Respect the Process

I am a big enthusiast of the Writing Process, so much so that I teach it in every English class that I teach.  I feel that it warrants discussion because it breaks writing up into smaller, manageable pieces that make the task less frightening.

Most students, especially college freshmen freak out when given a writing assignment.  They see that they have to write 3 pages, and begin to fret & think… “I won’t be able to write that much.”  Then they look at me like deer caught in headlights.  I assure them that they can do it.

I say… “I had to write a 25 page paper for a class one semester.  I was overwhelmed, but I broke it up into pieces, and I was able to write an “A” paper that the professor raved about.”  That usually impresses them and calms them down at the same time.

The Writing Process has 5 steps… prewriting, writing, revising, editing, and publication.  It is a process that takes the writer from inception to completion.  It makes the writing task easy to do because you do it step by step.

In pre-writing, you generate ideas and plan out the task.  This is very important, and a step that most of my students usually don’t do.  You think about your topic, come up with ideas of what to research (making notes on and about your research so that you can use it when writing your paper and to avoid plagiarism is important here), what to write about, and how to organize your essay.  You also write an outline or essay map in this step.  This is vital to the success and quality of your essay.  Without an outline or a map, you can ramble in your essay, creating an essay that has no logical flow.

When you write, that’s just what you do… WRITE!  You write out your words, or type out your words.  You do not focus on anything else other than getting the words on the page… no editing, no revising, no researching…  just writing!  (You may want to turn off the grammar/spell checker in your word processor when writing.) çNote to self!

As I tell my students… it’s okay to have errors in your writing at this step of the process.

When you revise, you look at the content… in other words… “Am I saying what I want to say, in the way that I want to say it?”  “Does this make sense?”  “Can I use better words?”  Revision is making your writing SOUND better!

Editing is looking for errors.  I teach my students the COPS method of editing… Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation, and Spelling.  Editing makes your writing look better!

You have to revise and edit in two different steps.  YOU HAVE TO DO IT TWICE!

Publishing is fun.  You may turn in an assignment to a professor, you may post it online, or you may just read it to yourself.  However you publish, you should be proud of your work.

Using the writing process is beneficial to all levels of writers.  We all need to remember… WRITING is a process, and we need to RESPECT THE PROCESS!

Technical Writing in Corporate America

Now, more than ever, people in corporate America need an understanding of Technical Writing.  Specifically, with the use of social media, it is imperative that people understand how to use technical writing in their careers.

Technical Writing is becoming a required course for many degrees.  That is good because it helps people who are getting these degrees learn how to communicate using technology.  Technical writing teaches people how to create documents that look good, as well as sound good.  It teaches them the importance of how a document looks using various medias, as well as drawing attention to the way words are written and arranged on the page.  Tech Writing even focuses on how to write for people across genders and cultures.

It is important to understand how to use printed media and digital media.  With more communication being done through technology, we must adapt and learn to use these technologies to our advantage.  Tech Writing teaches people how to do that.

Taking Tech Writing is worth the money.  It teaches you valuable skills that you can use to enhance your resume, as well as boost your company brand.  As a student learns various skills through out the course, they will be able to use these skills immediately in their career, so the cost of the course pays dividends immediately.

Technical Writing is a class that needs to consider when getting a college degree.  It will help you learn how to communicate in this technological world that we live in, and it will provide you with skills that will enhance your resume.

Minored in Technical Writing, But Majoring in Teaching

Minoring in Technical Writing is one of the things that caught the dean’s eye when she was interviewing me to be an English professor at Collin College.  It was (and still is) my endeavor to be a Creative Writing professor.  Now, I know those classes go to full-time professors, and it may be awhile before I can teach one of those classes.

Here is the funny thing… I never thought about teaching Tech Writing.  I enjoy creating, designing, and revising documents of all types, but I never had the desire to teach others how to do it.  I have shown a few people some techniques I use, but I never set my mind to be a TECHNICAL WRITING professor.  It never entered my mind.  Looking back, I see that I had a narrow view of who I could be as a successful professor.  – I thought I would only be happy if I was teaching Creative Writing.

I teach Tech Writing.  I love it.  It is one of my favorite classes.  To see the growth of the students over the course of the semester, is amazing.  To see the students start out disliking a project, then to see them change their mind is great.  To see an email from a student saying that they were able to use something that we talked about in the previous weeks at their job, makes me smile.

As I write this, tears fill my eyes because I can now see that I had one vision for myself as a college professor, but God had another vision for me.  He thought me worthy of helping to make people better technical writers.

Do not limit yourself, be open to wherever you can go in life.  It could be a better place for you, and you could have a lot of fun on the journey.