Linking the Writing Process to the Writing Traits

Linking the Writing Process to the Writing Traits

Food for thought

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing – Benjamin Franklin

The true alchemists do not change lead into gold, they change the world into words – William H. Gass

Now that you have digested those edible thoughts, let us take a look at what was done in the previous LIT 102 class which was held on the 27^th September 2016. Pixies’ Dust

The inter-relatedness of the writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, publishing)and the 6+1 writing traits ideas, organization, voice, sentence fluency, word choice, convention, presentation) was studied.

The first quality of the 6+1 writing traits ‘ideas’, are a combination of prewriting, drafting and revising. Ideas are the content of a piece. Ideas further include the main message in the story, as well as the supporting details. The second trait ‘organizing’, is a combination of the drafting and revising stage. Organization is the structure of the writing piece; the sequence in which the essay is presented. Revising and editing can be found in the trait which promotes the use of colourful, vibrant and precise language that clearly expresses feelings, moods, likes and dislikes readers are able to picture mentally. This trait is known as ‘word choice’. Editing also corresponds to ‘sentence fluency’, ‘voice’ and ‘convention’. Sentence fluency refers how the sentences which make up the piece flow when read aloud. Voice is a sense of the writer’s personality within the piece. Voice within writing demonstrates the writer’s passion, feelings, individuality and enthusiasm that produces a bond between the reader and the writer. Convention includes spellings, grammar usage, punctuation, capitalization and paragraphing. It is the editing process of the piece.

The +1 trait is that of presentation. How inviting is the writing to readers despite well-developed sentences and ideas; despite proper grammar, appropriate spelling, punctuation, capitalization and paragraphing is defined as presentations. Presentation is quite similar to publishing.

In addition to the interrelatedness of the writing process and the 6+1 writing traits, we looked at the information sentences provide us with. This include tenses (past, present, future), the type (declarative, interrogative, imperative) and the structure (simple, compound, complex)

Below are some examples of sentences with the different tenses, structures and types.

Tenses

Sentence in the past tense – Yesterday was a beautiful day to go horseback riding.

Sentence in the present tense – Today is a beautiful day for horseback riding. 

Sentence in the future tense – Tomorrow will be a beautiful day for horseback riding.

Structure

Simple sentence – Jesse kicked the ball.            

Compound sentence – Jesse kicked the ball and broke Mrs Benn’s bedroom window.

            

Complex sentence – Mrs Benn was very upset because the ball Jesse kicked broke her bedroom window.

Types

Declarative sentence – Anya is a really good hairdresser.  

Interrogative – Do you know Anya, the hairdresser?

Imperative – Meet me at Anya’s Beauty Salon for 10:30 a.m.