The Writing Process for Consultants

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Clients may have different writing styles.

Top-down style• prefer to plan before

they write• often begin with

larger concepts or generalizations first, then work in details

• prefer outlines (hierarchies) to lists

Writing Styles Vary

Bottom-up Styles• begin with a draft, often

in the middle• organize, cut, and shape

after they have poured out all their ideas on paper

• prefer lists when they do plan

• Use journalists’ questions (who,

what, when, where, why)

• Brainstorm • List ideas• Freewrite• Cluster• Venn Diagram

Prewriting ActivitiesPrewriting Activities

• What is my subject? Is my purpose to inform or to persuade? • Which aspects of my subject should I emphasize? • Is my subject similar to another subject that may be familiar

to my readers? • If my subject is an event or object, what caused or created it?

Would understanding the cause or a precedent make it easier for my audience to understand my subject?

• What effects has my subject had or is it likely to have? Are the effects important or unexpected?

Questions to Help Develop Ideas?

Advice for Topic Selection

• The topic should be interesting to you.• The topic should be researchable.• The topic should not be too broad.• Avoid topics that are overworked.

Reminder: Do you need to have your topic approved?

Advice for Topic Selection

Thesis Statement Help• Developing a working

thesis should be among first priorities.

• The working thesis may change through the writing process.

Thesis Statement Help

Thesis Statement Template Use the following template to help you get started.

In this essay, I will (argue, defend, explain, demonstrate, analyze) that ____________________ because (1)_______________, (2)_________, and (3)_______________.

In this essay, I will demonstrate that the Aggienetwork is valuable because (1), (2), and (3).

Audience Analysis• What do your readers know about the subject? • What is their general level of education?• What are their values and attitudes?• What is your relationship to your readers?• What is your attitude toward your readers?• Why would they be reading your paper?• What questions would they have about this subject?• What kinds of responses do you wish to evoke?• What are their opinions about the subject?• What kinds of evidence are normally used to convince

this type of reader?

Audience Analysis

Advice for Organizing• Look at the questions you answered when you were

developing your working thesis.• Look at your prewriting.• Find the main ideas or categories of your thinking.• Put less important items under more important items.• Make an outline (or not—some people just start drafting but

do more drafts to make up for less planning).• Decide how you will set up your paper.• How can you organize the paper to achieve your objective?

• Introduction—provides context so readers know what you will be discussing; introduces thesis

• Body—the argument, discussion, etc.• Conclusion—restates the argument, wraps

up the discussion, recommends a solution.

Basic Organization

Organizing Comparison/Contrast

• Use the Venn diagram to find the similarities and differences between the two topics.

• Ways to set up your paper:– Subject by subject: This pattern discusses

Subject A, then Subject B, then how the subjects compare and contrast.

– Point by point: This pattern discusses each point and how Subject A compares or contrasts with Subject B on that point.

Organizing Comparison/Contrast

Organizing Argument

• Talk about any concessions or counter-arguments at the beginning of the paper to get them out of the way.

• One way to set up your argument:– 2nd strongest argument (We remember what we hear

first, second best.)– Weakest argument (We forget the stuff in the middle.)– Strongest argument (We remember what we hear last,

best.)• You want the last word.

Organizing Argument

Problem/Solution Organization

• Begin by describing the problem.• Then discuss the possible solutions that you

do not propose. Be fair. • Introduce your proposed solution.• To get the disadvantages of your solution out

of the way, talk about them first.• End with the advantages of your solution.

Problem/Solution Organzation

Advice for drafting• Follow your outline if you made one. • If you like to just get writing, don’t feel you have to

start with an introduction. Write down your thesis and begin to develop support.

• First drafts are usually very rough. You should revise it numerous times.

• In early drafts think more about getting the ideas on paper; in later drafts think more about tailoring to your reader’s needs and expectations.

Advice for Drafting

Advice for DraftingWhen you make a general

statement, be sure to support or elaborate your idea:– Facts– Opinions—especially the

opinions of experts on the subject

– Reasons– Examples– Cause/Effect

Advice for Drafting

More Drafting Advice

Check the paper’s development.– Are there sufficient details?– Is the logic valid?– Are the major points connected?– Are the relationships between them expressed

clearly?– Have you used transitions to help your reader see

the relationships?

More Drafting Advice

for Proofreading

• Put your paper aside for a few hours or longer before you proofread.

• Use spell check and grammar check, but they can trip you up, so also print out a copy and read slowly.

• Slow down your reading by reading aloud and tracing along with your finger.

• Enlist a fresh pair of eyes to help you—a collaborator, classmate, anyone but you.

• Better to make a neat correction on a finished paper than to turn it in with an error.

Advice for Proofreading

Advice for Revision

• Novices revise once, if at all. Experts revise many times, depending on the task.

• Start with global revision:– Changes in paragraph structure or order– Changes in content– Changes at the whole document level

Advice for Revision