Process writing
assignments
One of the rhetorical patterns in our textbook, but one
which we had not previously used, is the process pattern. We had been focusing
mainly on the summary/response and argument essays—again, which we thought
would promote more critical thinking. However, I realized that the process
essay might be more representative of some of the technical writing our
students would be required to do in their STEM classes. For instance, writing
lab reports would often require a section or two that describes what happened
or how something works. In developing the process writing component, the main
challenge was developing STEM-related prompts that did not require too much
technical background information. Three of the most successful prompts were to
describe a) the water cycle, b) the process of recycling plastics, and c) how a
product gets to the consumer.
For the water cycle
prompt, students were given a diagram which provided them with the most
important vocabulary—precipitation,
evaporation, runoff, water table, transpiration, and condensation (see Figure 1). From there, students were able to
expand their ideas on each step, giving examples and detail. They also
incorporated the transitions and signals that they had learned in earlier
courses and reviewed here. Overall, the students did well with it and seemed to
enjoy a fresh topic (ecology) to write about.
Figure 1. Sample prompt given.
Next, as an in-class writing assignment, students wrote a
multi-paragraph essay describing how plastics are recycled. They based their
essays on a three-step flow chart (see Figure 2), providing them with some key
points. In this case, the aim was to assess their description skills, not their
knowledge of recycling. But the students were able to use the understanding
that they did have to build and develop the ideas in the prompt. Although the
goal wasn’t to stimulate creative thinking, it was clear from their essays
which students applied themselves to really build and develop their ideas and
which students simply wrote about the basic points on the flowchart. The
manufacturing prompt was of a similar nature and produced similar results in
student writing.
Figure 2. Sample prompt given
