Tracy Keck English Paper #2 Professor Whicker 2/3/12

With this paper I am trying to explain my writing process to readers. To discuss my issue with writing and how I focus to much on the pre write and not enough time on the writing and revising part of my paper. I think this because I spend so much time on my pre writing it takes me hours and I don t take as much time on my actual paper. I take to much time on the pre writing process and don t spend enough time on the writing of the paper and if it s a good use of my time or not. Because the pre writing lays the groundwork for my paper and it makes writing my paper a lot easier to write because I already have all my ideas down and the layout of my paper I just need to elaborate. I want readers to know that pre writing is an important part of the writing process and that you should spend a fair amount of time on it. If I was given more time I would look into other writers writing processes and compare them to mine.

Tracy Keck English Paper #2 Professor Whicker 2/3/12 How I Write A Paper

My biggest problem that I have when writing a paper is spending to much time on the pre-writing process and than have to hurry through the actual writing process and not always having time to make all my points clear and than I have to rush through the revision and rereading process just so I have a complete paper. When I begin the writing process I have some pre research and writing rituals. I need to get a nice warm cup of coffee and a snack than I listen to calm relaxing music to de-stress myself. I prefer to write in a semi quite area because when there is too much noise or no noise at all I get distracted. My writing process begins with me thinking about the topic I want to write on and trying to think of a good way to voice my opinion within my paper. I like to know what knowledge I already have on the topic before I begin the research process. I believe that it is important to have background knowledge on your topic so that you are more interested in learning more about the topic you are writing on.
Comment [n2]: I feel this sentence could be worded differently to help make it flow better with the rest of the paper. Comment [n1]: Try breaking into a different paragraph before talking about your rituals. To help establish an intro.

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Once I have written down my already known thoughts on note cards I begin my research process. When you start looking for research it is important to know

what is factual good information from a reliable source and what is crap. When you I go through information I usually look for multiple views on the topic I am discussing because it s important to have information from all sides. When I look for research I look for it in all types of sources because I think that its important for your paper to be very well rounded by getting information from a variety of sources. When I am reading through articles it is important to highlight important information so that you only use important facts. Always be aware that when writing its important to only pick out the important information and to not just highlight random information that is of to no pertinent use to your paper.

After I have gathered all my research information I read over everything I highlighted that I thought I wanted to use and make sure it s what I really wanted to get out of the research. Followed by rereading my information I start to compile all the information onto note cards. When compiling the information I like to categorize everything that goes together and put it on a note card. Then I put all my information that has been found onto note cards, than I put them in the order I want them to go into my paper. Finally I insert all of my information into an outline to get a feel for how I want my paper to be laded out.
Comment [n3]: Try combining these two thoughts; I put all my information onto separate note cards, then organize them based on when I want to use them in my paper.

During the outline process I add in thoughts that I have came up with through all my research into my outline along with the information I found into sections so that it helps me see the layout of the different paragraph transitions. I have found that an outline helps you write a more solid paper because than you

have a bases for what you want to say. All of these prewriting steps cause me to use so much of my time that when it comes time to write my paper I am becoming a little frazzled. I think its necessary to spend a lot of time on pre writing, I like to spend a lot of my time on pre writing because it lays the groundwork for my paper. By spending a lot of time of my pre writing it makes the actual writing process so much easier. When I am working on my pre writing always in the back of my head I am thinking about what my hard-hitting thesis statement will be about. The thesis statement becomes very important right off the bat because it s what you want your readers thinking about through your whole paper. Than comes the dreaded introduction I hate doing the introduction first because I find it very hard and challenging. More times than not I save my introduction till the end because I can never decide how to summarize what I want to say in the beginning, it usually takes me until the end of the paper to come up with a good introduction.

Due to the introduction getting kick to the end of my paper typically I just like to start into all my different with paragraphs. When I start in on the middle of my paper I like to include at least one of sentence of information that I found in the research of other s. By doing so I believe it lays the groundwork for each and every paragraph so that you know what to talk about. The being paragraph and the ending paragraph are always really good because that s what you want the reader to remember but the middle you just want to get all that information out. I struggle with consolidating my information and bringing it all together. Because I struggle

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with consolidation I have came to the understanding that it is very hard to have ever paragraph perfect.

The middle of your writing should always hold some sort of story that you can try to connect with your readers. In Junot Diaz article Becoming A Writer he explains how he couldn t write in the beginning and that it took practice and that he eventual got better and now he is a good writer. When you are writing an article it is important to try and make a connection with your readers so if you have a personal story you can tie in that s a good way to make connections with your readers. The middle of your paper can get messy so try and include as much information as you can but make sure you create a balance. To assure that you include the right amount of information I try to include some of my own original thoughts my findings and than expand on those within each paragraph along with the research I have found. Throughout this whole process it is important to keep a continuous flow going throughout your paper.

Once I am finally settled with the way the middle of my paper worked out I begin in on the conclusion. I like my conclusion to be hard hitting and to have a good closing point so that I keep the readers thinking about my topic. The conclusion is usually a struggling point for me also because I like to talk a lot and I struggle with when to close my paper. When I find a way to close my paper I am so excited and over joyed because I just want to be done with the paper at that point. Within the conclusion paragraph I find it very important to restate your thesis statement and to

reiterate your point, it also shows your readers that you have accomplished what you have set out to do by writing your paper. Through your conclusion paragraph it is important to reflect what the readers should have learned by reading this paragraph to make sure you did a good job while writing your paper.

Finally I have completed my paper and I always want to make sure to correctly site the work of the author s I used. When I do my work-cited page I try and make it look nice and look like I took time on it, because in high school I didn t care a lot about my works-cited page and would just pick random websites. Once I have completed all the steps to writing a good paper I go back through and reread my paper and make any necessary corrections I catch from rereading the paper. In Susan Sontag s article Directions: Write, Read, Rewrite. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 as Needed she says that even though the rewriting and revising process sounds like effort it should be the most pleasurable parts of the writing. I agree with Susan Sontag on this statement because rereading it is a reflection of your work and you should be happy and excited to read it and to be done with the assignment. Once I am done reading and revising my paper I give to a friend or family member to read to see if they catch anything and if they have any suggestions before I go to turn in the paper. If they have made any corrections that I miss I consider what they said and make any additional necessary changes so that when I go to turn in my paper I know I am turning in my best work.

Sontag, Susan. Directions: Write, Read, Rewrite. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 as Needed. New York City: New York Times, 2000. Print. Diaz, Junot. Becoming a Writer. Chicago: O The Oprah Magazine, 2009. Print.