Writing Process, Audience & Attribution

Introduction

This lesson joins two related skills: choosing an effective writing-process action and adapting writing to its audience. The goal is purposeful communication, not memorizing one rigid sequence.

Plan, draft and return to the plan

Prewriting explores the task, reader, purpose and available evidence. Brainstorming generates possibilities; an outline arranges them. Drafting turns that plan into connected sentences and paragraphs. A discovery during drafting may send you back to research or planning. The process is recursive: you can revisit a stage without having failed.

Get feedback from a reader or peer (sometimes called conferencing). Ask focused questions: “Where did you lose the thread?” or “What evidence is missing?” Feedback is information to evaluate, not a command to accept every suggestion.

Worked example: choose the highest-level problem first

A draft proposes longer library hours, but its only evidence concerns parking. The writer should first add relevant evidence about access and revise the argument. Correcting commas alone will not connect parking data to the proposal. Later, sentence editing and proofreading improve the revised draft.

These categories overlap in ordinary work. On a question, select the action that addresses the stated problem rather than assuming only one stage can ever contain a spelling correction.

Match audience, purpose and genre

Before revising tone, identify who reads, what they know, what they need to do, why you write, and where the writing appears. A reminder text, public instruction sheet, personal narrative and research report have different conventions. Formal writing can be clear and direct; it does not require inflated vocabulary, third person in every sentence, or technical jargon.

Tone is the attitude conveyed, such as respectful or skeptical. Register is language choice appropriate to a social context, including formality. Define unfamiliar terms when needed. Do not assume a reader's knowledge or preferences from age, identity or occupation alone. Use relevant, precise, respectful descriptions rather than stereotypes.

Worked example: same information, different readers

For new library users: “Use the self-service machine to borrow books. Ask at the desk if you need help.” For staff maintaining the equipment: “Check the self-service terminal's connection before restarting it.”

The first explains a user action without equipment jargon; the second names an operational task for an informed audience. Neither changes the underlying facts or uses formality as an excuse for obscurity. Direct second person can be appropriate in instructions.

Attribute borrowed material

A quotation uses exact words and marks them as a quotation with attribution. A paraphrase restates an idea in genuinely new wording and structure, preserves its meaning, and still credits the source. A summary condenses a larger work and also needs attribution when it conveys another person's ideas. Merely swapping a few words is not an adequate paraphrase.

Specific borrowed statistics, images and distinctive interpretations need credit. Widely known facts usually do not, but what counts as common knowledge depends on audience and discipline. When uncertain, consult the assignment or source guidance. Citation does not by itself grant permission to reuse an image; source attribution and reuse permission are different questions.

MLA and APA are citation systems with different conventions. At this level, recognize why a citation is needed and keep enough source details to follow the requested style; memorizing every style-manual exception is optional reference work.

Worked example: source meaning must survive

An invented report says, “Among 40 respondents, 24 preferred evening workshops.” An accurate paraphrase might say that 24 of the 40 people surveyed favored evening sessions, followed by a citation. “Most residents demand evening workshops” changes the population and strength of the claim. Citing the report would not repair that distortion.

Next step

Explain why your chosen answer fits the sentence or situation, then explain why one tempting alternative does not. Revisit the relevant teaching section if you relied only on how an answer sounded.