four stages of essay writing

Collaboration, information literacy, writing process, the ultimate blueprint: a research-driven deep dive into the 13 steps of the writing process.

This article provides a comprehensive, research-based introduction to the major steps , or strategies , that writers work through as they endeavor to communicate with audiences . Since the 1960s, the writing process has been defined to be a series of steps , stages, or strategies. Most simply, the writing process is conceptualized as four major steps: prewriting , drafting , revising , editing . That model works really well for many occasions. Yet sometimes you'll face really challenging writing tasks that will force you to engage in additional steps, including, prewriting , inventing , drafting , collaborating , researching , planning , organizing , designing , rereading , revising , editing , proofreading , sharing or publishing . Expand your composing repertoire -- your ability to respond with authority , clarity , and persuasiveness -- by learning about the dispositions and strategies of successful, professional writers.

Like water cascading to the sea, flow feels inevitable, natural, purposeful. Yet achieving flow is a state of mind that can be difficult to achieve. It requires full commitment to the believing gam e (as opposed to the doubting game ).

What are the Steps of the Writing Process?

Since the 1960s, it has been popular to describe the writing process as a series of steps or stages . For simple projects, the writing process is typically defined as four major steps:

drafting

This simplified approach to writing is quite appropriate for many exigencies–many calls to write . Often, e.g., we might read an email quickly, write a response, and then send it: write, revise, send.

However, in the real world, for more demanding projects — especially in high-stakes workplace writing or academic writing at the high school and college level — the writing process involve additional steps, or strategies , such as

collaboration
researching
proofreading
sharing or publishing.

Related Concepts: Mindset ; Self Regulation

Summary – Writing Process Steps

The summary below outlines the major steps writers work through as they endeavor to develop an idea for an audience .

1. Prewriting

Prewriting refers to all the work a writer does on a writing project before they actually begin writing .

Acts of prewriting include

Prior to writing a first draft, analyze the context for the work. For instance, in school settings students may analyze how much of their grade will be determined by a particular assignment. They may question how many and what sources are required and what the grading criteria will be used for critiquing the work.
To further their understanding of the assignment, writers will question who the audience is for their work, what their purpose is for writing, what style of writing their audience expects them to employ, and what rhetorical stance is appropriate for them to develop given the rhetorical situation they are addressing. (See the document planner heuristic for more on this)
consider employing rhetorical appeals ( ethos , pathos , and logos ), rhetorical devices , and rhetorical modes they want to develop once they begin writing
reflect on the voice , tone , and persona they want to develop
Following rhetorical analysis and rhetorical reasoning , writers decide on the persona ; point of view ; tone , voice and style of writing they hope to develop, such as an academic writing prose style or a professional writing prose style
making a plan, an outline, for what to do next.

2. Invention

Invention is traditionally defined as an initial stage of the writing process when writers are more focused on discovery and creative play. During the early stages of a project, writers brainstorm; they explore various topics and perspectives before committing to a specific direction for their discourse .

In practice, invention can be an ongoing concern throughout the writing process. People who are focused on solving problems and developing original ideas, arguments , artifacts, products, services, applications, and texts are open to acts of invention at any time during the writing process.

Writers have many different ways to engage in acts of invention, including

What is the exigency, the call to write ?
What are the ongoing scholarly debates in the peer-review literature?
What is the problem ?
What do they read? watch? say? What do they know about the topic? Why do they believe what they do? What are their beliefs, values, and expectations ?
What rhetorical appeals — ethos (credibility) , pathos (emotion) , and logos (logic) — should I explore to develop the best response to this exigency , this call to write?
What does peer-reviewed research say about the subject?
What are the current debates about the subject?
Embrace multiple viewpoints and consider various approaches to encourage the generation of original ideas.
How can I experiment with different media , genres , writing styles , personas , voices , tone
Experiment with new research methods
Write whatever ideas occur to you. Focus on generating ideas as opposed to writing grammatically correct sentences. Get your thoughts down as fully and quickly as you can without critiquing them.
Use heuristics to inspire discovery and creative thinking: Burke’s Pentad ; Document Planner , Journalistic Questions , The Business Model Canvas
Embrace the uncertainty that comes with creative exploration.
Listen to your intuition — your felt sense — when composing
Experiment with different writing styles , genres , writing tools, and rhetorical stances
Play the believing game early in the writing process

3. Researching

Research refers to systematic investigations that investigators carry out to discover new knowledge , test knowledge claims , solve problems , or develop new texts , products, apps, and services.

During the research stage of the writing process, writers may engage in

Engage in customer discovery interviews and survey research in order to better understand the problem space . Use surveys , interviews, focus groups, etc., to understand the stakeholder’s s (e.g., clients, suppliers, partners) problems and needs
What can you recall from your memory about the subject?
What can you learn from informal observation?
What can you learn from strategic searching of the archive on the topic that interests you?
Who are the thought leaders?
What were the major turns to the conversation ?
What are the current debates on the topic ?
Mixed research methods , qualitative research methods , quantitative research methods , usability and user experience research ?
What citation style is required by the audience and discourse community you’re addressing? APA | MLA .

4. Collaboration

Collaboration refers to the act of working with others to exchange ideas, solve problems, investigate subjects , coauthor texts , and develop products and services.

Collaboration can play a major role in the writing process, especially when authors coauthor documents with peers and teams , or critique the works of others .

Acts of collaboration include

Paying close attention to what others are saying, acknowledging their input, and asking clarifying questions to ensure understanding.
Expressing ideas, thoughts, and opinions in a concise and understandable manner, both verbally and in writing.
Being receptive to new ideas and perspectives, and considering alternative approaches to problem-solving.
Adapting to changes in project goals, timelines, or team dynamics, and being willing to modify plans when needed.
Distributing tasks and responsibilities fairly among team members, and holding oneself accountable for assigned work.
valuing and appreciating the unique backgrounds, skills, and perspectives of all team members, and leveraging this diversity to enhance collaboration.
Addressing disagreements or conflicts constructively and diplomatically, working towards mutually beneficial solutions.
Providing constructive feedback to help others improve their work, and being open to receiving feedback to refine one’s own ideas and contributions.
Understanding and responding to the emotions, needs, and concerns of team members, and fostering a supportive and inclusive environment .
Acknowledging and appreciating the achievements of the team and individual members, and using successes as a foundation for continued collaboration and growth.

