THE WRITING PROCESS

Excerpt from The College Writer’s Reference, 4th edition.

Authors Toby Fulwiler & Alan R. Hayakawa

The process of writing serious academic papers from beginning to end can be complicated,
frustrating, and exhilarating all at the same time. Good papers begin sometimes as vague
notions, other times as specific intentions. For serious writers, rewriting is an essential part of
the process as they reexamine first thoughts, look for answers, fill in gaps, shore up arguments,
and write new introductions. Thoughtful papers conclude with careful editing and line-by-line
proofreading to guarantee clarity and correctness. Most writers wish there were simple formulas
to follow to guarantee success, but such formulas do not exist.

We can describe five distinct phases of writing in the approximate order in which they might
occur:

 Planning or Brainstorming

 Drafting

 Researching

 Revising

 Editing
Planning/Brainstorming refers to how a paper gets started. It involves asking questions, trying
out answers, and developing directions. Brainstorming is nothing more than systematic list
making. As the question you’re concerned with, then list all possible answers that come to mind
without evaluating or deleting any of the answers.
Drafting happens when you try to advance your solution to a problem and see whether or not it
worlds. At some point, all writers move beyond planning/brainstorming and actually start
writing. The secret to productive writing is sitting down and beginning. A first draft is
concerned with developing ideas, finding direction, clarifying concepts, and finding out exactly
what the paper needs to say.
Researching may take place during the planning stages or while drafting and revising are going
on. The library and the Internet provide new textual information, but research also includes
rereading textbooks, consulting dictionaries, and asking questions.
Revising involves rewriting to make the purpose clearer, the argument stronger, the details
sharper, the evidence more convincing, the organization more logical. Revising means re-seeing
ideas and thinking again about direction, focus, arguments, and evidence. It involves cutting,
adding, and modifying to make a paper say exactly what you intend.
Editing means sharpening, condensing, clarifying the language to make sentences express
exactly what the writer intends. Editing is paying careful attention to the language, striving for
the most clarity and punch possible. Editing is rearranging sentences, finding strong verbs,
eliminating wordy constructions. The final stage of editing is called proofreading when you
read line by line, correcting errors in spelling, typos, punctuation, and grammar.