*The Writing Process*

The Writing Process is generally seen as consisting of five stages: Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Proofreading and Publishing.

What do the Steps mean to us?

PREWRITING

 

 

 

 

Prewriting is getting ready to write. It includes a wide variety of activities that will take up a large part of the time you put into your writing. These activities include but are not limited to:

Listing: Just plain making lists of things which are related to the topic.
Free writing: Just start writing on topic and don't stop (or even pause) until a predetermined period of time has passed.
Clustering: Start with a central idea and relate words, phrases, or ideas to it. Use this to find a direction for thoughts.
Percolating: Thinking about your topic. Deeply examining, with the mind, what needs to be said.
Reading/Researching: Find information about the subject.
Discussing: Talk to other people, with varying levels of knowledge on the topic, about the piece.

DRAFTING

This is actually writing the first draft of the piece. Keep in mind that this is just a first attempt. It is not completed.

REVISING

 

Revision is primarily concerned with making the ideas clearer. Revision might call for the writer to eliminate sentences, paragraphs or even pages in order to make a piece clearer. Revision might call for a writer to add sentences, paragraphs or even pages.

REVISING AGAIN

 

It is hard to know if your audience will understand you when you have been living with your piece and YOU know what you mean. It often helps to share your piece with someone after your first revision and before you finish. This might be reading it to another person and getting their feedback, having someone read it to you so you can hear it, or conferencing with a more experienced writer.
EDITING & PROOFREADINGProofing is the act of making certain that the spelling is correct, the grammar is accurate, and the mechanics is proper.
PUBLISHINGPublishing means getting a piece into the hands of any reader.
Graphic Organizers - Organizing your ideas is a great way to take the pressure off the actual writing. If you know what you want to write, and have it planned out already, writing is the easy part.
Revision Guidelines - Good checklist organized by trait
Editing Chart - Basic editing marks used by teachers and students
Proofreading Strategies - Link to Purdue University On-line Writing Lab