WRITING PARAGRAPHS

STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF PARAGRAPHS

THE STRUCTURE OF A PARAGRAPH
Well-written paragraphs have certain qualities in common. You can
learn to write better paragraphs by learning to recognize these qualities.
The Main Idea
The topic sentence states the one main idea of a paragraph.
A well-written paragraph develops only one main idea. In the following paragraph, the main
idea is stated in the first sentence. The sentences in the rest of the paragraph develop or
explain the main idea.
Through the centuries rats have managed to survive all our efforts to destroy
them. We have poisoned them and trapped them. We have fumigated, flooded, and burned
them. We have tried germ warfare. Some rats even survived atomic bomb tests conducted on
Eniwetok atoll in the Pacific after World War II. In spite of all our efforts, these enemies of
ours continue to prove that they are the most indestructible of pests.

A paragraph has two essential requirements: (1) It must state a main idea, and (2) all of the
sentences in the paragraph must be directly related to that main idea. As you read the
following group of sentences, see if it meets these two requirements.
My brother made $200 this summer working at a farm stand on Route 1. He says that
dealing with all kinds of customers is good experience. My father wanted me to dean the
basement, and my mother told me to wash the windows. Yesterday I spent all my savings on
a new set of skates.

This piece of writing may look like a paragraph, because it is set up like one, but it is not.
For one thing, the main idea is not clearly stated. Also, the sentences wander aimlessly from
topic to topic; they do not stick to one main idea.
Supporting Sentences
Other sentences in the paragraph give information that supports the main
idea in the topic sentence.
Supporting sentences may provide facts, statistics, examples,
sensory details, incidents, or reasons. (Each of these types of
information is discussed in detail in the next chapter.) An
effective paragraph gives enough supporting information to
develop the main idea; a weak paragraph does not.
Compare the following two paragraphs. Both have the same
topic sentence; only the supporting sentences are different.

WEAK

One day I was lying stretched out full length on the rough, weathered
boards of a foot bridge, studying water as clear as liquid glass. I saw a few dace
and a bullfrog. Then I saw fish in the water just below me.

EFFECTIVE

One day I was lying stretched out full length on the rough,
weathered boards of a foot bridge, studying water as clear as liquid glass.
A few dace flitted in the shallows. I saw the blotched green back of a bullfrog
squatting in the mud and grasses. A pumpkinseed zigzagged in the tail of the
pool. Several whirling bugs spun and danced above the surface of the water.
The shadows wavered, auburn and dark. on the sandy bottom of the creek; I
watched my wavering shadow among them. And then a fish swept up from
beneath one of the buttresses of the bridge, rose to the surface a few feet
below my head, becoming part of the me in the creek, and broke the water
with a neat dimple, fracturing my shadow. The fish was massy, brilliantly
colored, sleek and longand it changed my life.
NICK LYONS

EXERCISE: Main idea and supporting details. Write a paragraph use the following
main idea and supporting details. You dont have to use all the information and theyre not
necessarily in order.
Topic sentence:
Supporting details:

In the late 1970's a new kind of bicycle appeared.

a. called all terrain bikes (ATBs for short)
b. 18 speeds; weigh 25-32 pounds
c. Very different looking from 10-speed bicycles; plain-looking and
strong
d. Fat tires and upright (not racing) handlebarslook like oldfashioned bikes of the 1940's and earlier
e. Can be ridden over curbs, across meadows, rough trails
f. Increasingly popular; races all over country sponsored by menswear
company.

FOUR TYPES OF PARAGRAPHS.

