be able to easily follow the ideas in your essay and understand how they support the thesis? Does the organization of the paragraphs flow well or do you need to move information around? Have you included enough details to support your thesis statement adequately? Always remember to show readers what you want them to know rather than telling them. You might need to go back to the prewriting stage more than once. Perhaps you'll need to find more information, modify the flow, or even tweak your thesis statement.

Persuasive Writing

Persuasive writing is used to convince an audience about a particular topic. The writer uses supporting evidence to back up a certain point of view. You can find persuasive writing in TV commercials, letters to the editor, college brochures, and reviews of products, movies, and books.

What Is a Writing Strategy?

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master." —Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) Writing can seem like a daunting task. Maybe it doesn't come naturally to you. Don't be discouraged. Writing is a skill that can be improved through practice. And having a writing strategy to follow can make that practice easier. A writing strategy is a process used to craft a paper, such as an essay, research paper, or book report. This process can change depending on the type of paper, but developing and using a general writing strategy will help get you started writing any kind of paper.

Colons

A colon is used to suggest that a list of items will follow. Here's an example: To make working out a pleasant experience for everyone, please follow the gym rules: Wipe down equipment after each use. Towels are provided in the locker room and at the front desk. Return weight equipment to its proper place. Limit use of cardio machines to 30 minutes. Keep gym bags and belongings in the lockers provided. Personal belongings should not be left on the floor or on top of a piece of equipment. The items in a list do not need to be formatted vertically. A colon is also to introduce a list in a sentence. Randy told Mandy that these items are must-haves for a road trip: a roadmap, a camera, travel games, bottled water, and snacks. A colon is also used after a salutation in a business letter or other formal communication. Here are some examples: Dear Mrs. Raleigh: Dear Speaker of the House: Dear Jack: Never use a semicolon after a salutation. In personal letters, use a comma after the salutation. You'll learn more about how to use semicolons and colons in the video on the next screen.

Drafting

After you've finished the prewriting phase, it's time to start writing a draft of your essay. Use the outline that you created and refer to the relevant information you gathered as you write your draft. Your ideas will become clearer and the flow of writing will come to you more easily as you write your draft. Keep in mind that you might need to revisit the prewriting phase to add more information or refine the information you've collected.

Editing

The final stage is to edit your essay. Proofread it for errors in grammar, spelling, capitalization, and formatting. Taking notes on the types of errors you make might help you avoid those mistakes in future writing assignments. Do you often make spelling mistakes? Perhaps you have trouble with subject-verb agreement. Pay attention to your weak areas and proofread for those errors first. Subject and verb agreement: Find the main verb in each sentence and match the verb to its subject. Make sure that the subject and verb agree in number. Pronoun reference and agreement: Skim your essay, stopping at each pronoun. Look especially at it, this, they, their, and them. Search for the noun that the pronoun replaces. If you find a noun, be sure that it agrees in number and person with your pronoun. If you don't find a noun, change the pronoun to a noun for clarity.

Types of Essays

The first step toward developing a writing strategy is to understand what type of essay or paper you are supposed to write. Has your teacher asked you to write an essay explaining a literary movement in fine detail? Or have you been asked to write a persuasive piece with evidence and facts to sway readers to your point of view? Being aware of the type of essay you need to write will help you develop a more specific writing strategy, which will then create a smooth transition when you start writing.

Prewriting

The prewriting stage involves multiple steps. Each one will help smooth the way to writing your essay. Decide on a topic or an angle: If you haven't already been assigned a topic, do some brainstorming and select a topic that not only interests you but is also rich in information. That way, you'll have enough to write about. On the other hand, if your teacher has assigned a specific topic, figure out what angle you want to take on the subject. Find a way to make the topic interesting. Discuss it with people who might know more about it than you do.

identify your audience and purpose:

When you select a topic, it's important to identify who your target audience is and what kind of information you want to get across. Once you know your audience, it's easier to figure out the tone or style that you should use in your writing. For example, the tone for an essay directed at your classmates would be much different from the tone used in an essay for the school board. Understanding your intended audience's background, such as age and level of education, will also help you choose the kind of information to include in your essay. In addition to identifying your audience, think about what you want your essay to accomplish. Are you writing an essay to convince your audience of something? Or do you want to inform them about certain issues that are important to you? Your purpose will determine the type of essay that you write: persuasive, expository, narrative, or descriptive.

Focus on Language

You've seen that it's important to edit your essay to elevate the quality of your writing. Editing includes checking that the spelling and punctuation are correct in your writing. Because a misspelled word or incorrectly placed punctuation mark could alter the meaning of a sentence, editing is an important step in the writing process. Semicolons A semicolon links two main clauses in the same sentence without using a connector such as but or and. A semicolon in the middle of a sentence makes you pause before reading the rest of the sentence. Semicolons indicate that the two clauses are connected. Jenny sat down to eat lunch; her dog begged for morsels of her sandwich. You can also use a semicolon before a transitional word, such as however, therefore, or moreover, and before a transitional expression, such as for example, in addition, or since then. Thomas plagiarized his term paper; therefore, he will fail the class.