5. Planning

Planning refers to

the process of planning how to organize a document
the process of managing your writing processes

6. Organizing

Following rhetorical analysis , following prewriting , writers question how they should organize their texts. For instance, should they adopt the organizational strategies of academic discourse or workplace-writing discourse ?

Writing-Process Plans

What is your Purpose? – Aims of Discourse
What steps, or strategies, need to be completed next?
set a schedule to complete goals

Planning Exercises

Document Planner
Team Charter

7. Designing

Designing refers to efforts on the part of the writer

to leverage the power of visual language to convey meaning
to create a visually appealing text

During the designing stage of the writing process, writers explore how they can use the elements of design and visual language to signify , clarify , and simplify the message.

Examples of the designing step of the writing process:

Establishing a clear hierarchy of visual elements, such as headings, subheadings, and bullet points, to guide the reader’s attention and facilitate understanding.
Selecting appropriate fonts, sizes, and styles to ensure readability and convey the intended tone and emphasis.
Organizing text and visual elements on the page or screen in a manner that is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and supports the intended message.
Using color schemes and contrasts effectively to create a visually engaging experience, while also ensuring readability and accessibility for all readers.
Incorporating images, illustrations, charts, graphs, and videos to support and enrich the written content, and to convey complex ideas in a more accessible format.
Designing content that is easily accessible to a wide range of readers, including those with visual impairments, by adhering to accessibility guidelines and best practices.
Maintaining a consistent style and design throughout the text, which includes the use of visuals, formatting, and typography, to create a cohesive and professional appearance.
Integrating interactive elements, such as hyperlinks, buttons, and multimedia, to encourage reader engagement and foster deeper understanding of the content.

8. Drafting

Drafting refers to the act of writing a preliminary version of a document — a sloppy first draft. Writers engage in exploratory writing early in the writing process. During drafting, writers focus on freewriting: they write in short bursts of writing without stopping and without concern for grammatical correctness or stylistic matters.

When composing, writers move back and forth between drafting new material, revising drafts, and other steps in the writing process.

9. Rereading

Rereading refers to the process of carefully reviewing a written text. When writers reread texts, they look in between each word, phrase, sentence, paragraph. They look for gaps in content, reasoning, organization, design, diction, style–and more.

When engaged in the physical act of writing — during moments of composing — writers will often pause from drafting to reread what they wrote or to reread some other text they are referencing.

10. Revising

Revision — the process of revisiting, rethinking, and refining written work to improve its content , clarity and overall effectiveness — is such an important part of the writing process that experienced writers often say “writing is revision” or “all writing is revision.”

For many writers, revision processes are deeply intertwined with writing, invention, and reasoning strategies:

“Writing and rewriting are a constant search for what one is saying.” — John Updike
“How do I know what I think until I see what I say.” — E.M. Forster

Acts of revision include

Pivoting: trashing earlier work and moving in a new direction
Identifying Rhetorical Problems
Identifying Structural Problems
Identifying Language Problems
Identifying Critical & Analytical Thinking Problems

11. Editing

Editing refers to the act of critically reviewing a text with the goal of identifying and rectifying sentence and word-level problems.

When editing , writers tend to focus on local concerns as opposed to global concerns . For instance, they may look for

problems weaving sources into your argument or analysis
problems establishing the authority of sources
problems using the required citation style
mechanical errors ( capitalization , punctuation , spelling )
sentence errors , sentence structure errors
problems with diction , brevity , clarity , flow , inclusivity , register, and simplicity

12. Proofreading

Proofreading refers to last time you’ll look at a document before sharing or publishing the work with its intended audience(s). At this point in the writing process, it’s too late to add in some new evidence you’ve found to support your position. Now you don’t want to add any new content. Instead, your goal during proofreading is to do a final check on word-level errors, problems with diction , punctuation , or syntax.

13. Sharing or Publishing

Sharing refers to the last step in the writing process: the moment when the writer delivers the message — the text — to the target audience .

Writers may think it makes sense to wait to share their work later in the process, after the project is fairly complete. However, that’s not always the case. Sometimes you can save yourself a lot of trouble by bringing in collaborators and critics earlier in the writing process.

Doherty, M. (2016, September 4). 10 things you need to know about banyan trees. Under the Banyan. https://underthebanyan.blog/2016/09/04/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-banyan-trees/

Emig, J. (1967). On teaching composition: Some hypotheses as definitions. Research in The Teaching of English, 1(2), 127-135. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED022783.pdf

Emig, J. (1971). The composing processes of twelfth graders (Research Report No. 13). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Emig, J. (1983). The web of meaning: Essays on writing, teaching, learning and thinking. Upper Montclair, NJ: Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc.

Ghiselin, B. (Ed.). (1985). The Creative Process: Reflections on the Invention in the Arts and Sciences . University of California Press.

Hayes, J. R., & Flower, L. (1980). Identifying the Organization of Writing Processes. In L. W. Gregg, & E. R. Steinberg (Eds.), Cognitive Processes in Writing: An Interdisciplinary Approach (pp. 3-30). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Hayes, J. R. (2012). Modeling and remodeling writing. Written Communication, 29(3), 369-388. https://doi: 10.1177/0741088312451260

Hayes, J. R., & Flower, L. S. (1986). Writing research and the writer. American Psychologist, 41(10), 1106-1113. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.41.10.1106

Leijten, Van Waes, L., Schriver, K., & Hayes, J. R. (2014). Writing in the workplace: Constructing documents using multiple digital sources. Journal of Writing Research, 5(3), 285–337. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2014.05.03.3

Lundstrom, K., Babcock, R. D., & McAlister, K. (2023). Collaboration in writing: Examining the role of experience in successful team writing projects. Journal of Writing Research, 15(1), 89-115. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2023.15.01.05

National Research Council. (2012). Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century . Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.https://doi.org/10.17226/13398.

