The Writing Process - PAJ

The Writing Process

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Vol XCIII, No. 311

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Generating Ideas

Discovering what to write about.

A Process of Writing

Generating Ideas

Discovering what to write about.

Writing can seem at times an overwhelming task, worse than scrubbing floors; at other moments, it’s a sport full of thrills — like whizzing downhill on skis, not knowing what you’ll meet around a bend. Unpredictable as the process may seem, nearly all writers do similar things:

• They generate ideas.
• They plan, draft, and develop their papers.
• They revise and edit.

These three activities form the basis of most effective writing processes.

You may get an idea while texting friends, riding your bike, or staring out the window.

Sometimes a topic lies near home, in a conversation or an everyday event.

Often, your reading will raise questions that call for investigation.

Even if an assignment does not appeal to you, your challenge is to find a slant/attitude about the topic (what you will say about the issue) that does. Find it, and words will flow — words to engage readers and accomplish your purpose.

Planning, Drafting, and Developing

Getting Started

Discovering Material

What you want to accomplish as a writer and how you want to appeal to your audience will shape the direction of your writing.

Supporting your ideas

To shape and support your ideas, you’ll need facts and figures, reports and opinions, examples and illustrations.

You can recall your experience and knowledge, observe things around you, talk with others who are knowledgeable, read enlightening materials that draw you to new approaches, and think critically about all these sources.

Clarifying your purpose and considering your audience are likely to increase your confidence as a writer.

Even so, your writing process may take you in unexpected directions, not necessarily in a straight line.

You can skip around, work on several parts at a time, test a fresh approach, circle back over what’s already done, or stop to play with a sentence until it clicks.

Next you will plan your paper, write a draft, and develop your ideas further.

Planning

Developing

Drafting

Weave in explanations, definitions, examples, details, and varied evidence to make your ideas clear and persuasive.

Revising and Editing

You may define an at-risk student, illustrate the problems of single parents, or supply statistics about hit-and-run accidents.

If you need specific support for your point, use strategies for developing ideas — or return to those for generating ideas.

Work in your insights if they fit.

Having discovered a burning idea to write about (or at least a smoldering one) and some supporting material (but maybe not enough yet), you will sort out what matters most. If you see one main point, or thesis, test various ways of stating it, given your purpose and audience:

MAYBE Parking in the morning before class is annoying.

OR Campus parking is a big problem.

Next arrange your ideas and material in a sensible order that will clarify your point.

For example, you might group and label your ideas, make an outline, or analyze the main point, breaking it down into parts:

Parking on campus is a problem for students because of the long lines, inefficient entrances, and poorly marked spaces.

But if no clear thesis emerges quickly, don’t worry. You may find one while you draft — that is, while you write an early version of your paper.

Drafting. As your ideas begin to appear, welcome them and lure them forth so they don’t go back into hiding. Writing takes time; a paper usually needs several drafts and maybe a clearer introduction, stronger conclusion, more convincing evidence, or even a fresh start.

Generating Ideas

You might be tempted to relax once you have a draft, but for most writers, revising begins the work in earnest. Each “Revising and Editing” section provides checklists as well as suggestions for working with a peer.

Discovering what to write about.

Editing

Editing means refining details, improving wording, and correcting flaws that may stand in the way of your readers’ understanding and enjoyment.

Revising means both observing and rewriting, making major changes so your paper does what you want it to.

You may revise what you know and what you think while you write or when you reread.

You might reconsider your purpose and audience, rework your thesis, decide what to put in or leave out, move paragraphs around, and connect ideas better.

Perhaps you’ll add costs to a paper on parking problems or switch attention from mothers to fathers as you consider teen parents.

Don’t edit too early, though, because you may waste time on parts that you later revise out. In editing, you usually make these repairs:

• Drop unnecessary words; choose lively and precise words.
• Replace incorrect or inappropriate wording.
• Rearrange words in a clearer, more emphatic order.
• Combine short, choppy sentences, or break up long, confusing ones.
• Refine transitions for continuity of thought.
• Check grammar, usage, punctuation, and mechanics.

If you put aside your draft for a few hours or a day, you can reread it with fresh eyes and a clear mind.

Other students can also help you — sometimes more than a textbook or an instructor can — by responding to your drafts as engaged readers.

Finally you’ll proofread, taking a last look, checking correctness, and catching doubtful spellings or

word-processing errors.