Contributor: Peggy Herisson. Lesson ID: 12999
Even the most famous writers don't get it right the first time! Writers must get the reader's attention, then give them something to read. The draft gets those words on paper, ready for you to polish!
You've come this far with your brilliant idea, and now it's time to put your pen to paper and become a poet of pizzazz with the next step in the writing process!
In the previous lesson of our Steps to the Writing Process series, found under Related Lessons in the right-hand sidebar, you learned that brainstorming is an important part of the prewriting step.
By creating lists and using visual mapping, you were able to come up with a fantastic topic for your paper!
Now, it is time to develop a way to tickle your readers' thoughts by learning the writing step!
Writing: applying the hook and drafting!
The writing portion of the writing process involves creating a hook and drafting, or creating the body (the information) of your document.
A hook is the first part of the introduction of the piece, that captures the interest of the reader. The introduction also includes the bridge, a statement that connects the hook to the thesis. The thesis, the final part of an introduction, is the section that presents the main idea and explains what the reader will discover in the rest of the document.
A good hook will sometimes ask a question of the reader or provide a statement to intrigue the reader. To get a feel for how a good hook will provide curiosity and inspire further reading of your writing, take a look at a few examples of the process of developing a strong introduction!
Informational Writing for Kids- Episode 4: Writing an Introduction, by Teaching Without Frills:
How to write a thesis for beginners, by Andrew:
Wow! There are quite a few items that go into creating a great introduction! Start developing your introduction using the chart below. Your introduction should include all of these elements:
Now, let’s take a look at drafting a document.
Drafting
In essence, drafting is putting together your ideas about the topic that you have chosen. In the previous Related Lesson, you created a map of your ideas. This was the outline for the actual writing of the essay. Now, it is time to develop those ideas and start producing the written work.
A new paragraph would include a separate set of texts that organize the ideas of a writer’s topic.
The first attempt at putting together a piece of writing is considered a rough draft. It is important to have a rough draft because it allows you to develop and make changes. This is where you can determine if you need more research for your topic, or if you even need to change your topic idea. There may also be a second and third draft because you will make changes every time you re-read your document.
The draft includes a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a conclusion.
There may be more than one paragraph in your writing. Each paragraph begins with the topic sentence and is followed by supporting sentences to convey an idea.
Paragraphs are an important part of written documents. They must be supportive, strong, and considerate. Paragraphs must support the main idea of the writing.
Finally, your writing's conclusion restates the thesis from the introduction. It reminds the reader of the most important points and arguments in the paper or writing. The conclusion reminds the reader what ideas the author — YOU! — was trying to convey.
Watch the following videos by Teaching Without Frills for a better understanding of how to create a draft and a conclusion.
Realistic Fiction Writing for Kids Episode 4: Writing a Draft:
Realistic Fiction Writing for Kids Episode 5: Writing a Closing:
Now, you can flip the page to the Got It? section, start your rough draft, and continue to learn about the writing step of the writing process!