Warm-Up for Process Essays
A process essay leads readers through a series of steps for getting something done. This lesson will help you think about different processes and which ones you might explain in an essay.
What Is a Process?
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A process is a series of steps for getting something done. For a bird, building a nest is a process. For a bee or a squirrel, gathering food is a process. And for a student, writing a process essay is, itself, a process.
What processes do you know how to do? What processes could you explain to others?
When you write a process essay, you explain how to do something or how something works. Each paragraph in your essay focuses on a step in the process. The sentences follow time order, leading the reader from start to finish.
Process writing helps you get the job done!
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Thinking About a Process
Most things don’t happen all at once. They take steps to finish. Even something as simple as shooting a free-throw:
- Stand at the free-throw line.
- Get the ball from the ref.
- Focus on the basket.
- Line up the shot.
- Shoot the ball.
- If you make the first shot, repeat the process.
You can organize the steps of a process by making a numbered list like the one above.
Time Line
You can also make a time line to put steps in time order. Start each line with a time-order word, and give the step.
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First |
Stand at the free-throw line. |
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Second |
Get the ball from the ref. |
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Then |
Focus on the basket. |
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Next |
Line up the shot. |
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After |
Shoot the ball. |
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Finally |
If you make the first shot, repeat the process. |
Choose a process you can do.
Write down something you know how to do.
Organize the steps.
Create a numbered list or a time line.
Numbered List
Time Line
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First |
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Second |
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Then |
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Next |
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After |
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Finally |
Teaching Tip
Help students understand that a list and a time line are two different ways to organize the same material. They do not have to generate both. Also, help them realize they don’t have to have six steps in their processes.