Winkleman !

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Bradley Winkleman
Prof. Connelly
English 20
7 April 2016
Writing Process
In high school, I never took writing too seriously. I would sit down at my computer the
night before the assignment was due and crank it out. I would then briefly skim through the
paper for mistakes. I never liked the idea of multiple drafts. The first draft I got everything I
wanted to say on the paper, so why do you I need to change it? Once I was in college my view on
the writing process completely change.
The writing process to me is the steps I take in order to have a well written paper. Once I
got into college, I started to take the writing process seriously. I would first start with
brainstorming which is getting all your ideas out for the paper before you actually start writing.
My favorite way of brainstorming is webbing, but in Building Bridges through Writing they refer
to it as clustering or mapping (Smith 30). I am a very visual learner and the web helps me see all
my options for my writing. I start webbing by putting the general idea in a circle in the middle of
the page. Then you write down your subtopics of your general idea with circles around them, and
then you connect them back to your general idea. After that you need support for you sub topics,
so you attach those circles to your sub topics. Finally, once you have enough material you can
start your first draft.
When I write my first draft I try to put as much information as I can into the paper, so I
have plenty of ideas in my paper to expand on. Once I have finished my first draft I print out my

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paper and ask one of my friends to read it. I ask them to see if I am getting my points across. I
also have them look for any where in my paper where I need to support myself better or explain
something more throughly. Sometimes I don't always get a chance for fresh eyes to look at my
paper so I do that myself. This includes skimming though looking for mistakes. After my paper
has been read through, I start the next step of my writing process which is revision.
The revision step is basically me going back over the comments that either someone
leaves or that I leave and changing my paper around to make more sense, add more support, or
add more detail. Once I make the corrections I print the paper once again, but this time I look
through it to see if it all makes sense. Once I feel it all makes sense I try to read through my
paper and proofread. Notice that I say try I am never a very good proofreader to my own work
probably I know in my head what I am trying to say and read my paper very fast. Finally when I
feel my paper is all finished I think of a title as the very last step, like putting a bow on the the
Christmas present.
I know with my writing process there is more than enough room for improvement, so for
this semester I will challenge myself to make a couple improvements. One thing that I feel would
enhance my process was talked about in Write before Writing, by Donald Murray. In his
writing, he talks about The Law of Delay which is letting the seed of the idea to be nurtured in
the mind (Murray 375). Instead of sitting down and cranking the assignment out to get it over
with. I could start with brainstorming, and once I have enough in my web I can take a rest and let
the information soak in my head. Another thing that I could try to do that would help with the
proofreading in my writing process is by reading my paper backwards. In Building Bridges
through Writing the authors talk about starting at the last sentence of your paper and begin

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reading, so instead you can focus on the sentence structure and spelling/typos instead of ideas of
the papers.
After I finish my writing process I feel like I have a solid paper. Even though I feel like it
is a sold paper, it still has its weaknesses. I feel like my biggest weakness is proofreading. I do
know some common mistakes that I make in my papers like fragments, wordiness, or just bad
general mistakes. For example in my paper I wrote for English 5, If iPads where in the
classrooms it would also improve the communication between students and teacher which will
improve the classroom learning. (Winkleman 4). If I would have proofread this mistake would
have been caught. Even though proofreading is a lower order concern (LOC) which means you
should not focus on it until near the end of the paper. I still feel like it is important aspect of the
paper because if you have a lot of mistakes the reader will not take you seriously.
I feel like my strength in my papers is being able to cover both sides. In my argument
paper on the second paragraph of the second page I present the other side very clearly, As you
write your notes you are paying more attention to what you are writing and thinking about it.
During an exam you are not typing you are writing the answer, so as you are writing the notes
you are practicing writing the answers down. (Winkleman 2). Sometimes I feel like I have a
hard time getting my thoughts across, but then on some occasion I feel like I really get what I am
trying to say across clearly. For example in my paper I say, One of the main concerns that
people have about technology in classroom is how distracting it can be or how easily can get off
topic during class. I understand the teachers and critics concerns, but there is an application that
curbs that concern (Winkleman 1). I feel like I either express myself clearly or not clear at all. It

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is very up and down like a rollercoaster. In my head it all makes sense, but thats because I know
what I am trying to get across.
In the end, every person is different and unique; therefore, they will have a different
writing process that works for them. Overall my writing process has helped me understand more
about how I like to go about things. Webbing helps me focus and figure out the main points of
my paper and keeps me organized. I like to be organized, so it fits for me. I feel my writing
process works for me, but still areas of improvement. Hopefully in English 20 I can work on
writing and being clearer to my audience.

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Bibliography
Smith, Trixie G., Allison D. Smith, and Holly Hamby. Building Bridges through Writing.
Southlake, TX: Fountainhead, 2014. Print.
Murray, Donald M. "Write before Writing." College Composition and Communication 29.4
(1978): 375-81. J STOR. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
Winkleman, Bradley. iPads in the Classroom: Greater Learning 17 Nov. 2014: Print.