Writing Map

Professional writers include authors, editors, journalists, media writers, and technical writers.

Writers use the writing map to…

  • begin new projects,

  • revise current ones,

  • try a different phase to solve a writing dilemma, and

  • innovate or make discoveries by combining phases from other goals or even other domains.

Managers and editors use it to suggest ways to improve another person’s writing.

Writing teachers use it to organize programs and lessons.

Goals

+ Phases

  1. Begin

  2. Explore

  3. Sustain

  4. Master

Click any + to see phases

    1. Unconnected: Writie about the here and now as in free writing that uses stream of consciousness.

    2. Topic Driven: Digress from a topic but remember to return as when writing instructions.

    3. Chronology: Describe events in the order they happen as in narratives.

    4. Logical: Use inductive or deductive outlines as in essays.

    1. Single Perspective: your own or another’s, not both.

    2. Dual Perspective: your own and another’s.

    3. Organization’s Perspective: Write from a group’s agreed-on point of view.

    4. Universal: Write from a holistic, human stance.

    1. Keyboard: Type a few words.

    2. Word Processor: Format, print text with spell and grammar check. Edit with others.

    3. Informed Writing: Use search and simple A.I. queries to improve word and jargon choice.

    4. Enhanced Writing: Use A.I. to suggest sentence and paragraph structures.

    1. Unconnected,: Here and now writing without a stable topic.

    2. Digress and Return: Topic-driven writing.

    3. Chronology: Writing that maintains a recofnizable time sequence.

    4. Logic: Writing that uses inductive or deductive reasoning.

    1. Seek help from a reader.

    2. Re-read to find errors.

    3. Rewrite to improve understanding.

    4. Rewrite to create more impact on readers.

    1. Single Source: Read a document or have a conversation.

    2. Multiple Sources: Read several documents or talk with several people.

    3. Categorized Sources:: Distinguish and name several different groups of sources.

    4. Sorted sources: Construct a reproduciable methjod for prioritizing sources.

    1. Haphazard: Include several types of errors.

    2. Genre: Write in a popular and identifiable type of fiction or non-fiction.

    3. Conventional: Use genre standards reliably to entertain, persuade, or inform.

    4. Adaptive: Modify conventions to enhance content and purpose.

  • Fragmented: Fail to connect ideas and/or imitate other writing.

    Comparative: Identify similarities and differences betwen ideas.

    Evaluate: Use analysis and synthesis to critically enhance the outcome and purpose of one’s writing.

    Outline: Identify components, sources, and themes.

    1. Notes: Writing for one’s own use at a later time.

    2. Correspondence: write to known individuals.

    3. Summaries: Write accounts for groups with known members.

    4. Documents: Write analyses for a community or specialized audience.