Academic writing prepared you to successfully compose different types of academic and technical write-ups. In here, we will focus on how the entire process of academic writing should be done step-by-step. Hopefully doing this will help you go through this seemingly tedious process successfully.
The R.A.F.T Writing Technique
Much time is wasted in writing when you do not plan. Experts say that planning is very crucial in writing and that it should take most of your entire writing process/activity. There are experts who even say that more than half of the writ-ing time should be allotted to prewriting. Along this line, the R.A.F.T. technique asks you to think about important aspects of writing before you actually start with your first sentence.
- Role of the Writer: Who are you as the writer? (A government official? A commercial model? A planet?)
- Audience: To whom are you writing? (The president? A friend? An employer?
- Format: In what format are you writing? (A research paper? A news-paper?)
- Topic: What are you writing about? In small groups, try to complete the R.A.F.T. table below.
| Role | Audience | Format | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
|
News reporter |
|
|
President's SONA |
|
|
School administrations |
letter |
|
|
|
City officials |
|
Poverty in the community |
|
student |
|
|
|
|
|
|
brochure |
|
Process Approach to Writing
Writing should not be a one-shot activity; it needs planning and several revisions before the final output is turned in. Feedback is very important too; as a writer, you have to hear other people’s opinion of your draft, so you could further improve your work. In this approach, feedback will come not only from the teacher but from your peers as well. The following are the phases of the process approach to writing:
1. Prewriting
In this stage, the writer uses several techniques like brainstorming, freewriting, researching, journaling, outlining, and using diagrams to list down and map out their thoughts. Using R.A.F.T. is also done at this phase.
Which technique are you familiar with? How effective is each technique to you?
2. Drafting
An initial composition is done at this point. However, the writer should not be concerned with language, grammar, and organization yet, because the goal in doing the first draft is to write down all their ideas to convey a particular idea.
The first draft is often the draft that takes the longest time to finish. Why do you think so?
3. Securing feedback from peer/s
Guided by a rubric or some questions, writers exchange work and give comments and suggestions to improve the draft.
Have you tried getting feedback from peers? How was your experience?
4. Revising
Writers review and modify their work to improve the draft.
What can help you revise your draft? What is the importance of this stage in the process approach to writing?
5. Securing feedback from the teacher
Similar to phase 3, only, it will be the teacher who will give feedback at this point.
How do you think this will be different from the peer feedback activity?
6. Editing
Writers proofread and correct errors in grammar and mechanics and edit to improve style and clarity.
How confident are you in checking your own grammatical and mechanical errors?
7. Publishing
This is when the writers share their final draft with a group or the entire class.
Have you experienced sharing your writing output to others?