North, S. M. (1987). The making of knowledge in composition: Portrait of an emerging field. Boynton/Cook Publishers.

Murray, Donald M. (1980). Writing as process: How writing finds its own meaning. In Timothy R. Donovan & Ben McClelland (Eds.), Eight approaches to teaching composition (pp. 3–20). National Council of Teachers of English.

Murray, Donald M. (1972). “Teach Writing as a Process Not Product.” The Leaflet, 11-14

Perry, S. K. (1996). When time stops: How creative writers experience entry into the flow state (Order No. 9805789). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (304288035). https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/when-time-stops-how-creative-writers-experience/docview/304288035/se-2

Rohman, D.G., & Wlecke, A. O. (1964). Pre-writing: The construction and application of models for concept formation in writing (Cooperative Research Project No. 2174). East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University.

Rohman, D. G., & Wlecke, A. O. (1975). Pre-writing: The construction and application of models for concept formation in writing (Cooperative Research Project No. 2174). U.S. Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Sommers, N. (1980). Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers. College Composition and Communication, 31(4), 378-388. doi: 10.2307/356600

Brevity - Say More with Less

Clarity (in Speech and Writing)

Coherence - How to Achieve Coherence in Writing

Flow - How to Create Flow in Writing

Inclusivity - Inclusive Language

The Elements of Style - The DNA of Powerful Writing

Academic Writing – How to Write for the Academic Community

You cannot climb a mountain without a plan / John Read

Structured Revision – How to Revise Your Work

Professional Writing – How to Write for the Professional World

Credibility & Authority – How to Be Credible & Authoritative in Research, Speech & Writing

Citation Guide – Learn How to Cite Sources in Academic and Professional Writing

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Page Design – How to Design Messages for Maximum Impact

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Citation - Definition - Introduction to Citation in Academic & Professional Writing

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Explore the different ways to cite sources in academic and professional writing, including in-text (Parenthetical), numerical, and note citations.

Collaboration - What is the Role of Collaboration in Academic & Professional Writing?

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Information Literacy - Discerning Quality Information from Noise

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The Writing Process

The writing process is something that no two people do the same way. There is no "right way" or "wrong way" to write. It can be a very messy and fluid process, and the following is only a representation of commonly used steps. Remember you can come to the Writing Center for assistance at any stage in this process.

Steps of the Writing Process

Step 1: Prewriting

Think and Decide

Make sure you understand your assignment. See Research Papers or Essays
Decide on a topic to write about. See   Prewriting Strategies  and Narrow your Topic
Consider who will read your work. See Audience and Voice
Brainstorm ideas about the subject and how those ideas can be organized. Make an outline. See  Outlines

Step 2: Research (if needed)

List places where you can find information.
Do your research. See the many KU Libraries resources and helpful guides
Evaluate your sources. See Evaluating Sources and Primary vs. Secondary Sources
Make an outline to help organize your research. See Outlines

Step 3: Drafting

Write sentences and paragraphs even if they are not perfect.
Create a thesis statement with your main idea. See Thesis Statements
Put the information you researched into your essay accurately without plagiarizing. Remember to include both in-text citations and a bibliographic page. See  Incorporating References and Paraphrase and Summary
Read what you have written and judge if it says what you mean. Write some more.
Read it again.
Write some more.
Write until you have said everything you want to say about the topic.

Step 4: Revising

Make it Better

Read what you have written again. See Revising Content and Revising Organization
Rearrange words, sentences, or paragraphs into a clear and logical order.
Take out or add parts.
Do more research if you think you should.
Replace overused or unclear words.
Read your writing aloud to be sure it flows smoothly. Add transitions.

Step 5: Editing and Proofreading

Make it Correct

Be sure all sentences are complete. See Editing and Proofreading
Correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
Change words that are not used correctly or are unclear.
APA Formatting
Chicago Style Formatting
MLA Formatting
Have someone else check your work.

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Resources for Writers: The Writing Process

Writing is a process that involves at least four distinct steps: prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. It is known as a recursive process. While you are revising, you might have to return to the prewriting step to develop and expand your ideas.

Prewriting is anything you do before you write a draft of your document. It includes thinking, taking notes, talking to others, brainstorming, outlining, and gathering information (e.g., interviewing people, researching in the library, assessing data).
Although prewriting is the first activity you engage in, generating ideas is an activity that occurs throughout the writing process.
Drafting occurs when you put your ideas into sentences and paragraphs. Here you concentrate upon explaining and supporting your ideas fully. Here you also begin to connect your ideas. Regardless of how much thinking and planning you do, the process of putting your ideas in words changes them; often the very words you select evoke additional ideas or implications.
Don’t pay attention to such things as spelling at this stage.
This draft tends to be writer-centered: it is you telling yourself what you know and think about the topic.
Revision is the key to effective documents. Here you think more deeply about your readers’ needs and expectations. The document becomes reader-centered. How much support will each idea need to convince your readers? Which terms should be defined for these particular readers? Is your organization effective? Do readers need to know X before they can understand Y?
At this stage you also refine your prose, making each sentence as concise and accurate as possible. Make connections between ideas explicit and clear.
Check for such things as grammar, mechanics, and spelling. The last thing you should do before printing your document is to spell check it.
Don’t edit your writing until the other steps in the writing process are complete.

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Knowledge Base

The Beginner's Guide to Writing an Essay | Steps & Examples

An academic essay is a focused piece of writing that develops an idea or argument using evidence, analysis, and interpretation.

There are many types of essays you might write as a student. The content and length of an essay depends on your level, subject of study, and course requirements. However, most essays at university level are argumentative — they aim to persuade the reader of a particular position or perspective on a topic.

The essay writing process consists of three main stages:

Preparation: Decide on your topic, do your research, and create an essay outline.
Writing : Set out your argument in the introduction, develop it with evidence in the main body, and wrap it up with a conclusion.
Revision: Check your essay on the content, organization, grammar, spelling, and formatting of your essay.

