DoDEA: Dahlgren School -- The Writing Process Page

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Last Update 07/26/2005

Dahlgren School
The Writing Process Page

Welcome to the Writing Process Page at Dahlgren School. One of our SIP goals is to help our students to be the best writers they can be. We have standardized our writing terminology and determined which proofreader marks are best suited for our editing process. Parents, you can help your student by using this terminology at home.

Here are the steps, along with a few useful Internet links and some sample handouts! (note: the appearance of hyperlinks on this page does not constitute an endorsement by DoDEA, the Department of Defense, or the U. S. Government.)

Thanks for your help and support!

Step 1: Pre-Write
Step 2: Draft
Step 3: Revise
Step 4: Edit
Step 5: Publish

Step 1. Pre-Write. This important step involves planning and thinking about what you want to write.

Think about your audience--who will read your document?

Think about what you want to talk about

Gather information about your topic--take notes

Brainstorm a list of ideas

Organize your list--put your thoughts together

Graphic organizers can help--they provide a visual picture of your topics

You can view samples at Graphic Organizer Index and S.C.O.R.E. Language Arts

We generate organizers on the computer with Kidspiration and Inspiration

Print your own Graphic Organizer Worksheets

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Step 2. Draft. This key step is the process of putting your ideas on paper in rough draft form.

Develop the ideas you formulated in Step 1.

Put them in a sensible sequence

Write your first draft

Simple hints for first drafts are available at Homework Helper: Writing Skills

If your student has access to technology, consider allowing him/her to use a word processor to draft the text

Let others read it and offer advice

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Step 3. Revise. This significant step, often overlooked by beginning writers, involves a review of your work to make it better.

Re-read what you've written and think about advice you've received from others

What do famous authors do?

Make sure your intro sentence grabs the reader’s attention and gives a hint about what to expect

Make sure you stay on topic; take out parts that aren’t about your subject

Replace over-used words as well as words that could be more descriptive

Make your writing flow by rearranging words and sentences, adding text to make things clearer, and/or removing text if it does not make your writing better

Think of ways to Revise your paper

Follow this helpful checklist to make sure you did your best

Make sure your ending sentence ends with a bang and sums up your paragraph

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Step 4. Edit. When you finish revising your text, it is time to edit. Some people mistake revising for editing, but they are actually two separate concepts.

Correct spelling and grammar mistakes

Practice editing at Power Proofreading (grades 2-8)

Fix capitalization and punctuation errors

Use our standard proofreading marks to edit your paper

Make sure all words are used correctly

Redo, if necessary, to make your work look nice and neat

Ask someone to check your work

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Step 5. Publish! This most important step involves sharing your work with others.

Read your work aloud

Bind it in a book or report

Hang it in the hall for others to see

Publish it on the Internet (no names, just initials, please)

Place it in a portfolio of your projects

Most of all, be proud of a job well done!

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Page Last Updated: July 26, 2005