STANI MEMORIAL COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY, PHAGI –JAIPUR

LECTURE PLAN FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2023-24

BRANCH: Common for all YEAR/ SEMESTER: year / Semester

TEACH METHODOLOGY: Lecture / O.H.P/ LCD/ Case Study/ Role Play / Any Other

FACULTYNAME: DATE: L NO.:

SUBJECT: Technical Communication Unit -

TOPIC: Writing, Drafts and Speaking

1 Introduction:- Writing is a process that involves several distinct steps: prewriting,

drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. It is important for a writer to work through
each of the steps in order to ensure that he has produced a polished, complete piece.
The writing process is not always linear. A writer may move back and forth between
steps as needed. For example, while you are revising, you might have to return to the
prewriting step to develop and expand your ideas.

2. Important explanation:-

Prewriting:- Prewriting is anything you do before you write a draft of your document. It
includes thinking, taking notes, talking to others, brainstorming, outlining, and gathering
information. Although prewriting is the first activity you engage in, generating ideas is
an activity that occurs throughout the writing process. During prewriting a writer will
choose a manageable topic, identify a purpose and audience, draft a sentence that
expresses the main idea of piece, gather information about the topic, and begin to
organize the information. Examples of prewriting include brainstorming, freewriting, and
questioning. Many people find it helpful to use a shape planner or graphic organizer to
organize their thoughts during the prewriting process.

Drafting:-The second step of the writing process involves drafting. During drafting, the
writer puts his ideas into complete thoughts, such as sentences and paragraphs. The
writer organizes his ideas in a way that allows the reader to understand his message.
He does this by focusing on which ideas or topics to include in the piece of writing.
During drafting, the writer will compose an introduction to the piece and develop a
conclusion for the material. At the end of this step of the writing process, the author will
have completed a “rough draft.”

Drafting—The Process
The process of drafting a piece of writing begins with an analysis of the prewriting. The
author must use his prewriting notes to determine a focus for the piece. This may
involve narrowing the focus of the topic and perhaps identifying a purpose for the piece.

For example, an author may decide to write an essay about dogs. He could have
developed his prewriting notes with information about three topics relating to dogs:
Show dogs, working dogs, and dog racing. These are all topics that could stand alone
in an essay. During drafting, the author should choose just one of these topics for his
piece of writing.

Once he has chosen a topic, he should identify a purpose for the essay. For instance, if
the writing was meant to be informational, he might choose to write about working dogs,
his purpose being to impart information. On the other hand, if he chose to write a
persuasive essay, perhaps he would choose to write about dog racing, arguing for or
against this controversial topic. After determining a purpose for a piece of writing, it is
easy to begin drafting. Any information that is unrelated to the topic and its purpose
should be eliminated from the prewriting.

The author begins writing by composing an introduction to the piece. The purpose of
the introduction is not only to state the topic of the piece, but it should also draw the
reader in to the piece of writing. For young children, the introduction may be one
sentence stating the topic. More sophisticated writers will create an introductory
paragraph that identifies the topic, sets the purpose for the writing, and suggests how
the topic will be developed throughout the piece. The introduction to a piece of writing
should be interesting. The tone of the introduction will vary according to the topic. If an
author is writing a personal narrative, he might decide to begin with a creative quote
about his experience. When writing an informational essay, the tone of the introduction
must follow suit. It should be focused and informative.

A solid, interesting introduction sets the stage for the rest of the rough draft. An author
should begin drafting the piece by organizing his notes in a sequence that will make
sense to the reader. The focus should be on logical connections between topics. A
young writer will compose the body of a piece of writing by including detail sentences
related to the topic sentence. An older author should organize his writing in to
paragraphs. Each paragraph should include its own topic sentence. Smooth transitions
between paragraphs are important in creating a cohesive piece of writing, no matter the
subject. A writer should refer back to his prewriting to keep him on track and ensure
that the piece of writing maintains its focus.

A writer should complete a rough draft by composing a conclusion. The purpose of a

conclusion is to wrap up the piece of writing by connecting all of the related thoughts
and ideas. The best conclusions are creative, engaging, and leave few questions
unanswered in the mind of the reader. Younger students can conclude a piece of
writing with a simple sentence. Advanced writers should include a conclusion
paragraph.

Editing:- Upon completion of a rough draft, the writer should take on the first edit of his
work. Editing is an on-going process, not a one time event. When an author edits his
work, he is checking the piece for errors. These are typically errors in spelling,
punctuation, capitalization, and formatting (indenting of paragraphs, etc.). A writer
should be encouraged to edit as much of his own paper as possible. Early writers
should, with some prompting, be able to check a paper for correct capitalization and
punctuation. As a child ages, he will be able to correct other errors on his own. Some
students find it beneficial to read their work out loud while editing. This makes it easier
to find mistakes. Editing should not be a negative process. This is a time to work on
creating a polished piece of writing that will make the author proud. The author should
be reminded that he will need to edit his work at least two more times. He will
editbefore composing a final copy and then use the same process to check over his
final product.

Revising :- Revision involves analyzing the global level and paragraph level
organization of the document, and making changes to your draft on a global, paragraph,
and sentence level to ensure that:

 The document addresses its purpose

 The document supports any claims its makes (main claims and secondary
claims)
 The structure of the document is logical and supports the purpose and main
claims

Editing involves looking at each sentence carefully, and making sure that it’s well
designed and serves its purpose.

Proofreading involves checking for grammatical and punctuation errors, spelling

mistakes, etc. Proofing is the final stage of the writing process.