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Essay writing process, preparation for writing an essay, writing the introduction, writing the main body, writing the conclusion, essay checklist, lecture slides, frequently asked questions about writing an essay.

The writing process of preparation, writing, and revisions applies to every essay or paper, but the time and effort spent on each stage depends on the type of essay .

For example, if you’ve been assigned a five-paragraph expository essay for a high school class, you’ll probably spend the most time on the writing stage; for a college-level argumentative essay , on the other hand, you’ll need to spend more time researching your topic and developing an original argument before you start writing.

1. Preparation	2. Writing	3. Revision
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Before you start writing, you should make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to say and how you’re going to say it. There are a few key steps you can follow to make sure you’re prepared:

Understand your assignment: What is the goal of this essay? What is the length and deadline of the assignment? Is there anything you need to clarify with your teacher or professor?
Define a topic: If you’re allowed to choose your own topic , try to pick something that you already know a bit about and that will hold your interest.
Do your research: Read primary and secondary sources and take notes to help you work out your position and angle on the topic. You’ll use these as evidence for your points.
Come up with a thesis: The thesis is the central point or argument that you want to make. A clear thesis is essential for a focused essay—you should keep referring back to it as you write.
Create an outline: Map out the rough structure of your essay in an outline . This makes it easier to start writing and keeps you on track as you go.

Once you’ve got a clear idea of what you want to discuss, in what order, and what evidence you’ll use, you’re ready to start writing.

The introduction sets the tone for your essay. It should grab the reader’s interest and inform them of what to expect. The introduction generally comprises 10–20% of the text.

1. Hook your reader

The first sentence of the introduction should pique your reader’s interest and curiosity. This sentence is sometimes called the hook. It might be an intriguing question, a surprising fact, or a bold statement emphasizing the relevance of the topic.

Let’s say we’re writing an essay about the development of Braille (the raised-dot reading and writing system used by visually impaired people). Our hook can make a strong statement about the topic:

The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability.

2. Provide background on your topic

Next, it’s important to give context that will help your reader understand your argument. This might involve providing background information, giving an overview of important academic work or debates on the topic, and explaining difficult terms. Don’t provide too much detail in the introduction—you can elaborate in the body of your essay.

3. Present the thesis statement

Next, you should formulate your thesis statement— the central argument you’re going to make. The thesis statement provides focus and signals your position on the topic. It is usually one or two sentences long. The thesis statement for our essay on Braille could look like this:

As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness.

4. Map the structure

In longer essays, you can end the introduction by briefly describing what will be covered in each part of the essay. This guides the reader through your structure and gives a preview of how your argument will develop.

The invention of Braille marked a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by blind and visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people’s social and cultural lives.

Write your essay introduction

The body of your essay is where you make arguments supporting your thesis, provide evidence, and develop your ideas. Its purpose is to present, interpret, and analyze the information and sources you have gathered to support your argument.

Length of the body text

The length of the body depends on the type of essay. On average, the body comprises 60–80% of your essay. For a high school essay, this could be just three paragraphs, but for a graduate school essay of 6,000 words, the body could take up 8–10 pages.

Paragraph structure

To give your essay a clear structure , it is important to organize it into paragraphs . Each paragraph should be centered around one main point or idea.

That idea is introduced in a topic sentence . The topic sentence should generally lead on from the previous paragraph and introduce the point to be made in this paragraph. Transition words can be used to create clear connections between sentences.

After the topic sentence, present evidence such as data, examples, or quotes from relevant sources. Be sure to interpret and explain the evidence, and show how it helps develop your overall argument.

Lack of access to reading and writing put blind people at a serious disadvantage in nineteenth-century society. Text was one of the primary methods through which people engaged with culture, communicated with others, and accessed information; without a well-developed reading system that did not rely on sight, blind people were excluded from social participation (Weygand, 2009). While disabled people in general suffered from discrimination, blindness was widely viewed as the worst disability, and it was commonly believed that blind people were incapable of pursuing a profession or improving themselves through culture (Weygand, 2009). This demonstrates the importance of reading and writing to social status at the time: without access to text, it was considered impossible to fully participate in society. Blind people were excluded from the sighted world, but also entirely dependent on sighted people for information and education.

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The conclusion is the final paragraph of an essay. It should generally take up no more than 10–15% of the text . A strong essay conclusion :

Returns to your thesis
Ties together your main points
Shows why your argument matters

A great conclusion should finish with a memorable or impactful sentence that leaves the reader with a strong final impression.

What not to include in a conclusion

To make your essay’s conclusion as strong as possible, there are a few things you should avoid. The most common mistakes are:

Including new arguments or evidence
Undermining your arguments (e.g. “This is just one approach of many”)
Using concluding phrases like “To sum up…” or “In conclusion…”

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.

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Checklist: Essay

My essay follows the requirements of the assignment (topic and length ).

My introduction sparks the reader’s interest and provides any necessary background information on the topic.

My introduction contains a thesis statement that states the focus and position of the essay.

I use paragraphs to structure the essay.

I use topic sentences to introduce each paragraph.

Each paragraph has a single focus and a clear connection to the thesis statement.

I make clear transitions between paragraphs and ideas.

My conclusion doesn’t just repeat my points, but draws connections between arguments.

I don’t introduce new arguments or evidence in the conclusion.

I have given an in-text citation for every quote or piece of information I got from another source.

I have included a reference page at the end of my essay, listing full details of all my sources.

My citations and references are correctly formatted according to the required citation style .

My essay has an interesting and informative title.

I have followed all formatting guidelines (e.g. font, page numbers, line spacing).

Your essay meets all the most important requirements. Our editors can give it a final check to help you submit with confidence.

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An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates.

In high school, you may have to write many different types of essays to develop your writing skills.

Academic essays at college level are usually argumentative : you develop a clear thesis about your topic and make a case for your position using evidence, analysis and interpretation.

The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:

An opening hook to catch the reader’s attention.
Relevant background information that the reader needs to know.
A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.

