The Writing Process

Kali ini gw ingin membagi ilmu yang gw dapet dari pelajaran freshmen composition di kampus. Buat juragan2 yang tertarik untuk menulis, ato bikin Essay, ato mungkin ada tugas kuliah ato sekolah yang mengharuskan juragan buat menulis panjang dan gak jelas, mungkin ini bisa jadi panduan. Gw nulis ini juga buat gw belajar dan nginget2 lagi, soalnya gw ada tugas bikin essay buat kamis minggu depan, hahaha.

The fundamental concepts of an essay:
1. Tell them what you are going to tell them
2. Tell them
3. Tell them what you told them
(kalo kata guru gw sih ini dari pelajarannya orang2 militer, hahaha).

The Writing Process
-The steps should not be done in one sitting.
-Take frequent brakes.
　
1. Never sit in front of a blank piece of paper or blank computer screen to think.

2. Think on the go. (lo boleh dan bisa dan harus rasanya, berpikir di mana aja, asal bukan di depan kertas/layar kosong tadi, hahaha).

3. Write ideas for a possible thesis statement:
-use words and phrases only.

TAKE A BREAK

4. Write words and phrases you could use for supporting paragraphs to prove and support the possible points in your thesis statement.
-You might want to try 2 or 3 different thesis statements and ideas to support them.

TAKE A BREAK

5. Make a decision.
-Decide on the thesis statement and points to prove your supporting paragraph.

6. Sketch your supporting paragraphs.
-write your first topic sentence
-write the main ideas only to prove that point
-write only the really important sentences which are the foundation of your arguments to prove that point.
-these are the sentences which will help you prove the points in your thesis statement and that will be found in the supporting paragraphs.
-at this stage do not worry about sentence construction or punctuation or spelling
-leave a lot of blank spaces and rooms to write things

TAKE A BREAK

7. Ask your self these questions:
-do I have enough to talk about for each point?
-do the ideas in my supporting paragraphs prove the points in my thesis statement?
-does this idea as a whole work for me?
When you are sure that the answer is yes, TAKE A BREAK.

8. Dress it up.
-add the finishing touches
-expand on the basic sentences
-add some sentences to each paragraph that explain the large sentences that you have written to prove your thesis points
-no "hit and run"
-explain your fundamental ideas in the big sentences in the supporting paragraphs
-these things could be fun stuffs, fun stories or serious examples of an important point you just made

TAKE A BREAK

9. Concluding paragraph
-use the side by side method (hasil tulisan lo lo baca, sambil lo tulisin point2 penting di kertas kosong, biar gampang bikin concluding paragraph-nya)
-if you think of good ideas, great ideas as you are writing your conclusion that you did not think of it until your conclusion, you must go back and incorporate those ideas into the appropriate supporting paragraphs (ini bener2 makan waktu dan bikin males)
-these might be and probably are some of your best ideas (pasti guru gw ngomong gini biar kita ga males ngulang2 lagi. Sialan, hahaha)

TAKE A BREAK

10. Rewrite the essay as a finish product
-make this what you think is the final copy
-check for sentence correction, spelling, and punctuation

11. Put it away
-walk away from it
-take a break

12. Come back to it with a fresh mind for the final prove reading and editing
-use a blank piece of paper to isolate each sentence and evaluate it
-correct any errors that you have made

Ya, kira2 begitulah proses yg memudahkan kita dalam membuat essay. Gw sndiri juga nyoba mraktekin, meskipun rasanya belom dengan benar. Tapi kira2 cukup manjur lah langkah2 ini. Terutama yang bagian TAKE A BREAK, soalnya pas balik pikiran lo lebih jernih. Kadang pas lagi break itu lo bisa dapet ide2 yang oke juga. Oke deh juragan, selamat berkarya dengan essay2 ente.