TheWritingProcess,Step1:Creating(Prewriting).
265Thefirststepinthewritingprocessistochoosea topicandcollectinformation
aboutit.Thisstepisoftencalledprewritingbecauseyoudothestepbeforeyou
startwriting.Ifyouaregivena specificwritingassignment(suchasanessayquestiononanexam-
ination),thenwhatyoucanwriteaboutis limited.However,whenyoucanchoose
yourowntopic,herearetwotipsformakinga goodchoice.1.Choosea topicthatinterestsyou.- Choosea topicthatfitstheassignment.
Ifyouarenotsurewhatinterestsyou,payattentiontowhatkindsofnews-
paperandmagazinearticlesyouread.Doyoureyesstopatstoriesabout newdis-
coveriesinscience?Doyouturnimmediatelytothetravel,sports,orentertainment
sectionsofnewspapers?Ifyou spendtimewatchingtelevisionorexploringthe
Internet,whatcapturesyourinterestwhenyouareflippingthroughTVchannelsor
surfingtheNet?
Supposeyouareinterestedin theenvironment,whichisa verylargetopic.Youmust
narrowthetopic-perhapstoenvironmentalpollution,ifthatis yourinterest.Environ-
mentalpollution,however,isstilla largetopic,soyoumustnarrowthetopicfmiher-
perhapstoonetypeofenvironmentalpollution,suchaspollutionoftheoceans.
Academicwriting,asthenameimplies,is thekindofwritingthatyouarerequired
todoincollegeoruniversity.It differsfromotherkindsofwriting,suchaspersonal,
literary,journalistic,orbusinesswriting.Itsdifferencescanbeexplainedinpartby
itsparticularaudience,tone,andpurpose.
Wheneveryouwrite,consideryourspecificaudience,thatis,thepeoplewho
willreadwhatyouhavewlitten.Inacademicwriting,youraudienceis primarilyyour
professorsorinstructors.Second,considerthetoneofyourwriting,yourstyleor
mannerofexpression.It is revealedbyyourchoiceofwordsandgrammaticalstruc-
turesandeventhelengthofyoursentences.Thetoneofa pieceofwritingcanbe,for
example,serious,amusing,personal,orimpersonal.Academicwritingis formaland
seriousintone.Finally,thepurposeofa pieceofwritingdeterminesitsorgan-
izationalpattern.A persuasiveessaywillbeorganizedinonewayanda comparison-
contrastessayinanotherway.
Writingisa processofcreating,organizing,writing,andpolishing.Inthefirst
stepoftheprocess,youcreateideas.Inthesecondstep,youorganizetheideas.In
thethirdstep,youwritea roughdraft.Inthefinalstep,youpolishyourroughdraft
byeditingit andmakingrevisions.The Process
ofA.cadelTIic Writing
SteplA.:
Cboosingand
Narrowing
aTClpic