WRITING
# Writing - is to compose what you have thought.
Think clearly before you begin to write
THE RPOCESS OR STEPS OF WRITING
PLANNING
WRITING
RIVISING
WRITING AND THINKING
The Method of Thinking
There are two common methods of thinking, they are induction and deduction.
Induction seeks to establish a general truth or conclusion. The inductive process begins by using observation or specific facts. It classifies these facts, look for similarities among them, and from a sufficient member of these facts draws a conclusion. Movement of thought is always from a particular to the general.
Deduction begins by taking a general conclusion which is then used to establish a specific fact. Movement of thought is from the general to the particular.
THE PARAGRAPH
First, you must think clearly about what you want to say and the conclusion you want your reader to reach. You must understand your subject thoroughly. Absolute familiarity with your topic is the foundation for writing a clear, concise writing.
Secondly, you must understand your reader.
Writing is done with process or steps. It is not a single process, it is an operation consisting of three parts. Each of these parts or steps is dependent upon the others.
The three parts are:
- Planning
- Writing
- Revising
If you could sit down to write what you have thought and not to sit down to think what you will write. The difficulty is actually putting words on paper could lessen. You can do if you approach writing gradually by planning ahead or prewriting.
Prewriting has been called “Writing on a hoof”. This is meant “Writing” all the time as you go about your daily activities. Whether you realize it or not, you are constantly tossing about ideas while walking, eating, talking, working, reading, and even sleeping. If you can pull together these ideas for your writing, you will be doing what professionals do.
Have you uttered any remarks to yourself before saying them aloud? Have you thought any letters or paper before writing them down? This kind of thinking ahead is not often considered writing, but it is a fact. It is an essential part of writing.
Form of the habit of jotting down in a notebook or diary some of the thoughts and impressions that come to you each day. If you do this, you may find that you have great deal of material that you can use in your paper.
Planning involve selecting something to write about and narrowing that subject into one segment which becomes a manageable topic. Next comes consideration of whom you intend to write for and what purpose you hope to achieve. Prewriting step is also gathering material to develop your topic. This material may come from varied sources, yourself not least important among them. The final step in prewriting is shaping (outlining) the material you have assembled.
Assume, for example, that you have recently visited a Planetarium and had an exciting experience. You have never been particularly interested in any science – certainly not astronomy. You believe that planetarium visit will be both educational and exciting. So you phrase a title “I saw stars” and a limited subject “a trip to planetarium can be an informative and humbling experience”.
With general plan in mind, you list several items that might be useable. Some of these will come from your own experience; some will require the knowledge of others to be secured from conversation and reading. Such a list might begin like this:
What is a planetarium?
What does one look like?
History of planetarium I visited.
My talk with planetarium guide.
Location
Cost of operation
My recommendation and suggestion about planetarium visit.
Best day to go to avoid crowds and admission fees.
If you have thought out subject so that you know what you intend to do with it, you ought to be able to state the central purpose of your theme. You might then jot down the following on a work sheet:
Limited Subject: A trip to a planetarium can be an informative and humbling experience.
Possible Title: I saw stars
Reader: Students and employees interested in science, especially in astronomy.
Short Summary: A planetarium is a place to show the way stars movements. It looks like …
Probable Method: Mostly explanation with some narrative and descriptive details.
When the basic decisions involved in planning are completed, you can then concentrate on the actual writing, putting words on paper. The act of writing consist of carrying out preplanned decisions though a draft that may or may not be complete and that will certainly need revision.
When your first draft is completed, you are ready for the third, and final step. This involves revision and usually considerable actual writing.
In everything anyone writes, error of some sort are inevitable, writers know from experience that first drafts are rarely satisfactory. Unless a writing has been thoroughly preplanned and “Written in your head” many times, it is likely to contain errors in thinking, in organization, in logical development, and in sentence and in paragraph structure. Even if your paper contains no such flaws, it almost contains to reveal errors in punctuation, spelling, and mechanics.
From the following general subjects, select four about which you have information: Animals, Childhood, Dancing, Food, Friends, Illness, Memories, Movies, Music, Reading, Recreation, Sorrow, Sports, Success, Superstition, Vacation. Restrict each of the four chosen subjects to a specific, limited topic that you think interest a particular type of reader
Two basic problems are involved in whatever kind of writing you do:
1. Formulating ideas (Thinking)
2. Communicating your thoughts to the readers (Writing)
The two are inseperably linked because no one can think without using language, and no one should try to write without genuine thought (Formulated ideas).
There are two common methods of thinking, they are induction and deduction.
Induction seeks to establish a general truth or conclusion. The inductive process begins by using observation or specific facts. It classifies these facts, look for similarities among them, and from a sufficient member of these facts draws a conclusion. Movement of thought is always from a particular to the general.
Deduction begins by taking a general conclusion which is then used to establish a specific fact. Movement of thought is from the general to the particular.
The sentence is the unit of writing, but the paragraph may be termed the basic unit of thought. The very heart of learning to write effectively lies in paragraph development. Everyone has had the experience of writing a sentence or making a statement and then halting, aware that it needs expansion, certain that the idea standing alone seems bare and incomplete but unsure about how to “flesh it out”.