The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

It gives your writing direction and focus.
It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main point of a paragraph . Everything else in the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

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The Writing Process

Discovery/investigation.

The first step in writing a successful paper in college requires an active engagement with your sources. Simply reading a primary source for content is no longer sufficient. The question should no longer be “What happened?” but rather “Why did that happen? What does that say about the character(s)/plot?” Make notes of your thoughts and ideas as you read.

Once the writer has finished an active reading of the primary source, it may be necessary to obtain secondary sources to back up the thesis. If your research yields books, remember that it is not necessary to read the entire book. You can either look for a chapter title that you believe will have information pertinent to your paper, or look at the index for terms that you will be discussing.

Peer-reviewed journals available online will be your most commonly used secondary resource. Use the online searches through the Knight-Capron Library, but remember that other search engines, such as Google Scholar, can yield results.

Prewriting is the step in which tools such as free writing, brainstorming, outlining, or clustering are used. In prewriting, no idea is too off topic or too strange. It is these sometimes dissociative ideas that can lead you to a paper topic that you never would have considered.

Though the common perception is that there is nothing that hasn’t been written about before, if you allow yourself to think outside the box, you can find a way of looking at an old topic through new eyes.

It is also during prewriting that the writer needs to make a decision about audience. Asking questions like: “Who is going to read my paper?”, “What is the purpose of this paper?”, and “Why are they going to read my paper?” will help you set your audience.

The simple answer to these questions is “My professor” and “Because they assigned it.” They are not the true answers. It could be that your paper needs to be geared towards elementary level students or participants in a seminar or peers at a conference. The language and tone for either of those audiences would be very different.

Drafting is the beginning of “writing” your paper. It is important to remember that in drafting you should already have a thesis idea to guide your writing. Without a thesis, your writing will be prone to drift, making it harder to frame after the fact.

In drafting, the writer should use materials created in the prewriting stage and any notes taken in discovery and investigation to frame and build body paragraphs.

Many writers will tackle their body paragraphs first instead of beginning with an introduction (especially if you are not sure of the exact direction of your paper). Beginning with body paragraphs will allow you to work through your ideas without feeling restricted by a specific thesis, but be prepared to delete paragraphs that don’t fit.

Afterwards, create an opening paragraph (with an appropriate revised thesis) that reflects the body of your essay.

There are two different scopes of revision: global and local.

Global Revision

Global revision involves focusing on higher order concerns. We frequently think of higher order concerns as involving audience, purpose, thesis claims, development (and support), and organization.

When looking your paper over with global revision in mind, ask yourself the following questions:

What does my audience already know about this topic, and what do they need to know? Have I included information from sources that my audience values?
Is the purpose of my paper clear? Does my thesis claim reflect the purpose, and does it fully capture my paper’s content?
Have I offered enough supporting evidence in my supporting paragraphs? Have I effectively quoted, paraphrased, and/or summarized my sources? Have I provided appropriate in-text citations and entries in my works cited or reference page?
Have I effectually discussed my evidence? Have I put my sources into context for the reader (perhaps by using signal phrases), and I have discussed the evidence I have used so that the reader understands its relevance/importance? Have I quoted sources but have failed to discuss the quotes?
Have I organized my paper in a logical manner? Did I go from least important/shocking points to most important/shocking points?

Many also believe that global revision involves looking for issues like cohesion and the overall progression of your paper. If your paragraphs jump from point to point without a clear connection between the points, there is an issue with cohesion. If your paragraphs contain too many points, this is also an issue. Ideally, a paragraph contains one point that is thoroughly discussed and supported with credible evidence.

Lastly, If your paper has paragraphs that do not flow into each other, but change topic abruptly only to return to a previous thought later, your paper has poor cohesion.

A paper that includes smooth transitions is significantly easier to read and understand. It is preferable to keep all like thoughts together and to arrange your paragraphs in such a way that your argument builds, rather than laying everything out with equal weight.

Though the blueprint for your paper is in the thesis, the end result of your argument should not come early in the paper, but at the end. Allow the supporting paragraphs to build to your conclusions.

Local Revision

Local issues involve looking for clarity in sentences, ensuring coherence with your ideas. The greatest asset to avoiding and fixing local issues is to use varied sentence structure and to avoid using the same words repeatedly. Repeating the same sentence structure can make your paper feel mechanical and make an interesting topic feel boring.

Local revision also involves being mindful of lower order concerns, such as sentence structure, word choice, grammar, and spelling.

The final stage in writing a paper requires a review of what you have written. In this last read of your paper, you should look for any grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors that have slipped through the cracks during the revising stage, or that were introduced in your revisions.

Reading your paper aloud, or asking a friend to read your paper to you is a good way to catch errors. Often if you read your own paper, especially out loud, you can catch errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Though this step seems minor within the process of writing, it is an easy way to prevent the loss of points over simple mistakes.

Formatting, Inner-text Citation, and Works Cited

The formatting required for your paper will change depending on the field of your topic. Generally, the sciences and business and economics use APA or CSE formatting. English, and other humanities will use MLA, and History uses Chicago. The appearance of inner-text citations, and Works cited page will all be affected by these different formats.

Consult your syllabus or ask your professor to learn what format you should use. Guides for APA, Chicago, and MLA are available online .

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Do You Know The 7 Steps Of The Writing Process?

How much do you know about the different stages of the writing process? Even if you’ve been writing for years, your understanding of the processes of writing may be limited to writing, editing, and publishing.

It’s not your fault. Much of the writing instruction in school and online focus most heavily on those three critical steps.

Important as they are, though, there’s more to creating a successful book than those three. And as a writer, you need to know.

The 7 Steps of the Writing Process

Read on to familiarize yourself with the seven writing process steps most writers go through — at least to some extent. The more you know each step and its importance, the more you can do it justice before moving on to the next.

1. Planning or Prewriting

This is probably the most fun part of the writing process. Here’s where an idea leads to a brainstorm, which leads to an outline (or something like it).

Whether you’re a plotter, a pantser, or something in between, every writer has some idea of what they want to accomplish with their writing. This is the goal you want the final draft to meet.

