1.13: Review and Practice
- Page ID
- 304206
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Review and Practice
Exercise 1. Discuss the following questions about the writing process.
- What is the writing process? Why is it important?
- What are the three stages in the process? What are the steps in each stage?
- Have you tried the writing process or a similar process before? Share your experiences.
Exercise 2. Narrowing down a broad subject will help you focus better on the main idea of your paragraph. Practice narrowing down the topics. The first two are examples. You see that the same broad topic can be narrowed down to two different focuses depending on your experiences and preferences. Compare and discuss your answers with your partner.
Examples:



Exercise 3. Look at the following ideas from brainstorming. Add some of your own to the list. Then put the ideas into the categories. The categories will be used as supporting ideas when you write the paragraph. If an idea does not fit the main idea, cross it out. An example is provided in each category.
Main idea: Jerry’s Burgers is my favorite lunch place.
fast service, nice decorations, fresh ingredients, clean washrooms, beautiful paintings on walls, Asian and Middle Eastern flavors, meeting room, noisy, not many salad choices, expensive, smiling owner, no place for kids to play, free soda, no parking, tasty soup bowls, kids’ menu, low fat menu, vegetarian choices, background music too loud, gluten-free options, polite wait staff, no delivery…
Example:
Food | Services | Facilities |
---|---|---|
fresh ingredients | fast service | meeting room |
Exercise 4. Use three of the following topics to try free writing, listing, mind mapping. Narrow down the topic if necessary. Then write an outline for each topic. Lastly, choose one of the three outlines to write a paragraph.
- driving in the U.S.
- my first class in the U.S. college
- the neighborhood where I grew up
- the person I admire the most
- a childhood memory
- a disappointing holiday
- advantages or disadvantages of cell phones
- characteristics of a good shopping mall
Summary
- There are three major stages in the writing process:
- pre-writing: get ideas and make an outline
- understand the assignment
- choose topic, narrow down if needed
- brainstorm – free writing, make a list, create a mind map
- writing: write a draft of the paragraph
- write a paragraph based on the outline
- include basic elements of a paragraph
- post-writing: revise and edit, proofread, and submit
- revise ideas to make them clear and interesting
- revise organization for unity, cohesion, and completion
- edit sentence structure and grammatical aspects
- check format, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling
- make a new copy, proofread, save, submit
- The stages and steps ensure the good quality of your paragraph.
- dough: noun, a mix of flour, water, and other ingredients to make into bread, cake, etc. ↵
- essential: adjective, extremely important, cannot live without ↵
- proper: adjective, suitable, appropriate, right ↵
- reverse: verb, follow the opposite order ↵
- crusty: adjective, crisp, describing the outer layer of freshly-baked bread ↵
- laborious: adjective, with lots of work ↵
- ensure: verb, make sure, to be certain ↵
- crucial: adjective, very important ↵
- seemingly: adverb, in appearance but may not be true ↵
- establish: verb, build, set up ↵
Attributions:
- Content on this page was adapted from Building Academic Writing Skills (Cui)(opens in new window), which was shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(opens in new window) license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Lin Cui(opens in new window).
- kneading dough © Photo by Salomé Watel on Unsplash
- The Writing Process © Lin Cui is licensed under a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license
- Stage 1 Writing Process © Lin Cui is licensed under a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license
- a mind map on English learning experience © Lin Cui is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license
- a pen writing in a notebook © Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
- Stage 2 Writing Process © Lin Cui is licensed under a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license
- Stage 3 Writing Process © Lin Cui is licensed under a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license
- a man dancing on a rock with a sunset on horizon © Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash
- narrowing down ideas © Lin Cui is licensed under a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license
- narrowing down ideas © Lin Cui is licensed under a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license
- narrowing down ideas exercise © Lin Cui is licensed under a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license
- a page in a dictionary © Pixabay