A paragraph is a group of statements of sentence developing an idea or topic. This idea may be independent or it may be one part of a larger topic. In other words, a paragraph may be part of a composition or a short composition in itself.
We can say that a paragraph is a series of sentence developing a statement called a topic sentence. The topic sentence tells the reader clearly what point will be made in the paragraph. A paragraph should have a unity.
Generally, the topic sentence is the first sentence of the paragraph. Occasionally, it may appear somewhere toward the middle or at the end of the paragraph depending upon contents and the writer’s method of organizing it.
Use the Topic Sentence as a Guide for the Paragraph
When you begin a paragraph with a topic sentence, you make a definite commitment to what you are about to discuss, and arouse the reader’s expectation. If your paragraph is successful, it will fulfill the promise in your initial sentence and satisfy the reader.
Consider how the following paragraph achieves both objectives. The topic sentence is shown in bold print.
With his telescope Galilio made some important astronomical discoveries. For instance, he discovered that there are satellites around the planet Jupiter. He saw that the moon was not flat as the people commonly believed, but it had high and low areas, and he even calculated the height of some of its mountains. Milky was revealed itself to him as a vast collection of stars, and by studying sunspots he reached the conclusion that the sun rotates.
The most common position of the topic sentence, as in the example above, is at the beginning of the paragraph. In a short writing of three or four paragraphs, each could begin with a topic sentence, but in a longer writing of perhaps eight or more paragraphs, placing the topic sentence at the beginning of every paragraph make the writing seems both mechanical and monotonous. It is then better to change the position of the topic sentence occasionally. It would not be difficult, for instance, to put the topic sentence of the example above at the end of the paragraph.
Galilio was the first man to discover that there are satellites around the planet Jupiter. He saw that the moon was not flat as the people commonly believed, but it had high and low areas, and he even calculated the height of some of its mountains. He perceived the Milky way as a vast collection of stars, and by studying sunspots he reached the conclusion that the sun rotates. Thus with his telescope Galilio was able to make some important contributions to astronomy.
The topic sentence can also be placed within the paragraph. When the topic sentence is placed within the paragraph, the sentence or sentences before it are usually introductory:
Many people have heard about the famous Leaning Tower of Pizza, but few know that pizza also has a University of ancient Origin. In about the year 1580 its most illustrious student was a mathematical genius named Galilio Galilei, who was soon to invert the hydrostatic balance, a thermometer, and a proportional compass. But Galilio’s greatest inventions was his telescope, which enable him to make some significant contributions to astronomy. It was the instrument that made it possible for Galilio to discover satellites around Jupiter, the unevenness of the moon’s surface, and the fact that the Milky way is a vast collection of stars. By studying sunspots, he was also able to infer the rotation of the sun.
METHOD OF PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT
Paragraph can be developed in a number of ways. No one way is necessarily better than another. All can be said to have one purpose in common: To make the readers see exactly and fully the point specifically made in the topic sentence or implied by the paragraph as a whole. Often writers can achieve this purpose best by a combination of method or another. Rather, they let the central idea determine the best way to make the readers visualize and understand it.
The only sure test of the worth of a paragraph is that of communication. Does it make the readers see, understand, and react to what you are writing? If you are developing an idea that might relate to your readers’ experience and understanding give instances and examples of what you have in mind. If the term you need to use may not be clear to your readers, define them. On occasion, you can compare and contrast the idea contained in the topic sentence with something you feel certain your readers already comprehend.
The methods of developing paragraphs are:
1. Develop a paragraph with particulars and ideas.
2. Develop a paragraph by instances and examples.
3. Develop a paragraph by comparison or content.
4. Develop a paragraph by definition.
5. Develop a paragraph by reasons or inferences.
6. Develop a paragraph by causes or effects.
7. Develop a paragraph by a combination of methods.
Each of these methods so far is useful, and examples of several of them can be found in every published essay or article.
Many paragraphs, however do not follow a single method, but use a combination of methods.
The following is one example of methods in combination:
1. Topic sentence
2. Amplification by contrasting statements
3. Cause
4. Effect
5. Illustration
As a whole, the paragraph supplies reasons to support the topic statement.
Example:
(1) Parents suggest their children to learn English in informal school in addition to their lessons in their formal school. (2) Learning in informal school like English Training center can study English effectively. (3) They can master English language more easily. (4) They realize that English language is an international language communication. (5) By mastering English language, they can easily add their knowledge by reading books written in English language.
Read the following paragraph carefully.
Inflation causes people to change their life style. Workers lose their jobs. They get angry and depressed. It is difficult for parents to buy all the unnecessary food for their families. Young people are unable to find jobs. They become discouraged and unhappy. Old people suffer the most. Their monthly pension checks are not enough to pay for their food, rent, clothing, and medical expenses. They felt the government should do something about the high cost of living.
ACTIVITIES:
1. Please tell the method used in the paragraph above!
2. Rewrite the model paragraph in the past. Your first sentence:
The last two years inflation caused people to change their lifestyles.
3. Write a report about some changes in your country within the last twenty years. Mention lifestyle, job situations, cost of living, and pensions.
4. Write a paragraph that supplies reasons to support its topic statement.