With both fiction and nonfiction , every author needs to identify two things for each writing project:

Intended audience = “For whom am I writing this?”
Chosen purpose = “What do I want this piece of writing to accomplish?”

In other words, you start with the endpoint in mind. You look at your writing project the way your audience would. And you keep its purpose foremost at every step.

From planning, we move to the next fun stage.

2. Drafting (or Writing the First Draft)

There’s a reason we don’t just call this the “rough draft,” anymore. Every first draft is rough. And you’ll probably have more than one rough draft before you’re ready to publish.

For your first draft, you’ll be freewriting your way from beginning to end, drawing from your outline, or a list of main plot points, depending on your particular process.

To get to the finish line for this first draft, it helps to set word count goals for each day or each week and to set a deadline based on those word counts and an approximate idea of how long this writing project should be.

Seeing that deadline on your calendar can help keep you motivated to meet your daily and weekly targets. It also helps to reserve a specific time of day for writing.

Another useful tool is a Pomodoro timer, which you can set for 20-25 minute bursts with short breaks between them — until you reach your word count for the day.

3. Sharing Your First Draft

Once you’ve finished your first draft, it’s time to take a break from it. The next time you sit down to read through it, you’ll be more objective than you would be right after typing “The End” or logging the final word count.

It’s also time to let others see your baby, so they can provide feedback on what they like and what isn’t working for them.

You can find willing readers in a variety of places:

Social media groups for writers
Social media groups for readers of a particular genre
Your email list (if you have one)
Local and online writing groups and forums

This is where you’ll get a sense of whether your first draft is fulfilling its original purpose and whether it’s likely to appeal to its intended audience.

You’ll also get some feedback on whether you use certain words too often, as well as whether your writing is clear and enjoyable to read.

4. Evaluating Your Draft

Here’s where you do a full evaluation of your first draft, taking into account the feedback you’ve received, as well as what you’re noticing as you read through it. You’ll mark any mistakes with grammar or mechanics.

And you’ll look for the answer to important questions:

Is this piece of writing effective/ Does it fulfill its purpose?
Do my readers like my main character? (Fiction)
Does the story make sense and satisfy the reader? (Fiction)
Does it answer the questions presented at the beginning? ( Nonfiction )
Is it written in a way the intended audience can understand and enjoy?

Once you’ve thoroughly evaluated your work, you can move on to the revision stage and create the next draft.

5. Revising Your Content

Revising and editing get mixed up a lot, but they’re not the same thing.

With revising, you’re making changes to the content based on the feedback you’ve received and on your own evaluation of the previous draft.

To correct structural problems in your book or story
To find loose ends and tie them up (Fiction)
To correct unhelpful deviations from genre norms (Fiction)
To add or remove content to improve flow and/or usefulness

You revise your draft to create a new one that comes closer to achieving your original goals for it. Your newest revision is your newest draft.

If you’re hiring a professional editor for the next step, you’ll likely be doing more revision after they’ve provided their own feedback on the draft you send them.

Editing is about eliminating errors in your (revised) content that can affect its accuracy, clarity, and readability.

By the time editing is done, your writing should be free of the following:

Grammatical errors
Punctuation/mechanical and spelling errors
Misquoted content
Missing (necessary) citations and source info
Factual errors
Awkward phrasing
Unnecessary repetition

Good editing makes your work easier and more enjoyable to read. A well-edited book is less likely to get negative reviews titled, “Needs editing.” And when it comes to books, it’s best to go beyond self-editing and find a skilled professional.

A competent editor will be more objective about your work and is more likely to catch mistakes you don’t see because your eyes have learned to compensate for them.

7. Publishing Your Final Product

Here’s where you take your final draft — the final product of all the previous steps — and prepare it for publication.

Not only will it need to be formatted (for ebook, print, and audiobook), but you’ll also need a cover that will appeal to your intended audience as much as your content will.

Whether you budget for these things or not depends on the path you choose to publish your book:

Traditional Publishing — where the publishing house provides editing, formatting, and cover design, as well as some marketing
Self-Publishing — where you contract with professionals and pay for editing, formatting, and cover design.
Self-Publishing with a Publishing Company — where you pay the company to provide editing, formatting, and cover design using their in-house professionals.

And once your book is live and ready to buy, it’s time to make it more visible to your intended audience. Otherwise, it would fail in its purpose, too.

Are you ready to begin 7 steps of the writing process?

Now that you’re familiar with the writing process examples in this post, how do you envision your own process?

While it should include the seven steps described here, it’ll also include personal preferences of your own — like the following:

Writing music and other ambient details
Writing schedule
Word count targets and time frames

The more you learn about the finer details of the writing process, the more likely you are to create content your readers will love. And the more likely they are to find it.

Wherever you are in the process, our goal here is to provide content that will help you make the most of it.

The 4 Steps in the Writing Process

~ There Is No Magic Pencil ~

When I was in school, the boy who sat next to me said he believed my pencil was magic. From the moment my pencil hit the paper, the words would flow. Meanwhile, he would stare at the page for what seemed like eternity before finally writing his own piece.

He may have thought my pencil was magic, but in retrospect, he was the more advanced writer. The time he spent staring while I hastily scrawled, erased, and rewrote, was time he spent reflecting on the story he wanted to tell. He didn’t make it up as he went along — he carefully crafted it in his mind before ever committing a single word to print. The result? His erasers remained intact and my work rambled, often off topic.

WHAT IS THE WRITING PROCESS?

A great essay, blog post, novel, or even a tweet doesn’t just happen . There is no magic pencil. Like any process, writing has multiple steps: Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, and Editing. It takes practice, and every time you do it, it starts with an idea.

Prewriting, as the name implies, happens BEFORE you write and it’s the step I skipped in school. Prewriting is when brainstorming and outlining happens.

All writers need to brainstorm, talk to others, and take inspiration from the world around them. Whether it be music, a political statement, a photograph, a childhood story or memory, even a blade of grass, the world around us can provide the spark needed to write. Brainstorming allows writers to think and observe before putting pen to page.