1. THE NARRATIVE PARAGRAPH

A narrative paragraph is often part of a longer story or composition. Sometimes,

however, a narrative paragraph tells a story that is complete in itself. Usually a narrative
paragraph is structured like any other kind of paragraph: It begins with a topic sentence
and then clarifies this opening sentence by telling a brief story.
2. THE DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH

The purpose of a descriptive paragraph is to describe a person, place or object. You

choose the words that will help the reader clearly imagine the subject you depicting.
3. THE EXPOSITORY PARAGRAPH

It may give information about something or explain something, or both. They are usually
developed with facts, statistics, reasons or examples.
4. THE PERSUASIVE PARAGRAPH

Its purpose is to convince the reader that an opinion is true. Persuasive writings include
two essential ingredients: An opinion and reasons to support it.
EXERCISE: Type of paragraph. Read the following paragraphs and identify whether
they are narrative, descriptive, expository, or persuasive.
A) The landscape was full of mystery and of life. The autumn
was in full bloom. The sun cast a golden light upon the adobe walls
and the cornfields; it set fire to the loaves of willows and
cottonwoods along the river: and afresh, cold wind ran down from
the canyons and carried the good scents of pine and cedar smoke, of
bread baking in the beehive ovens and of rain in the mountains.
There were horses in the plain and angles of geese in the sky.
B) The telephone blared shrilly at 6:30 on a Saturday
morningshattering the stillness of the sleeping house. A tall teenager stumbled sleepily to the phone, stubbing her toe as she passed
the old rocking chair. Hello?" she questioned in a low voice. "Oh, it's you!" she beamed with
pleasure. For the next twenty minutes, she spoke quietly into the phone, pausing occasionally to
listen. When she hung up, she grinned, feeling good and looking forward to the day
C) People usually spend most of their time indoors under light that is quite dima kind of
perpetual twilight. It may be adequate for reading and routine activities at home and at work, but
researchers now find that this low level of light can throw a persons body rhythms out of kilter and
seriously affect physical and mental well-being. What they recommend is to get a good dose of bright
light. Plain daylight, which is easily a hundred times brighter than typical indoor lighting, is all it
takes. Direct sunlight is neither necessary nor advisable; its only known benefit, vitamin D synthesis,
requires no more than 15 minutes of exposure every other day on an area as small as the back of the
neck.
D) Brian Robeson was stopped and stricken with a white flash of horror, a terror so intense that his
breathing, his thinking, and his heart had nearly stopped. This quote from the book Hatchet by
Gary Paulsen shows why this book was too good to put down. I really liked this book because it
sounded like it could really happen. I enjoy books like that, and Id recommend this book to anyone.
Also, as I said, it kept me reading. I couldnt put it down until I found out what was going to happen
to Brian.

EXERCISES: Writing paragraphs. Read the following exercises and write a paragraph.
Exercise #1
Describe what you see in this photo. Describe what you don't see-- the interior.
Describe the person who comes out of the place. What does the
person do?
Exercise #2
Write a reflection or short fictional piece about this woman. Where is
she? What year is it? What is she thinking? Try this in the form of an interior
monologue.
Exercise #3
You meet a man in a bar in a strange town. He has a cat on his lap, and he orders a cup of coffee,
slowly spoons sugar into it. He strokes the cat's black fur and says, "This contact is illusory. The cat
and I are separated as though by a pane of glass, because man lives in time, in successiveness, while
the magical animal lives in the present, in the eternity of the instant." What do you say back to him?
And he to you? What does the cat do? What happened to this man before he came into the bar?
Exercise #4
You are in a waiting room (doctor's office, job interview, etc.). People are sitting more or less in a
circle. Describe several of them -- focussing only on their feet! Type of shoes, cleanliness and
condition of shoes, toes if they show, how they let their feet rest. Are they quiet or do the feet move?
What can you tell about the person from the feet?
Exercise #5
The boys in the picture are marching off-- or are they? Who are they
waving at? What will happen next?
Exercise #6
The chimpanzee is looking into your face. What is she
trying to say? What is your response?
Exercise #7
Observe someone's hands (this can be in memory or imagination. Describe them as
fully as possible. Notice shape, skin texture, any jewelry or disfiguration. What clues do these hands
give you about the person's life?
Exercise #8
Take these lines from a well-known novel and continue them however you want:
She had found a jewel down inside herself and she had wanted to walk where people could see her
and gleam it around.....
Exercise #9
What is the Parakeet saying to the Cat? And what is the reply?
After writing the dialogue, write the subtext-- what the animals really want or
think-- or what the unseen human beings are thinking/doing.
Exercise # 10
Describe a food, using all your senses. Observe it visually, of course, but also include texture, smell
and taste. Describe it again, but in a way that makes it disgusting: how a big juice steak, for example,
must appear to a vegetarian.
Exercise #11 The room seems to have more shadow than substance, but
you can see a staircase through the doorway. Suddenly, down the steps
comes....
Exercise 12
One important part of fiction is the small physical gesture that can show so
much about a character as well as make the scene jell in a reader's visual
imagination. Here's a tiny snippet from Henry James's A Portrait of a Lady:

Madame Merle slowly seated herself, with her arms folded and her white hands arranged as a
support to one of them and an ornament, as it were, to the other. She looked exquisitely calm, but
impressively sad.
Write a closely observed description of a common gesture or physical action.
Exercise #13
Write a real life memory of a time you had a conflict with someone else. This might have been you
with one of your parents, or you with a boss, or any other conflict that comes to mind.
Write the same scene again, but this time from the point of view of the other person.
Exercise #14
Write down an actual overheard telephone conversation - it might be someone in your family or a
stranger on the train on his cell phone. I once overheard a man talking passionately with what
seemed to be his girl friend - and then calling his wife to tell her what time he'd be home! After
you've written the observed half of the conversation, write again, making up what the second person
said.
Exercise #15
This Japanese court lady wrote a poem. Imagine you are the translator of her
poem. Write it in English as prose or as poetry.
Here is one person's translation of it:
Field Burnt-Over
My body is like
A field wasted by winter.
If only I,
like the field burnt-over,
Awaited the return of spring
-- Lady Ise, Japanese Court Lady from 900's CE
Exercise #16
Write a word portrait of one of your great grandparents. All the better if you know only one tiny fact:
that she lived in Scott County, Tennessee or that he came to the U.S. rather than be conscripted into
the Czar's army. Perhaps this word portrait should be a short poem or the beginning of a short story.
Exercise #17
Dreams are very useful in fiction, as well as fun to write. Sometimes we use dreams to give
verisimilitude they are, after all, a part of life. They can also be used to show a character's mood or
even to make a point, as a sort of allegory in the mind of a character. Write a dream for a character in
a piece of fiction you are writing or planning.
Exercise #18
Imagine that you are lying in a hammock, gazing up the trunk of tree that
holds the hammock. You are profoundly relaxed; summer is almost over.
Your mind drifts with the slow rocking of the hammock. Your spirit
soars toward the top of the great white pine. Suddenly....
Exercise #19
Sit in your car or on a public bench and observe the people going in and out of a store or public
building. Pick out one who catches your attention, and write about who you imagine that person is
where do they live? What are they like? Where are they going next?
Exercise #20
Think of an important event in your life or in a project you are writing. Write the weather for the day
it happened. This may require closing your eyes, counting down from ten, trying to empty your
mind whatever works for you to become focused. This exercise, of course, is not just about the
weather, but about going deeper into the past by using the sense details of what it felt like to be in

that place at that time

THE WRITING PROCESS

A process is a series of actions leading toward one end. When you write,
you perform a series of actions. Some of these actions are selecting a
subject, deciding what you are going to say about the subject, and then
arranging your ideas about the subject in some sort of order. After you
first put your ideas down on paper, you may decide to make changes. You may add or take
away words, sentences, or even paragraphs, or you may rearrange some of your ideas.
Because these actions all lead toward one enda paragraph, a report, a letter, and so on
writing is called a process.
Hence, we will see and practice the actions involved in the process of writing. As you do,
you will find that you are also sharing how to think. In fact, we are sharing some of the most
important thinking skills you will ever need.
Throughout this session we will have a chance to practice these critical thinking skills.
THE WRITING PROCESS
The actions involved in the writing process may be divided into five large groups, or stages.
These stages are prewriting, writing, revising, proofreading, and making the final copy. As
you go through the session, notice that it is divided into these five parts. Each part is then
broken down into the following separate actions, or steps:

