The READING and The READING and WRITING ProcessWRITING Process

Our first lessonfrom Patterns

The Reading Process-The Reading Process-Reading is a Two-way Reading is a Two-way

StreetStreet• Read Passages Critically• It is your responsibility to

(1) evaluate the ideas of others

(2) to form your judgments

(3) to develop original points of view

(4) support your interpretation using text evidence

DO NOT: distort the writer’s words or overlook significant details

While ReadingWhile Reading

1- HIGHLIGHT the text

* mark the text with symbols

* underline important ideas

* box key terms

* number repeated images, statements

* circle unfamiliar words

2- ANNOTATE* write in the margins or on any white

space

* ask questions

* comment on the writer’s style

* summarize key events

3- Come to LOVE

STICKY NOTES* mark important passages so you

can easily find them

* mark pending questions

* do not overuse

WRITING ISWRITING IS• P-plan• O-organize• W- write• E-edit• R-revisePlanning includes prewriting and developing a thesis

statementOrganize by arranging your thoughts, graphic organizersWrite at least two drafts of your essay before turning it inEditing gives you chance to detect spelling errors,

grammatical errors, and mechanical errorsRevisions allow you to refine your writing style

The Assignment: invent by The Assignment: invent by understanding the understanding the

assignmentassignment• It’s a FACT: A well-written essay that does

not address the assignment will “miss the mark.”

• Consider length, purpose, audience, occasion, and your knowledge of the subject.

LengthLength

Every assignment has a required length, the question is why are some papers 10 pages while others are only 2 pages?

Page limit has a direct bearing on your paper’s focus.

For example: a two page paper will have a narrower topic than a 10 page paper.

A research paper on the Romantic Era vs. a paper where you compare and contrast main characters.

PurposePurpose

• Limits what you say and how you say it!-classify your purpose according to your relationship with the audience

1- Expressive Writing: diaries, journals, personal letters, often narratives and descriptive essays

2- Informative-exams, lab reports, expository essays, research papers, and persuasive writing which includes editorials and essays

**This is your chance to show what you know and more importantly how you know it.

AudienceAudience

• An audience can be an individual (your teacher), it can be a group (your classmates), or a specialized group (a group of medical doctors, the college board), or a general/universal audience where the members have little in common (readers of the newspaper)

• Considering your audience allows you to know how much to tell them (For example, students writing a paper on Symbols in The Scarlet Letter can assume that I do not need plot summary because I have already read the novel, but if you were writing on the Puritan Code of behavior then you may want to include a brief summary because I did not major in Sociology nor History.

OccasionOccasion• The occasion is your purpose in writing. It will most likely

be in-class writing or an at-home assignment

KnowledgeKnowledgeWhat you know and don’t know about the subject limits

what you can say about it.Ask these 3 Questions1- what do I already know?2-what do I need to know? How much research is involved?3- What do I think about the subject?

Don’t be Intimated by Writing, Don’t be Intimated by Writing, it’s just a process.it’s just a process.

Exercise One: Decide whether of not each of the following topics is

appropriate for its stated limits. Write a few sentences explaining why or why

not.

• 1. A two to three page paper: a history of animal testing in medical research

• 2. A one-hour in class essay: An interpretation of Andy Warhol’s paintings of Campbell’s soup cans

• 3. A letter to your school newspaper: A discussion on your schools abortion rate

Exercise Two: Make a list of the different audiences to whom you speak

and write to a daily basis (friends, family, boss, teachers, coachers, etc.)

• 1. Do you speak or write to each person the same way? If not, how does your approach differ for different groups.

• 2. List some subjects that would interest some of these people but not others. How do you account for these differences?

RECALL

• Reading is a ________ street.

• Label the writing process: POWER

• Describe two methods you can use to become a better reader.

• This ______: Limits what you say and how you say it!

• List one question to ask yourself concerning your knowledge of the subject.