The Nine Steps in the Writing Process

Pre-Writing

The first five steps, the pre-writing steps, are simultaneous to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the writer and the situation. Generally, the longer the paper is, the more clearly independent these steps will become.

1.  Analyzing the writing assignment: Before planning the paper, you must know for whom you are writing, what the length should be and what the conventions of the subject matter, style and organization are—all of which are based on the situation.

2.  Choosing a topic: You must begin by finding a topic that you find interesting. Being excited about your topic will help motivate you to a more thorough exploration of the subject as well as keep your audience interested. The topic needs to be large enough to have a number of resources as well as limited to a defined thesis.

3.  Examining prior knowledge: You must now determine what information you already know about the topic and what information you will need to find before beginning writing. This step is when you may try to write an informal outline to determine the gaps in your knowledge.

4.  Gathering Information/Researching: Now you may begin finding information. For some forms of papers, the information may simply be from memory or from a single text.  For more in-depth research papers, you may need to consult books, magazines, other people or personal experiments.

5.  Organizing the paper: You may do this step formally or informally; you may write out notes in a formal outline or organize them in your head. The paper should be structured around a focused thesis statement and its supporting evidence. This plan may be simultaneous with the previous steps, especially for short papers.

Writing

6.  Writing the paper: This step is a very individualized step in the writing process.  Each writer finishes the rough draft in a different manner. You may rush through this step, writing a rough draft quickly just to get ideas on the paper. You may write slowly to eliminate some of the rewriting later. Or, you may write and rewrite at the same time so that you finish the paper when you finish the rough draft. Each method is acceptable; do what fits your style best.

Post-Writing

7.  Revising the rough draft: Revision is a time-consuming process. You need to allow time between the writing step and the revising to put distance between the paper and yourself. You need time for reconsideration of the topic if you wish to approach the revision with freshness.

8.  Copying and proof-reading: You should now check the paper for typographical errors and make sure you have used the spell check after each revision. 

9.  Conferring with an editor: At this point, professional writers usually submit their pieces to an editor or a group of editors, and the finishing of the piece becomes a collaborative effort. In your case, seek out a friend to read over your paper, use peer conferencing in your class, ask your professor to serve as an editor or visit the Writing Center.