PREWRITING
1. Deciding on a reason. or purpose, for writing
2. Thinking about the readers, or audience, for your writing
3. Choosing a subject
4. Making the subject fit the form of writingparagraph report, essay, and so on (limiting
the subject)
5. Finding ideas about your subject
6. Sorting ideas into groups, or classes
7. Deciding how to arrange your ideas on paper

WRITING
8. Putting ideas down on paper

REVISING
9. Thinking again about your ideas and the way you put them down on paper
10. Rewriting your first paper, or draft, and making changes to improve it

PROOFREADING
11. Checking for errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics
12. Correcting errors

MAKING THE FINAL COPY

13. Following correct manuscript form
14. Copying the paper again, if necessary

15. Proofreading the paper again, if necessary

To practice the writing process, it is helpful to break it down into steps.
Actual writing, however, does not always follow the steps as they are given
here. Depending both on the kind of writing you do and on your special
habits as a writer, you may sometimes skip steps, work with two or more
steps at once, or move back and forth among the steps. As you work
through this chapter, you will learn more about how the writing process
works.

I. PREWRITING
IDENTIFYING YOUR PURPOSE
Know your purpose for writing.
Writing has different purposes. In a letter to a friend, you may describe how grandma is after
her last surgery and tell a story about what happened in study hall. You may explain why
you cannot come for a visit and try to persuade your friend to come instead. These
reasonsto describe, to tell a story, to explain, and to persuadeare the four main purposes
for writing. Each kind of writing has a name, depending on the purpose for writing.
1. Writing to tell a story is narrative writing.
2.

Writing to describe is descriptive writing.

3. Writing to explain is expository writing.

4. Writing to persuade is persuasive writing.
Very often, a piece of writing may seem to have more than one purpose. For example, in
telling the story about the wasp in study hall, the writer also describes the event. The writer's
main purpose, however, is to tell the story. Similarly, most other writing has one main
purpose.

IDENTIFYING YOUR AUDIENCE

Know the audience for whom you write.
Your audience is the person or people for whom you write. Your audience may be small or
large, young or old. It may be someone you know very well, or people you do not know at
all. Sometimes you may be your own audience. When you write to a friend, you write for an
audience of onesomeone you know very well. When you send a letter to the editor of a
city or community newspaper, you write for a large audience, most of whom you know very
little. If you write in a diary or journal, or if you write poems that no one else is going to
read, you write for yourself.
Thinking about your audience is an important step in prewriting. Even in choosing your
subject, you should think about the age and interests of your audience. Select a subject that
will be informative and interesting. For example, the subject "getting off to a good start in
high school" would not be interesting to an audience of fifth year; and an audience of your
classmates is probably not ready for a paragraph on the subject "getting into the college of
your choice." Your audience also affects what you say about your subject. If the subject is a

new one for your audience, you may need to define some words and to give some
background information. On the other hand, an audience who knows more about the subject
may lose interest if you give them information they do not need. The age of the audience
also makes a difference in how you express your ideas. Young readers might not understand
a paragraph filled with difficult vocabulary words and long,
complicated sentences, but older readers would probably lose
interest in a paragraph written in very simple language.
- Know Your Subject
Knowing a subject means remembering its definition and
important points about it. For example, if you know about
audience, you should be able to answer the following questions.
1. In writing, what is the definition of the word audience?
2. How may the audience's knowledge of the subject affect the way you write?
3. How may the audience's age affect the way you write?

