Home : The writing process
Forget the writing process
Good writers make a strategic choice
What
people call "the writing process" is a grab bag of techniques
and strategies for all writing genres.
Writers may have one set of procedures they use more often than
others to present material, but good writers know more than one
process.
Picking a process to use should be a strategic decision. Writers
should select a writing process that suits the project they
have in mind, very much the way knitters select knitting needles
for a project they have in mind.
Writing process components
All the procedures that are collectively called a writing process
have five components:
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Finding some topic to write about.
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Deciding what to say about that topic.
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Deciding how to organize the information.
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Developing the central idea.
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Presenting the idea in accordance with appropriate writing
conventions.
The effort and time required to complete any of the stages varies
with the type of writing required.
Rather than bore or confuse students with theory, good teachers immerse
them in learning a set of strategies suited to one specific
writing genre until they can produce competent writing in
that genre.
If you've been at this site before, you know I teach students
to write using a writing process that facilitates writing essays
in the thesis-and-support
format, which is the dominant pattern of required writing in schools,
colleges, and job settings.
This particular writing process stresses the planning and polishing
stages of writing and de-emphasizes multiple revisions as a means
of improving writing by novice writers working toward competence.
Writing process planning activities are discussed on this site
on the thesis statement and
plans & outlines threads.
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