Writer's Strategies

Ensuring students are adequately prepared for writing is just as important as the process of writing itself. The planning phase, moving into the crafting phase and then through into editing and proofreading all provide teaching and learning opportunities. Editing is the process of refining a piece of writing, at the level of text structure, paragraph and sentence structure, and word choice, so that it is most effective in achieving its intended purpose for its intended audience. Proofreading attends to surface features of a written text, such as punctuation, spelling, whether each clause has a verb, and the correct style of referencing. Formatting is the layout of the page, and is part of polishing a piece of writing for publication or display. It includes fonts and font sizes, headings, the layout of tables and the positioning of images and diagrams.