- Understand Your Subject

To understand a subject is to know its meaning. When you understand, you can do more
than remember definitions and important points. You can put ideas into your own words,
and you can summarize them. You can also recognize examples of ideas. The following
question can help you check your understanding of audience.

CHOOSING A SUBJECT
In Choosing a subject, think about what you know.
The experiences that you have every day can be the source for many subjects. You may be
directly involved in many experiences, such as hobbies and sports, family and school life,
and daily activities.
EXAMPLES:
Experience: playing soccer
Subjects: allowing seventh-graders to play on the school team the day I made
the team/ teaching soccer to a blind friend
Experience: being in the sixth grade
Subjects: why students should be allowed in the halls without passes/
how to get from one class to the other without getting killed in the crush/
the newest slang and what it means
Experience: television comedies about teen-agers
Subjects: what's wrong with television teens/
my favorite show and why I like it/
what parents would learn if they watched this show

In choosing a subject, think about your audience.

Your job as a writer is to interest and to inform your audience. Begin by thinking about your
subject. Are your readers likely to find it interesting? Can you develop it
with ideas and information they do not already know? The answers to
these questions depend somewhat on the ages, backgrounds, and
interests of your audience. Seventh-grade students, for example,
would probably have little interest in the subject of military
retirement pensions. A group of retired military officers, on the
other hand, would find the subject of teen-agers' allowances neither
interesting nor informative.
Good writers do not always select unusual or exciting subjects. Instead,
they may have a humorous or unusual point of view toward a fairly common subject. A
point of view. or viewpoint, is a way of looking at something.
Before deciding on a subject, ask yourself the following questions:
1. Is the subject something that I know about? Does it come from my own experience?
2. Will the subject be interesting and informative for my audience?
3. If the subject is not a new one, do I have a different way of looking at it?

DEVELOPING LIMITED TOPICS

Develop a limited topic that is suitable for the form of writing.
A subject is a broad area of knowledge. It often includes many people, places, events,
objects, animals, and so on, and often covers many years and a lot of distance. For example,
"heroes" is a broad subject. There have been heroes since history began, and there are heroes
all over the world. In fact, there have probably been thousands, if not millions, of heroes.
You may be interested in the subject "heroes," but you are not yet ready to write about it.
First, you must develop a suitable limited topic.
A limited topic is narrower than a subject. It includes
fewer people, places, events, and objects and covers
less time and distance. A limited topic allows you to
give your readers specific, interesting information
about a smaller area of knowledge. For example,
even if you wrote a long book about the subject
"heroes," you could not give much specific
informationthe
subject is too large. You could not spend much time
talking about any one specific hero or any one
specific heroic event. Therefore, you would have to
limit the subject. Generally speaking, the shorter the
piece of writing, the more limited the subject must be. For example, the topic "heroes of
Israel" might be suitable for a composition. For a paragraph, however, the topic must be
limited further.

GATHERING INFORMATION
Gather information for writing.
Sometimes you write about topics that are new to you. For these topics, you find ideas by
going to outside sources such as books and magazines. At other times, you write about
topics from your own experiences.
The methods you will use to gather information include brainstorming, clustering, asking
questions, and changing points of view. These methods may also be useful for two other
steps in the writing processsearching for subjects and identifying limited topics.
- Brainstorming
Use brainstorming to gather ideas for writing.
Brainstorming takes advantage of how easily ideas seem to come when your mind is
relaxed. To brainstorm, simply write down a subject or topica word or phraseon a blank
sheet of paper. Then let your mind wander over the subject or topic, thinking of ideas about
it. Write down ideas as quickly as they come to you, even if they seem silly at the time. If
you have trouble thinking of ideas at the beginning, try copying your original word or phrase
over and over for a minute or so. Ideas may sometimes come to you as single words and
sometimes as phrases or even whole sentences.
Example: Working either alone or in a group, brainstorm a list of ideas about the topic.
1. The best movie of the year
2. The advantages of outdoor concerts
3. How to run a bake sale or a carwash