Once writers find that inspiration, the next step is to create an outline. Outlines are important for reasons beyond the fact that every English teacher says so — outlines act as a roadmap for what you are about to write.

Drafting is the “first pass” or “brain dump” of everything developed during prewriting. Don’t worry about spelling and grammar while in this drafting stage, but instead focus on turning ideas into sentences and paragraphs. The outline created in the prewriting stage, if followed, can help create a clear path for the writing. This stage might take only a few minutes or several hours, but it’s important to get as much written as possible in this initial draft.

The revision stage is often incorrectly used synonymously with editing. Large changes happen in this stage. Entire sections may be added or deleted, the focus of the piece may change, and supporting evidence may be elaborated on or even added or removed completely. In the simplest of implementations, it’s like when you reread a text message right before you send it, and then quickly delete half of it.

Although editing is involved, revising includes much more than just fixing the spelling mistakes. This stage is often a good opportunity for writers to get a second opinion on their work. Having someone else look at your work allows you to see if you’re taken a reader’s needs into consideration with your piece. Does it make sense to him? Does it answer her questions? Perhaps he has a suggestion for a more compelling introduction.

Once all the heavy lifting is done in the revision stage, and the piece has the foundation to make it structurally sound, it’s time to edit. Word by word, sentence by sentence, spelling and grammar should be reviewed. Spellcheck doesn’t catch everything (their/there/they’re) so it’s important to know your own weaknesses with editing. It takes practice to become a good editor, and it’s often very difficult to edit your own work. It’s ok to seek out a grammar guardian to assist you in the editing process. Some writers even keep a list of their most troublesome words or phrases.

FOUR STEPS AND DONE? EASY.

It’s not that simple. Most people don’t dart through all four steps once quickly and then they are done. For large, academic pieces, novels, and reports, a writer may cycle through all the steps more than once. If more people review the work, more ideas are shared and the piece may undergo more than one major revision.

First time writers, or those less comfortable with it, may require additional time to complete their work. But one thing is certain, the more time that is spent up front, in the prewriting and drafting stages, the easier revisions and editing become.

I’ve retired my not-so-magical pencil, preferring digital these days, and I still love to write. But looking back at my second-grade short story, I’m glad I’ve refined my process…and I’m glad I have a team of awesome writers to redline my work and brainstorm ideas.

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How to Write an Essay

Published March 11, 2021. Updated May 5, 2022.

Essay Definition

An essay is a focused piece of writing that typically expresses a writer’s argument, opinion, or story about one subject.

Overview of an Essay

There is no one correct way to write an essay. Writing is a cyclical process. A writer may start by writing the introduction, get stuck, start writing a body paragraph, and then suddenly get inspiration for something else to put in the introduction.

If the writer has a clear outline, it is perfectly fine to switch between sections of the paper many times throughout the writing process. The four stages of writing an essay are prewriting, writing, revising, and editing. The amount of time spent in each stage depends on the type and complexity of the essay, as well as the individual’s strengths and weaknesses.

Worried about your writing? Submit your paper for a Chegg Writing essay check , or for an Expert Check proofreading . Both can help you find and fix potential writing issues.

Before you even begin writing your essay, there are several things you need to do to prepare your information and organize your ideas. This before-writing, or “prewriting,” stage includes evaluating the prompt or topic, conducting research, writing your working thesis, and creating an outline.

Evaluate the Prompt or Topic

Make sure you understand the assignment and the type of essay you are writing. If given a specific prompt, analyze the prompt several times, underlining or circling key action words like “claim” or “evaluate” along with key dates and terms from your class. If you are not given a specific prompt, consider the topic you want to write about. Most undergraduate-level essays are at least somewhat argumentative in nature. You will likely have to choose a side or position to argue, and now is the time to establish your stance.

Conduct Research

For many writing assignments, conducting research takes the most time. The type of research you conduct depends on the type of essay you are writing. For literary analysis essays, you will likely gather evidence from texts or critical essays on your topic. For argumentative essays, you will likely search databases or books for evidence that supports your claim. Regardless of what information you are searching for, use reliable and credible sources based on your course or discipline’s established guidelines.

Organize your research using a method that works for you. You might create physical or digital flashcards, use a graphic organizer, or simply record information in a document on your computer. Regardless of the method you choose, organize your information according to ideas rather than just listing the information all together. Sorting your information while you research will help you identify trends and areas where you have too much or too little information.

Write Your Working Thesis

A working thesis is a draft version of a thesis statement to use in the final version of your essay. You will likely revise the thesis several times throughout the writing process. Try to be clear and specific, answer the prompt directly, and state a claim you will prove in the essay. Writing the thesis directly after you research but before you draft your paper helps establish your essay’s focus.

Create an Outline

The final part of the prewriting stage is creating an outline. An outline is an organized overview of what you are going to write in your essay. An essay outline identifies your key points in a logical way. Some outlines are simple and identify only the main ideas and supporting details. Others are more complex and include full topic sentences and nearly all the research you plan to use in the essay.

Since you have already written your working thesis statement, the next step in writing your outline is to decide on the main points of your essay. Consider the big ideas that emerged from your research, as well any claims you made in the working thesis. Group your research together in logical ways to support the claim(s).

Each main point will be one of the body paragraphs in your paper. Add supporting details under each key idea. You can add as many or as few details as you like. The more thorough you are in this step, the easier it will be to transfer your outline to paragraph form.

As you write your essay outline, you may have to shuffle the ideas around a few times until you find the order that best supports your claim. You may even end up eliminating an idea that you previously thought would be important in your paper, and that is okay.

The first thing you need to know about how to write your essay is that there is no one correct way to write your essay. Writing is a cyclical process. You may start writing your introduction, get stuck, start writing a body paragraph, and then suddenly get inspiration for something else to put in your introduction. Since you already have a clear outline to help keep you organized, it is perfectly fine to switch between sections of your paper many times throughout your writing process. Below is an overview of the different sections you will create in the first draft of your essay.

