The Writing Process

The recursive, rather than linear, nature of the writing process helps writers produce stronger, more focused work because it highlights connections and allows for movement between research and the phases of writing.
Overview
1. The work of a scholar includes reading, writing, and thinking — but not necessarily in that order. Like the writing process, scholarly work is recursive rather than linear.
  1. Scholarly writing is the product of thought and analysis, and the act of writing can often uncover unanticipated insights and analysis that make a writer's work unique and valuable.
2. Purposes
  1. The purpose of writing scholarship is ultimately to discover and communicate new truths that others in the field, or even beyond the field, will consider important.
3. Method and Style
  1. Audiences and purposes change, and each discipline has certain expectations of how someone from its ranks should write.
Pre-writing
1. Prewriting is the first stage of the writing process, it can just be concentrated thinking about what you want to write your paper on.
2. Purpose
  1. The reason for the assignment (what you are supposed to accomplish or demonstrate at the end).
3. Preparation
  1. Actions you should take before you begin (what you are supposed to read, whom you are supposed to consult).
4. Components
  1. The required elements of the assignment (models or outlines that you should follow or topics you should address)
5. Evaluation
  1. The criteria that your instructor or committee members will use to determine if you have met their expectations (what the readers will be looking for)
6. Pitfalls
  1. Common mistakes that others have made while completing the same or similar writing projects (what your instructor and other students have learned from similar experiences)
Drafting
1. In the drafting phase, you fulfill the promise you make in the introduction where you state the main idea.
2. Drafting Using Sources
  1. Secondary sources
    1. Books, articles, and online resources that interpret facts presented by authors.
  2. Primary sources
    1. Original information.
3. Drafting Using Visuals
  1. Drafting might also include the creation of visuals: charts, graphs, tables, illustrations, or photographs. Visuals strengthen your main idea.
Revising
1. Revision is the stage in the writing process where the author reviews, alters, and amends her or his message, according to what has been written in the draft.
2. Ideas
  1. add, delete, or change details, develop the topic.
3. Organization
  1. change the lead or conclusion, add smooth transitions, move sentences or paragraphs.
4. Word Choice
  1. change weak verbs to strong verbs, change vague language to precise language.
5. Sentence
  1. add words and phrases to expand sentences, change sentence beginnings to vary beginnings, move words and phrases within a sentence to vary sentences, combine sentences to vary sentences.
Polishing
1. Consists of editing and proofreading. For this stage, your goal is not to make major revisions but simply to smooth off the edges of your work for its final presentation.
2. Editing
  1. Editing requires that writers proofread to find errors in grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling and then make appropriate corrections. Writers then edit to correct the errors before preparing the final draft for publication.
3. Proofreading
  1. The final phase of the writing process, proofreading means to make the final check and fix mechanical or technical flaws, such as spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes.

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The Writing Process

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	Created by Darlene Diaz almost 9 years ago