- Clustering
Use clustering to gather ideas for writing.
Clustering, like brainstorming,
involves relaxing the mind so that
ideas can come. This time, however,
the ideas are arranged in groups, or
clusters.
To cluster, write down a subject or
topica word or phrasein the
middle of a sheet of paper. Draw a
circle around the subject or topic.
Then think of ideas about it. Write
down these ideas and circle them
also. Connect them to the subject or
topic with straight lines.
Example:

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- Asking Questions
Ask yourself questions as a way of gathering ideas.
Asking questions about subjects and topics can help you think of ideas you already know
and discover what you need to find out. A good set of questions to ask is that used by
reporters:
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? The 5 W-How? questions, as they are called, help
reporters to be certain that they have covered all the basic information about a story.
Depending on the subject or topic you are exploring, some of the questions may have more
than one part, but not all of the questions will apply to every subject and topic.
EXAMPLE

Subject: Pirates
Who were some of the more famous pirates?
A few of the more famous pirates were Sir Henry Morgan, Blackbeard, and William Kidd.
What were pirates?
Pirates, sometimes called "adventurers of the seas," were cutthroats who raided and looted
ships of almost all nations.
Where did pirates operate? Where did they hide their treasures?
Pirates operated most often off the coasts of South and Central America and the West
Indies. According to many stories, pirates most often buried their treasures on islands in the
Caribbean. Also, in the seas around North and South America and the West Indies, there are
many sunken ships filled with pirates' captured goods.
When did pirates operate?
As early as the first century B. C., pirates, who captured Julius Caesar and held him for
ransom, were part of the seafaring life. Pirates were most active, however, between
the 1400's and the 1800's.
Why did pirates operate so successfully during these years? Pirates flourished by preying on
ships that carried home rich cargoes from the newly discovered Americas and the West
Indies. These ships, often loaded with gold, silver, and priceless cloth and spices,
traveled by themselveseasy prey for the daring pirates.
How did the pirates operate?
The pirates preyed on isolated ships. After overtaking the ship, firing upon it if necessary,
they used grappling hooks to pull alongside. Once aboard, they overcame the crew and
seized the ship.
To be effective, the questions should be answered as completely as possible. When you can
ask a question but do not know the answer, try using library sources to find the information.

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GROUPING INFORMATION
Sort information into groups.
- Classifying
When you sort details into groups, you classify them. A first step in classifying is to think
about the purpose of your writing. Cross out any details that do not relate to that purpose.
For example, one writer gathered the following list of details about the topic "history of
pirates." The writer's purpose is to explain the topic. Which detail should be crossed from
the list?
Sir Henry Morgan
declined after 1800's
earliest pirates in first century B.C.
Blackbeard
overtook ship and pulled alongside
most active between 1400's and 1800's
boarded ship and overcame crew
William Kidd
preyed on isolated ships loaded with cargo
remember seeing old pirate movies on TV
The last detail in this list is about seeing old pirate movies. This detail would not help the
writer achieve the purpose and can be crossed from the list.
The next step is to sort the details. Begin by asking yourself questions about them such
as the following ones:
1. Do any of the details name people, places, things, or events?
2. Do any of the details describe something or someone?
3. Do any of the details tell when or where something happened?
4. Do any of the details tell how something happened?
Three of the details in the list about pirates name famous people (pirates). Three other
details tell when something happened (when pirates operated), and the remaining three tell
how something happened (how pirates operated). The writer now has three groups of details.
A heading for each group tells what
the details in the group are about.
Famous pirates
Sir Henry Morgan
Blackbeard
William Kidd
History of pirates
declined after 1800's
earliest pirates in first century B.C.
most active between 1400's and 1800's
Methods of pirates
overtook ship and pulled alongside
boarded ship and overcame crew
preyed on isolated ships loaded with cargo

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ARRANGING INFORMATION
Arrange your ideas in order.
Once details are sorted into groups, the next step is to arrange them in order. The order in
which you arrange details often depends on your purpose for writing. For example, consider
the following two groups of details about pirates.

