Phillips 1 Caleb Phillips Megan Keaton ENG111-09 8 July 2013 The Writing Process Anyone who has ever

enrolled in a college English course knows how daunting the task of writing a paper can be. In this essay I will try to explain the necessary components of good academic writing. In every good piece of academic writing the author must brainstorm, revise drafts, use proper grammar and consider their audience. Good composition must also have a structure consisting of an introduction, supporting paragraphs, a thesis and a conclusion. In order to begin an essay one must first brainstorm. There is no one way to brainstorm. For instance, some people write every single idea or thought they have down on paper. Some people brainstorm all in their head. Other folks may write a very detailed and organized map about what they will write and when to put it where. In elementary school when the teachers wanted us to think hard about something they would tell us, Put your thinking caps on. thus making the class brainstorm, probably for the first time, in an academic setting. Brainstorming allows the author to start the thought process and plan out the essay. After brainstorming, an author typically knows everything he or she wants to tell the reader and what order to put it in. Without brainstorming the resulting paper would be badly organized and the reader would probably struggle with understanding and being interested in it. Once the writer has an idea of what to write, they can begin writing an introductory paragraph. No good writer wants to bore the reader to sleep in the first sentence so, the first thing any introduction should have is an attention grabber, something that will make the reader want to

Phillips 2 read more. This can be accomplished by asking a question, using a quote, or stating an interesting or unusual fact. Introductions are used to engage the reader and give them a general understanding of what the academic piece is about. All the main ideas should be clearly stated in the introduction and later backed up in the supporting paragraphs. The introduction is often the first thing the reader sees, so in a way it gives the reader a first impression. If the introduction is written well, a reader will take interest and continue reading. If the essay has a bad or boring introduction the reader may stop reading. Also, if the paper has a thesis, it is usually found in the introduction. A thesis is the main idea of a writing; its what the author is trying to argue or prove to the reader. The only time an essay does not need a standard thesis is when all the supporting paragraphs work together to give the reader an implied thesis. Examples of essays in which the thesis is allowed to be tacit include narration, description and definition. Ever since high school, Ive learned that the thesis is a critical part of any essay. The thesis is usually easy for the reader to understand and recognize. After reading the thesis a reader should know exactly what the essay is about. If a paper lacks a thesis it would more than likely be very confusing. The thesis is used to tie everything in the paper together, like a thread. Without one, the essay would consist of a bunch of information with no relevant purpose. No one wants to read something like that. If the goal of any good author is to have the reader glued to the page and clinging to every last word then he must know his audience. Who will read this? What might appeal to them? These are questions a writer should ask himself. Many aspects of an academic writing are influenced by the audience. The audience can determine whether the piece is written with a bunch of big words or a lot of colloquialisms (common expressions). For instance, if a man was conversing with himself and someone else overheard everything being said, the person

Phillips 3 listening would most likely not understand and be confused. The same scenario can happen between an author and his audience. For example, imagine a professional judge or doctor wrote a book and used a lot of medical or legal jargon that the average person wouldnt understand. If someone who does not have any medical or judicial training were to read the book, they would find it as confusing as trying to read another language. This means the doctor or judge intended the audience of their book to be someone with knowledge in their field and no one else. An author must know his audience and write to them in a way that can be easily understood. The organization of the supporting paragraphs should not be taken lightly. In school, the teachers always told us to put the most boring paragraph and information in the middle, and the most interesting paragraphs near the beginning and end of the paper. I always assumed they told us to do that so the reader could become interested in paper early on. Once the author has the readers attention they can start to write about the topic more fully and in detail. This detailed part of the paper should consist of important information that supports the main ideas of the paper. Everything in this part of the paper should be fully explained before the conclusion. If a paper has no organization or supporting paragraphs then the essay probably wouldnt be very long or easy to read. The use of punctuation and proper grammar are essential in academic writing. Once I wrote a paper and for some reason didnt proof read before I turned it in. My paper was returned to me with a million little red marks on it. Throughout the paper I had written as if I were texting a friend. It was embarrassing but it taught me the importance of good grammar. Bad grammar can confuse the reader. For instance, if someone wrote I aint done nothing, its hard to determine what the author means because of the double negative. Furthermore, when poor grammar is used the reader tends to divert their attention away from the paper and focus on

Phillips 4 criticizing the authors grammar. In some cases, a sentence may have proper grammar and still make no sense. One example of this is, I saw the elephant drink the rollercoaster when she left the volcano. For this reason, it is important to have another human being proof read the final draft. Before any good writer is done writing they must revise and edit various drafts. The purpose of revising drafts is so your paper can improve. Taking out useless wording and adding needed information is the goal of revision and editing. Because the possibilities of what can be changed in an academic writing are endless, I find revising drafts to be one of the more challenging parts of writing. In the past, it was very rare for me to write more than one draft. Luckily, in this class I have learned that drafting can make a huge difference in the over all quality of an essay and is very necessary in academic writing. With each revision the draft changes for better or for worse. The longer the author spends editing the draft, the better it will be when its complete. If the author doesnt revise they are bound to leave out key information. Revising allows the author to explain things better and remove unnecessary information. When someone eats a three course meal, the last course often is a dessert, something sweet and pleasant. Any good academic writing should end well and not leave the reader disappointed or confused. The concluding paragraph should restate the thesis or over all main idea of the piece. Most of the readers questions and concerns should be answered in or before the conclusion paragraph. The conclusion is also the authors last chance to make a point or lasting impression on the reader. If the essay ends badly, the reader may become frustrated and feel as if reading the piece was a waste of time. From this we can infer that it is best to make the final thoughts of an essay interesting and well spoken.

Phillips 5 In conclusion, writing a good academic essay is not as easy as it may seem. A writer must process and take many things into account before typing out anything. If an author neglects to complete any component of this process the resulting academic writing may suffer. Each component listed is used to prevent the audience from being confused and to give the paper purpose and meaning. Though this process may seem somewhat tedious, the resulting paper will often be very well written and something the author can be proud of.