Hello! My name is Kylie, and welcome to The Writing Process: Getting It Done.
In the previous video about the writing process,
you learned how to get started and how to create a draft of your very own work.
In this video,
you'll learn the process of finishing your writing so that you can go from a
draft to a published final copy that can be read and enjoyed by many people.
Let's look at five main steps in the writing process again.
In the previous video we talked about pre-writing, brainstorming,
and drafting.
Now, we will continue with revising,
editing,
and publishing. Let's look at these final steps.
After you've written a draft, you can look at your writing more closely.
In the revision stage,
you are making decisions about your work and making general changes,
but you are still not looking at spelling, grammar, or punctuation.
It is a good idea to take some time away from your draft before you begin
revising. Go for a walk or eat a snack,
or maybe even come back to it in a day or two.
Taking a break from your writing lets you really return with a clear mind so
that you can really improve it. When you are ready to revise,
read your work aloud. Then ask yourself some questions.
First of all, ask yourself if you are tackling the reason for writing.
Remember your purpose? Does this piece of writing address your purpose?
Does it do what you meant for it to do? Does it teach something?
Does it tell a story? Does it express an opinion?
Are you doing a good job of trying to persuade your readers to see things your
way? Next, ask yourself if you are staying on topic.
Does your writing focus on one main idea or did you go off in a few different
directions with different topics?
Then ask yourself if you would like the order of your writing the way it is,
or if you wanna change it. Does anything need to be moved to a different part?
Does anything need to be added? Do you need to delete anything?
Can any part be written better?
Make these fixes at this stage. If you're doing it with technology,
it is rather easy to make changes. If doing it with pen and paper,
you do not need to rewrite everything.
Simply draw arrows or use proofreading marks directly on your work.
You'll learn more about proofreading marks in the next stage. Once you've gotten
your writing to a point where it is in the correct order and on topic,
now it is time to edit your work. This is my favorite part.
Editing your work is where you start to look at spelling, punctuation,
and grammar. To help with editing,
you can also check out other language arts videos.
If you are editing on a computer or using other technology,
you can make the changes directly on your piece of writing.
Once again, if you are using pen and paper,
you can use a ton of different proofreading marks, like these.
You should also use an editing checklist to help make this task a lot easier and
help you not miss any errors.
Here's a basic editing checklist to get you started. Ask yourself...
Did I write in complete sentences?
Did I use capital letters correctly?
Did I correct punctuation? Hmm...
Could I change any words?
Is my spelling correct?
Did I use the proper form for the type of writing I chose?
Is my work neat and easy to read?
After editing your work,
you can still check it by letting your peers or an adult read over your work,
read it aloud with you, or read it aloud with yourself.
When listening to it being read,
you can again ask yourself if you could use more interesting or descriptive
words. You can use a thesaurus to help find synonyms.
Also,
listen to make sure your sentence length and structure is not the same for every
sentence. To make your writing better,
you can have some sentences longer than others,
and you don't always need to start them the same way every time.
The more you vary your sentences,
the more interesting your writing will be to reap.
You can check out our synonyms, antonyms,
and vocabulary games to help you improve your vocabulary skills and use bigger
and more fun words in your writing.
Once you've gone over your work very carefully, edited it
using our checklist, and had others read it, you are ready to publish.
Choosing how to publish your work can be very fun and gives you a chance to show
your creative side. Of course,
if you are publishing your work to submit to a teacher, a writing contest,
or to be published through a specific place, like our site,
you must be sure to follow those directions very carefully.
For example,
some guidelines may require you to use a specific size font or letter
size,
how much space to leave around your writing (called margins on the paper),
or how many words you should write. If you're writing for fun,
you can really get creative. You can type it on an old fashioned typewriter,
write it in cursive or print, use colorful ink,
draw pictures or use fancy paper — maybe even paper that you dyed.
You can put it in a binder or use a hole punch and yarn to bind the pages
together. You can write a letter and mail it to a friend or a family member.
You can also purchase a wide variety of notebooks and blank bound books to
record your writing in.
One great way to publish your work is to submit it to our weekly newspaper.
You can also send it to a child's writing site that publishes kids' writing.
An example for this is Stone Soup,
a magazine written by kids that has been started many years ago and has writers
from all over the world.
You can also just email your work to friends and family,
or even record a video of you reading your piece.
We believe in you. No matter what you wanna write, you can do it.
Remember to always get your parent permission before sending in your work to any
site or sharing using email or texting.
Going from a blank page to a published piece of writing is very satisfying.
Knowing that there are steps we can take makes the writing process a lot more
fun and a lot less daunting.
You can prepare for writing by testing your knowledge on our fun online games
and quizzes.
And remember to always keep writing, and editing, and publishing!