Hi Steemit Community : )
There are four principal steps to the writing process: Prewriting, Drafting, Revising and Editing.
PREWRITING:
We should get one thing straight right away: If you sit around waiting for inspiration
before you write, you may never get anything written. You see, inspiration does not occur often
enough for writers to depend on it. In fact, inspiration occurs so rarely that writers must develop
other means for getting their ideas. Collectively, the procedures for coming up with ideas in the
absence of inspiration are called prewriting. The term prewriting is used because these
procedures come before writing the first draft. Some others may also call these procedures
invention.
The following are different prewriting options:
1. FREEWRITING: Allows you to generate thoughts that will help you formulate ideas to
write about. Put your pen to the paper, and begin to write. Do not stop to think,
organize, critique, etc. – Just Write! Write as fast as you can, the faster the better.
2. CLUSTERING: This is a good visual aid that shows the connection between thoughts
and allows patterns to be seen. In the center of your page, write the main idea.
3. LISTING: This is like a shopping list of phrases. On your paper, write down any
thought or feeling that comes to mind about a particular topic. This is similar to
freewriting in that you should not censor yourself – Just write! This process will
help you get all of those mixed up thoughts in your head on paper, so you can sift
through them afterwards. Here’s an example of a list on the topic “How I felt when I
failed my midterm:”
was disappointed
felt defeated
also inspired to do better next time
embarrassed to tell anybody
wanted to blame the teacher
got teased by my brother, the A student
afraid I wouldn’t pass the class
went to The Writing Center for extra help
Once you are done, go through the list, choose the ideas that work for you,
and cross off the ideas that do not. You may also continue to write ideas down as
you go through this process. When you feel you are done, you can go ahead and
number the ideas that are left in the order you think they should appear in your
draft. This will give you an informal outline that will help in the next step of the
writing process, drafting.
4. BRAINSTORMING: Ask yourself questions about your topic. Who, what, when, where,
why and how are good questions to start with.
Whose fault is the F?
What happened exactly?
When did I stop studying?/Why did I stop studying?
Where can I go from here?
Why do I think the teacher gave me an F?
How can I improve my grade?
DRAFTING:
Typically, the first draft is very rough, which is why it so often is
called the rough draft. The rough draft provides raw material that can be shaped and refined in
the next stages of the writing process
Once writers feel they have generated enough ideas during prewriting . This part of the
writing process is drafting. Typically, the first draft is very rough, which is why it so often is
called the rough draft. The rough draft provides raw material that can be shaped and refined in
the next stages of the writing process.
Perhaps you know what you want to say but you do not know how to say it in your draft.
Here are a few tips to get you started:
• Think about your audience. Who are you telling this information to?
• Speak your thoughts into a tape recorder. Sometimes, we don’t write what we want to
say. Therefore, speaking into a tape recorder, saying what you want to say and then
transcribing your thoughts will help you with word structure.
• Set small goals for yourself. At the beginning of your project, plan to only prewrite. The
next time you sit down to work on it, plan on writing an informal outline. Next, plan to
write a draft of your introduction and on and on. Breaking the project down into smaller
steps makes it less overwhelming.
• If you are really stuck, you can write the introduction and thesis last. They might be
easier to write once you have the rest of the draft.
REVISING:
Revising calls on the writer to take the raw material of the draft and rework it to get it in
shape for the reader. This reworking is a time-consuming, difficult part of the process. It
requires the writer to refine the content so that it is clear, so that points are adequately supported,
and so that ideas are expressed in the best way possible and in the best order possible. This step
is focused on the content of your draft; spelling, grammar and punctuation will come in the final
stage of the writing process.
• Once you have completed your first draft, the first step in revising is to walk away and let
the paper sit. We often miss our own mistakes because we think we see something that is
not there. Walking away and coming back later allows you to read your paper with a
fresh perspective.
• Read your draft out loud to yourself. Our ears can catch problem areas that our eyes
cannot.
• After fully examining your draft, identify at least two corrections that will make your
draft better.
• Write a second draft without looking at your first draft. This is an effective way of
revising because usually you remember the best parts, forget the worst parts, and add new
ideas.
EDITING:
Experienced readers will expect your writing to be free of errors. Therefore, you have a
responsibility to find and eliminate mistakes so that they do not distract or annoy your reader.
Many writers make the mistake of hunting for errors too soon, before they have revised for the
larger concerns of content and effective expression. Editing should really be saved for the end of
the process.
• The computer is an excellent tool for the editing stage. If you have already typed your
essay on the computer, then you will see that certain words, phrases and sentences are
underlined either in red or green. Red indicates a spelling or lexical (the meaning of a
word) error. Green indicates a grammatical, punctuation or sentence structure error.
• Like the revising stage, reading your paper aloud will help you catch structural errors that
may otherwise be missed.
• Edit more than once! After you have completely edited your paper, walk away and return
some time later to reedit. Sometimes, we make careless errors because we think we
wrote it correctly and have actually made an obvious mistake.
• Use an Editing Checklist:
Have you read your work aloud to listen for problems?
Did you check every possible misspelling in a dictionary or with a computer spell
checker?
Make sure every comma is being used correctly (comma splices and run-ons).
Do you have any sentence fragments?
Are you using verbs correctly?
Did you check your use of pronouns?
Did you check your use of modifiers?
Are you confident your punctuation is used correctly?
Are your capital letters correct?
