WEEK 5 Module 1 Writing activity

Module 1 Writing Activity
Pick one of the four topics listed in the Week 5 writing assignment and choose the topic that most appeals to you for your final, peer reviewed paragraph. Once you’ve made your choice, start with the first step of the writing process, inventing, and try a few of the methods to develop your ideas.  If you find that the topic does not seem to be working, try developing another topic. Once you’ve developed some good ideas for your paragraph, move to the second step, organizing, and construct an outline that you can use for drafting your paragraph.
Choose one of the following four topics to write your final paragraph about:
Topic #1
Discuss at least four (4) short term and/or long term effects that finishing Crafting an Effective Writer: Tools of the Trade will have upon you personally, academically, and/or professionally.
Topic #2
Identify and describe a favorite activity or interest and provide at least four reasons why this activity or interest holds your attention and/or is enjoyable to you.
Topic #3
Identify and describe at least three (3) ways a person, male and/or female, is recognized as an adult in your culture.
Topic #4
Identify and describe a traditional ethnic food from your culture. Provide at least four reasons why this food has remained an essential, primary food in your culture. While you may include the recipe, this topic asks you to discuss the importance of the food in your culture.
 MY CHOICE
Topic #2
Identify and describe a favorite activity or interest and provide at least four reasons why this activity or interest holds your attention and/or is enjoyable to you.
 GUIDELINES (taken from the week 5 readings of Crafting an effective writer:tools of the trade)

For most writing projects, you will utilize five distinctly different steps, and they should be considered in this order:

1.      Inventing

2.      Organizing

3.      Drafting

4.      Revising

5.      Editing

·         When you start any writing project, you should plan to spend a significant amount of time exploring your thoughts on the topic and generating (inventing) ideas.

·         The next step in the writing process is organizing your ideas into a structure that fits the assignment you have been given. There are many ways to organize your ideas, and you will have to find the method that works best for you. However, most students agree that starting with some type of an outline is the way to go.

·         After you have explored your topic and organized your ideas, you are ready to write a draft of your paragraph. Many writers begin and end their writing process in this one step, and their grades and success suffer as a result. Drafting is an important step, but it need not take the long hours and become the stressful activity that some writers fear. With the preparation of Exploring and Organizing (Steps 1 and 2) writing becomes much less stressful and less time consuming. Once you learn about the benefits of Revising and Editing (Steps 4 and 5), you will be even more comfortable during the drafting step.

·         For drafting, the most important thing is to get down to business. Seize the moment. Take your outline and write. Don’t stop to correct every sentence. Don’t stop to change direction. Don’t fix spelling. Just write with the outline as a guide.

·         Once you’ve written a full draft and let it sit for a day or two, you are ready to revise. The word revision means to change a text and review, but the root of the word is vision, which means to see. Therefore, in this step you will attempt to see your paper from a different or new perspective. Most writers find that there are two types of revision: Macro and Micro.

You can remember these with the acronym QUEST:

• Question whether you have enough information and if it matches the assignment.
• Understand what is working and what isn’t. Keep what works and cut what doesn’t.
• Explain it to someone else to see if you’ve missed anything and if it is clear. Many writers find collaboration and sharing helpful during in this step. Getting a different perspective, while it can be scary, is irreplaceable during this stage. You will find that having someone else read your draft, or reading it to someone, will provide you with valuable insights.
• Shift and move information if necessary.
• Title & Topic Sentence are evident, clear, and match what you’ve written in the paragraph.

Micro-revision:
Micro means small, so with micro-revision, you are looking at your paragraph on a smaller scale considering your sentences and how they fit together. Some people call this local revision. During the micro-revision step, you will need to look at your sentences and check them for clarity, variety, and effectiveness:

• Clarity: Do the sentences clearly communicate to the reader? Are there any sentences that need additional information or restructuring to be clear?
• Variety: Are the four sentence types used in the paragraph?
• Effectiveness: Do the sentences in the paragraph work together to create a clear and cohesive message to the reader? If not, have you included necessary and appropriate transitional words and phrases?

If your paragraph lacks transitions, use the transitions in the chart below to help you create a smooth, logical flow of ideas in your paragraph. You will also find that you need to link all the details and sentences together carefully when you are composing a paragraph. Transitions not only provide a smooth shift from one idea to the next, but they will also create logical relationships within your topic.

Addition	Emphasis	Sequence	Example	Comparison
furthermore in addition moreover lastly as a matter of fact	in fact surprisingly in any case indeed certainly	first, second, third, etc. Next Then Finally at this point	for example in this case such as notably in particular	on the other hand similarly however in contrast whereas

Note that each of these words or phrases will help you to generate more information and supporting details. In addition, using these words will make your paragraph easier to read.

·         The final step in the writing process is editing. Some writers call this step proofreading because this is where you are considering the smaller details of your final draft. You check and correct your punctuation, spelling, and formatting. This is the final step because doing this earlier will be a waste of your time because you will find that your sentences and content will change, sometimes radically, when you are revising.

·         Now that the paper is set in terms of content, organization, and sentence style, you can concentrate on rereading again with a close eye on grammar, punctuation, spelling, spacing, formatting, etc.

·         Almost all student writers use the five step writing process, but some do not complete each step in this order. Many back track along the way, repeat certain ones (especially steps 1, 3, and 4), or reverse step 2 and 3, so consider this a guide rather than a set pattern you must follow. Like any piece of writing, you may need to revise the five steps of the writing process in order to make them work for you.

Now that the paper is set in terms of content, organization, and sentence style, you can concentrate on rereading again with a close eye on grammar, punctuation, spelling, spacing, formatting, etc.