The Writing Process: Re writing, Re vising, Re thinking your way to better Writing Dr. Jennifer L. Bowie

Good Writing: Involves rewriting, revising, rethinking Is a dynamic fluid process Takes time Is never done!

Step 1: Researching Begin with research –This can be more formal research where you do studies or access other’s research, or could be less formal (an office water cooler poll) –This step may just involve thinking, but likely will involve some actual research (especially for longer writings) –Examples?

Step 2: Planning Often the hardest part—just get something down Use planning methods like clustering, brainstorming, and outlines –Start being open to any ideas and then once you have gotten all the ideas out then begin to clarify and critique What methods do you use?

Step 3: Drafting A rough version of what will become your polished writing A good draft is used to work towards your final version and is not the final version When drafting know that, especially in the beginning, it does not need to be perfect. Get out what you are saying and then work to improve it Give yourself time between

Step 4: Revising This is often the forgotten stage of the process. Good writing goes through serious revisions between the first draft and the version you “hand in” Give yourself a break between drafting and revising Get outside eyes Revise more than once Look at content, organization, tone How many times do you revise?

Step 5: Editing The last and final stage (although you may do some throughout) Once the revisions are done (or as done as you can make them) start editing. If possible have someone else edit it too—another set of eyes is very helpful Errors you don’t see?

That’s the writing process!