During revision, take the following steps:

1. Confirming Purpose and Main Claim: The first step in the revision process is to
confirm that the draft actually serves the purpose outlined in the introduction. In case
the paper hasn’t done so, you need to either revise your purpose, or revise the paper so
that it addresses the purpose. While this may seem straightforward, it is very possible
for goals to change during the writing process.

If your paper is persuasive, then your paper will likely also have a main claim. For
example, if your purpose is to recommend a solution to a given problem, then your main
claim will be to follow recommendations A, B, and C. Even if your goal is simply to
evaluate several options, you will be making claims about each of those options (i.e.
one is best, or that there are certain advantages/disadvantages to each option). During
the revision process, ensure that your main claim is clearly stated in the paper (usually
at the end) and that the paper supports that main claim adequately. Each section of the
paper should be doing something to support this claim.

2. Identifying and Checking Support for Major Claims: The main claim of the paper
will be supported by sub-claims; these will need to be adequately supported as well.
Ensure that you’ve provided sufficient supporting data (your own or from others) and
explained how that information supports your claims. For example, if your paper
recommends a solution (its main claim), one supporting claim would be that Solution X
has certain benefits. In order for that supporting claim to be warranted, you would have
to provide sources or data from your own work that confirm those benefits.

3. Check Against Your Outline: Begin the revision process by comparing your first
draft to your outline, and asking the following questions:

 Does your draft match your outline?

 If not, why not? Is your revision to the outline warranted, or would your original
structure be better?
 Where are the gaps in information in your draft; where might you have to add
more information? What information is unnecessary, or tangential?

After this stage, you may choose to move sections around, add or subtract information.
Essentially, you’re re-evaluating your original outline from a different perspective (after
you’ve written the draft).

4. Identify and Evaluate Transitional Strategies: Transitions are the points at which
we move between ideas in writing. They play a particularly important role in between
sections and paragraphs, but operate within paragraphs as well. At each section break
in your outline, you should be able to identify a transition strategy. Some transitional
strategies include:

 Logical: the last idea of the previous section/paragraph is the first idea of the next
 Phrasal: using explicit wording to create a shift in writing/develop a relationship
between the ideas in the previous and next sections/paragraphs
 Structural: Using similar sentence structure to create a relationship between
 Verbal: Using key words to establish a relationship between sections/paragraphs

Checking for transitions is a way to evaluate ‘flow’ or coherence of a document. A

transitional strategy is effective when it helps create coherence in a document – when it
helps clarify the relationships between ideas in a piece of writing.

5. Checking on a Paragraph Level: With each paragraph, you should be able to:

 Easily identify a prominent and accurate topic sentence (near the beginning)
  Identify the paragraph’s role in its section and in the document as a whole
 Identify an organizational strategy or structure that the paragraph uses to
accomplish its purpose; assess whether or not that structure is an efficient one,
or if there may be a better structure

What is the difference between revising and editing?

Revision involves making major changes to a document’s content, structure, and/or

organization. Editing involves making sentence-level changes.

When a writer revises, he or she will usually...

 write and rewrite entire sections of the paper for the purpose of improving the
content;
 focus on the paper’s controlling ideas and the cohesion of ideas;
 and add, change, and/or delete large sections of the paper.

You are revising if you are…

 modifying your controlling ideas,
 especially your thesis or central argument;
 adding new information;
 moving around paragraphs or parts of paragraphs;
 removing unnecessary information; and/or changing your paper’s focus.

When a writer edits, he or she will usually…

 edit only after the paper has undergone major content and structural changes;
 focus primarily on sentence-level issues like sentence variety and word choice;
 and rearrange the sentence order of a particular paragraph or the word order of
a particular sentence.

You are editing if you are…

 deleting unnecessary words;
 rearranging words in sentences;
 and/or substituting less precise or effective words with more precise and
effective ones

3. Important examples with solutions:-

Q 1 What is prewriting?
Ans:- :- Prewriting is anything you do before you write a draft of your document. It
includes thinking, taking notes, talking to others, brainstorming, outlining, and gathering
information. Although prewriting is the first activity you engage in, generating ideas is
an activity that occurs throughout the writing process. During prewriting a writer will
choose a manageable topic, identify a purpose and audience, draft a sentence that
expresses the main idea of piece, gather information about the topic, and begin to
organize the information. Examples of prewriting include brainstorming, freewriting, and
questioning. Many people find it helpful to use a shape planner or graphic organizer to
organize their thoughts during the prewriting process.

Q 2 What do you understand by Editing in technical writing process?

Ans:- Upon completion of a rough draft, the writer should take on the first edit of his
work. Editing is an on-going process, not a one time event. When an author edits his
work, he is checking the piece for errors. These are typically errors in spelling,
punctuation, capitalization, and formatting (indenting of paragraphs, etc.). A writer
should be encouraged to edit as much of his own paper as possible. Early writers
should, with some prompting, be able to check a paper for correct capitalization and
punctuation. As a child ages, he will be able to correct other errors on his own. Some
students find it beneficial to read their work out loud while editing. This makes it easier
to find mistakes. Editing should not be a negative process. This is a time to work on
creating a polished piece of writing that will make the author proud. The author should
be reminded that he will need to edit his work at least two more times. He will
editbefore composing a final copy and then use the same process to check over his
final product.

4. Summary:-

[Link] questions:-

Q 1 Describe the technical writing process in brief?(Rtu 2018)

Q 2 Discuss the main steps of the technical writing ?
Q 3 1 What is prewriting?
Q4. What do you understand by Editing in technical writing process?

[Link] :-

1 Technical communication book by Dr. Kusumlta bhardwaj

7. Faculty Name :-

[Link] by HOD