History of pirates
declined after 1800's
earliest pirates in first century B.C.
most active between 1400's and 1800's
Methods of pirates
overtook ship and pulled alongside
boarded ship and overcame crew
preyed on isolated ships loaded with cargo

In writing about the first group of details, the writer's purpose is to tell about events that
happened over a period of time. Such events are usually arranged in the order in which they
happened.
History of pirates
earliest pirates in first century B.C.
most active between 1400's and 1800's
declined after 1800's
The second group of details explains a method, or process. Such details are usually
arranged in the order in which they are done.
Methods of pirates
preyed on isolated ships loaded with cargo
overtook ship and pulled alongside
boarded ship and overame crew

There are other ways to arrange details. Details that describe, for example, are usually
arranged in the order that your eye moves across them, from left to right, right to left, up to
down, and so on. In grouping and arranging details before beginning to write, you are
preparing an outline of your ideas. In later chapters, you will learn more about how to
prepare different types of outlines.

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II. WRITING
The writing stage usually involves making two or more drafts. (A draft is a rough sketch of
a piece of writing.) Depending on the form of writing, most writers make at least two drafts
for a piece of writing, and some make many more.

WRITING A FIRST DRAFT

Write a first draft.
The first draft is your first attempt at arranging and developing your ideas about a topic in
sentences and paragraphs. Before you begin this stage of the writing process, you may
already have done some writing. You may have jotted down some ideas that you gathered,
and you may have grouped your ideas, perhaps in an outline. If so, keep these pieces of
writing in front of you as you begin the first draft.
Remember that the steps of the writing process are not done in rigid order. For example, as
you write your first draft, you may find that your topic is not suitably limited or that you
need more details or that you need to rearrange details. In addition to moving "backward"
through the writing process, you may also find yourself moving "forward," for many writers
begin revising as they are writing the first draft. They may change words or sentences as
they go along, rather than waiting until they have finished the entire first draft.
As you write this first draft, keep in mind the decisions that you made in the prewriting
stage.
1.
2.
3.
4.

What is the purpose for writing?

What is the audience?
What is the subject? Is it suitable for the audience?
What is the limited topic? Is it suitable for the form of writing?

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III. REVISING
As you wrote your first draft, you may have done some revising, changing a word or
sentence here and there. When you finish writing, however, you should look back at the
entire draft. As
you do, rethink earlier decisions you made about purpose and audience. Based on this
rethinking, you may decide to add or to take out details or to arrange them in a different
order.

REVISING YOUR FIRST DRAFT

Revise your first draft.
Think about finding a picture that you drew at a much earlier age. At the time you drew it,
you probably thought the picture was a good one. Now you seem to be looking at the picture
through the eyes of a different, more objective person. You see that the lines are wobbly and
the colors unsuitable. In the same way, putting your first draft away for a day or two, or even
longer if possible, can help you to look at it from a more objective point of view. You may
see, for example, that you did not explain one idea clearly enough or that some sentences are
too complicated for your audience. Decisions such as these are the basis for your revision.
In the revision stage, there are three kinds of changes that you can make. When you change
ideas by adding, substituting, or deleting details, you make changes in content. When you
change the way in which details are arranged, you make changes in organization. A third
kind of change is in style. Style has to do with the kinds of words and sentences you use. For
example, do you use vivid adjectives and adverbs? Concrete and specific nouns? Are your
sentences smooth and clear? Do you use a variety of kinds of sentences? Before beginning
your second draft, study the Guidelines for Revising. Read your first draft over carefully,
checking it against the questions in the guidelines. If you answer "no" to one or more
questions, rethink that part of your paper. Sometimes your teacher may ask you to exchange
papers with one or more of your classmates. In this situation, you become an audience
whose purpose is to help the writer by offering specific suggestions for revision. The
Guidelines for Revising can help you in making these suggestions.
GUIDELINE FOR REVISING

