1.3 Becoming a Successful College Writer
Using the Writing Process
Good writers use some variation of the following process to complete a writing project successfully. The Writing Process will be covered in more detail in other sections.
The Writing Process
- Prewriting. In this step, the writer generates ideas to write about and begins developing these ideas.
- Outlining a structure of ideas. In this step, the writer determines the overall organizational structure of the writing and creates an outline to organize ideas. Usually, this step involves some additional fleshing out of the ideas generated in the first step.
- Writing a rough draft. In this step, the writer uses the work completed in prewriting to develop a first draft. The draft covers the ideas the writer brainstormed and follows the organizational plan laid out in the first step.
- Revising. In this step, the writer revisits the draft to review and, if necessary, reshape its content. This stage involves moderate and sometimes significant changes: adding or deleting a paragraph, phrasing the main point differently, expanding on an important idea, reorganizing content, and so forth.
- Editing. In this step, the writer reviews the draft to make additional changes. Editing involves making changes to improve style and adherence to standard writing conventions—for instance, replacing a vague word with a more precise one or fixing errors in grammar and spelling. Once this stage is complete, the work is finished and ready to share with others.