Theme: Pre-writing: Choosing, narrowing, gathering and editing ideas Plan

Drafting—The Process

The process of drafting a piece of writing begins with an analysis of the prewriting.  The author must use his prewriting notes to determine a focus for the piece.  This may involve narrowing the focus of the topic and perhaps identifying a purpose for the piece.

For example, an author may decide to write an essay about dogs.  He could have developed his prewriting notes with information about three topics relating to dogs:  Show dogs, working dogs, and dog racing.  These are all topics that could stand alone in an essay.  During drafting, the author should choose just one of these topics for his piece of writing.

Once he has chosen a topic, he should identify a purpose for the essay.  For instance, if the writing was meant to be informational, he might choose to write about working dogs, his purpose being to impart information.  On the other hand, if he chose to write a persuasive essay, perhaps he would choose to write about dog racing, arguing for or against this controversial topic.  After determining a purpose for a piece of writing, it is easy to begin drafting.  Any information that is unrelated to the topic and its purpose should be eliminated from the prewriting.

The author begins writing by composing an introduction to the piece.  The purpose of the introduction is not only to state the topic of the piece, but it should also draw the reader in to the piece of writing.  For young children, the introduction may be one sentence stating the topic.  More sophisticated writers will create an introductory paragraph that identifies the topic, sets the purpose for the writing, and suggests how the topic will be developed throughout the piece.  The introduction to a piece of writing should be interesting.  The tone of the introduction will vary according to the topic.  If an author is writing a personal narrative, he might decide to begin with a creative quote about his experience.  When writing an informational essay, the tone of the introduction must follow suit.  It should be focused and informative.

A solid, interesting introduction sets the stage for the rest of the rough draft.  An author should begin drafting the piece by organizing his notes in a sequence that will make sense to the reader.  The focus should be on logical connections between topics.  A young writer will compose the body of a piece of writing by including detail sentences related to the topic sentence.  An older author should organize his writing in to paragraphs.  Each paragraph should include its own topic sentence.  Smooth transitions between paragraphs are important in creating a cohesive piece of writing, no matter the subject.  A writer should refer back to his prewriting to keep him on track and ensure that the piece of writing maintains its focus.

A writer should complete a rough draft by composing a conclusion.  The purpose of a conclusion is to wrap up the piece of writing by connecting all of the related thoughts and ideas.  The best conclusions are creative, engaging, and leave few questions unanswered in the mind of the reader.  Younger students can conclude a piece of writing with a simple sentence.  Advanced writers should include a conclusion paragraph.