1. Is the subject interesting and informative for the audience?

2. Is the content suited to the age and interests of the
audience?
3. Are ideas expressed in a way that is suitable for the audience? For example, are simpler
vocabulary words and less complicated sentences used for younger audiences?
4. Is the topic suitably limited for the form of writing?
5. Is the topic well developed with details suitable for the purpose?
6. Are details organized according to some logical order?
7. Does the arrangement of details reflect the purpose for writing?

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STYLE
1. Does the writing have fresh and exact adjectives and adverbs?
2. Do vivid verbs help to convey action?
3. Is there a variety of kinds of sentences?
4. Are sentences smooth and clear?
5. Do sentence beginnings vary?

IV. PROOFREADING
Proofreading is checking for mistakes in usage and mechanics. Mistakes in mechanics are
inaccuracies in capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

PROOFREADING YOUR REVISED DRAFT

Proofread your revised draft.
When you have finished revising your paper, you are ready for proofreading, the next stage
in the writing process. Proofread your paper only after you have finished revising it. If you
must
recopy your revised draft, do so before you proofread. Then, if possible, put your paper
away for a few days. This time away will help you spot problems more easily.
A good method to use is to cover all but the bottom line of your text with a blank sheet of
paper. After proofreading this line, move the blank paper up, uncovering one line of text at a
time. This "backward" way of proofreading also helps you to be more objective. The
proofreading symbols are those writers use to insert corrections into their texts. These
guidelines will help you to be certain that you are checking for all possible mistakes.
GUIDELINES FOR PROOFREADING

1. Do plural verbs have plural subjects? Do singular verbs have singular subjects?
2. Are verb forms and tenses used correctly?
3. Are troublesome verbs such as sit/set, rise/raise, and lie/lay used correctly?
4. Are subject and object forms of pronouns used correctly? 5. Are the comparative forms of
adjectives and adverbs used correctly?
6. Are double negatives avoided?
7. Does every sentence begin with a capital letter? Are all proper nouns and proper
adjectives capitalized?
8. Are all words spelled correctly? Have spellings been checked in a dictionary?
9. Are sentences punctuated correctly? Does every sentence end with a punctuation mark?
10. Is every sentence a complete sentence, not a fragment or run-on?

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V. MAKING THE FINAL COPY

MANUSCRIPT FORM
Make the final copy, following suitable manuscript form.
The teacher directs to recopy the final draft, using suitable manuscript form. A manuscript is
any handwritten or typewritten composition. Although there is no single correct way to
prepare a manuscript, the following standards are widely accepted. Students follow the
teacher's directions.
1. Use white paper A4 in size for typewritten papers, and ruled composition paper for
handwritten ones.
2. Write on only one side of a sheet of paper.
3. Write in blue or black ink, or type. If you type, double-space the lines.
4. Leave a margin of about two inches at the top of a page and margins of about one inch
each at the sides and bottom.
The left-hand margin must be straight; the right-hand margin should be as straight as you can
make it.
5. Indent the first line of each paragraph about one-half inch from the left margin.
6. Follow your teacher's instructions for placing your name, the class, and the date on the
manuscript.
7. If your paper has a title, write it in the center of the first line. Do not enclose the title in
quotation marks. Skip a line between the title and the first line of your composition.
8. If the paper is more than one page long, number the pages after the first one. Place the
number in the upper right-hand corner, about one-half inch from the top.
9. Write legibly and neatly. Form your letters carefully, so that the n's do not look like us,
the a's like o's, and so on. Dot the i's and cross the t's. If you have to erase, do it neatly.

The present handout has been adapted form Warriners English Grammar and Composition Book (1986), Liberty Edition.

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