Writing As Process 
An overview: Why should I discover a writing process that works for me? Or ... one size does not fit all.
The word "process" may mislead you, because the word suggests that writing should or can be an orderly step-by-step procession. In reality, the ways that people write vary vastly - according to who is writing, how that person has been educated and socialized, how much s/he writes, why the writer writes, who the audience is (or may be), among other factors. We hope that the word "process" suggests that writing involves multiple actions, inactions, decisions and revisions.
Many of us were taught to write using a linear series of steps: find a topic, write an outline, write the paper from beginning to end, and get a grade. For some writers, this process may work successfully, but many writers find this approach too restrictive and limiting. Often writing involves discovery of what you want to say as you write, revising what you write, moving from one section of the paper to another, or from one task to another. For instance, a writer finds that through writing, s/he changes her or his opinion regarding a topic; consequently s/he must revise the thesis and introduction. Or a writer may decide to reorganize the paper, moving a paragraph from one location to another; when she does, she realizes that the paragraph now requires a different topic sentence. Or when a writer edits for grammar and punctuation, he discovers that he can rewrite a particular sentence more effectively or add important details. You get the idea: writing can be messy, instead of neatly sequenced. You may reshape your paper much like an artist reshapes a clay sculpture.
Keep in mind that the process you use for writing a letter to a friend may be very different from the process you use for writing a biology lab report or a social sciences research paper. What's important is to experiment, determine your learning style, work with teachers/tutors/other students, and find ways of writing that work for you and for your audience. Even if you think you've found The Way to Write, stay open to other possibilities. Remember that many writers can become better writers and that most writing improves with thoughtful revision.
Choose your metaphor.
Writers, writing teachers, and academic folks who study writing mostly agree that skilled, experienced writers use a recursive process: they revisit, reshape, rethink, revise, or reorder their writing. Create a metaphor that exemplifies your writing process. Some writers compare their process to baking (gathering the ingredients, mixing, adding, pre-heating, baking, cleaning-up, eating), construction (designing, assembling the materials, building, inspecting), or even pregnancy/childbirth. These comparisons illustrate that writing involves complex strategies, but they don't indicate how often writers move back and forward among the different tasks and processes that they use as they compose. So as you write, remember that the following "stages" of writing are not distinct and that often a writer engages in several processes simultaneously.
Pre-write ... write ... revise ... edit.
- Pre-write: This involves understanding the writing task, reading, thinking, asking questions/posing problems, talking, planning, freewriting, brainstorming, note-taking, researching: whatever you need to do before you write a draft. (See the Writing Center's hand-out, "Get Ready to Write," available in the Center.)
- Write a draft: Write a "rough" or "discovery" draft. This draft provides you with opportunities to investigate what you want to write, without worrying about how effectively you write it.
- Revise: The discovery draft provides a basis for you to reread, rethink, revise, and expand your ideas. As you revise, you can reshape and clarify your ideas, develop and illustrate them, organize/reorganize, and more. Consider your audience; try reading your writing through the eyes of your classmates and teacher. Or have a friend/housemate read your draft and give you some input. (It may be difficult for you to distance yourself from your work. You may need to put the draft aside for a day and/or share your writing with a writing tutor). Several revisions usually result in stronger writing.
- Edit/proofread: Too many writers worry too much about grammar, mechanics and spelling too early in their writing processes. If you haven't clarified what you want to say or how you want to organize your draft, or if you haven't fully developed and explained your main points, why should you worry too much about missing commas? Punctuation and other conventions of standard English facilitate communication, making it easier for your readers to understand your writing. So while editing is very important (and expected!), don't censor your thoughts or create more work for yourself by editing prematurely. When you edit and proofread, read your draft aloud, carefully reading exactly what you've written. You'll discover many of your errors. Learn to recognize and edit for the patterns of error in your writing.
A final reminder: since academic writing is almost always intended for an audience, why wait until the paper is due to get feedback from an audience? Ask for input along the way: when you get "stuck," when you've written a draft, when you're too close to your work to evaluate it fairly, whenever. Visit the Writing Center in L-8.
1999 by Susie Williams/BCC Writing Center