Introduction

There are generally three main parts of an introduction: the hook, background information, and a thesis statement.

The hook is an attention-grabbing first sentence or short paragraph. The first thing your audience will read is the hook, and its purpose is to engage the reader. Hooks also establish the context for what you are writing. There are many ways to write a hook, but some common methods include using surprising statistics, interesting quotations, funny anecdotes, or thought-provoking questions.

An example hook for an argumentative essay on the benefits of technology use in education might ask a question to engage the audience:

Have you ever considered how difficult life would be without access to technology?

Or, a hook for the same essay might use a surprising statistic:

According to a 2018 report by Cambridge International, only 48% of students aged 12-19 use desktop computers in the classroom.

Background Information

The second part of the introduction includes background information. This section varies quite a bit in content and length, depending on the discipline, complexity, and paper type. However, its purpose is always to provide a background that helps your reader understand the context in which you will write. This information mentally prepares your reader to tackle the claim you make in the thesis statement and the evidence and analysis in your essay’s body paragraphs.

Thesis Statement

The final part of your introduction is your thesis statement. Since you already drafted your working thesis during the prewriting stage, all you need to do now is transfer that sentence to your introduction and blend it with the background information. Be sure that the thesis statement still matches your claims. If not, revise your thesis according to what you have written in your introduction and discovered during your research.

Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs are the heart of your essay. While you may have been taught to write in a traditional five-paragraph structure when learning to write essays, in reality, the number of body paragraphs you write varies depending on the type of essay and the depth and breadth of research and analysis included.

Each body paragraph has 3 main parts: a topic sentence, evidence and analysis, and a concluding statement.

Topic Sentence

A topic sentence is an overview of your claim for the paragraph. It is a clear, direct statement that establishes your purpose for writing and gives your reader a preview of the order in which you will write the paragraph. A clear topic sentence provides structure and organization. A topic sentence is usually the first sentence of each body paragraph.

Evidence and Analysis

After your topic sentence, include several sentences alternating between evidence and analysis of how that evidence supports both your topic sentence and your thesis statement. Introduce each piece of evidence using your own words and include an in-text citation indicating where you found the information. Below are a few sample sentence starters for introducing evidence:

“According to [author’s name] . . .”

“As outlined in research conducted by [institution name] . . .”

“One example of this _____ can be seen in [study name] . . .”

Vary both the type of evidence you use (e.g. fact, quote, paraphrase) and how you structure the evidence in your paragraph. Using a variety of sources and sentence structures helps your paragraph flow smoothly.

Concluding Statement

After including all relevant evidence and an analysis of the impact of that evidence, end your body paragraph with a concluding statement. This sentence should not simply be a summary. A concluding statement should provide one last analysis of all of the evidence you presented in the paragraph. This is a final way to support the claim in the topic sentence.

The conclusion ties together your main claim and key ideas. It is your final chance to leave a lasting impact on the reader. While it is usually shorter than the introduction, and perhaps even the shortest paragraph in your paper, the conclusion is also the last thing your audience reads.

While some disciplines have specific requirements for a conclusion, in general, a successful conclusion will do three things: review the thesis statement, synthesize your main ideas, and link your writing to a broader context.

The topic sentence of your conclusion should restate your thesis statement in a new way. Try not to mirror the same language or sentence structure of your original thesis statement, or the conclusion may sound repetitive.

The middle of your conclusion paragraph should review your key ideas. Look for ways you can draw connections between the various points, so you discuss them as a group rather than simply listing your topic sentences again. This section should be considered more of a synthesis than a summary.

The final sentences of the conclusion should link your claim, analysis, and findings to something larger than the scope of your paper. One way to do so is to write a few sentences answering the questions “so what?” or “why does this matter?” Providing an answer to one of these questions helps readers grasp the significance of your essay. Consider answering one of the following questions in your conclusion:

How does this topic connect to a global historical or modern issue?

What is a possible solution to the problem you presented?

What questions did you present that need further research?

How does your topic relate to another relevant topic?

Revising and Editing

Revising and editing are the final two stages of writing an essay. While many people consider these to be the same thing, revising and editing have different goals. Revision is a process for improving the structure, organization, and content of your writing. Editing is a process for correcting the spelling, grammar, and punctuation of your writing.

After you have completed one full draft of your paper, read your essay with the purpose of looking for areas where the structure and organization are unclear or do not fully support your thesis statement. You can use the following checklist to help revise your essay for clarity:

Does the topic sentence of each paragraph clearly connect your idea to the thesis statement?
Does the topic sentence of each paragraph provide a smooth transition from the previous paragraph?
Does the topic sentence of each paragraph fully match what you wrote in the paragraph?
Does each body paragraph have a clear focus?
Do the body paragraphs progress in a logical order?

If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, revise your writing, so each paragraph is focused, organized, and fully supportive of the thesis statement.

The second part of your revision process involves credibility and sourcing. Reread the body paragraphs of your essay again, this time looking for places where you have unclear evidence or missing citations. You can use the following checklist to help revise your essay for credibility and sourcing:

Is all the evidence and research clear and specific?
Do you use a variety of types of evidence (e.g., statistics, paraphrased research, quotes from experts)?
Is each piece of evidence or research supported by your analysis of that research?
Does each quote have an author tag to introduce the quote?
Is each piece of evidence or research followed by an in-text citation according to the format required by the course (e.g., APA, Chicago, MLA)?

Again, if you answered “no” to any of the above questions, now is the time to revise your writing, so each paragraph includes properly cited and credible research.

After you finish revising the content of your paper, spend time editing your paper for what many professors call “grammar and mechanics.” While spell-check programs catch some of these errors, you still need to thoroughly edit the paper yourself. You can use the following checklist to help edit the grammar and mechanics of your paper:

Did spell-check miss any misspelled words or change words to the wrong ones?
Do you repeat any words or phrases too often?
Do you use strong verbs throughout?
Do you use correct subject/verb agreement?
Do you write in one tense throughout the paper (usually past)?
If you include any lists, do you have parallel sentence structure in those lists?
Is the punctuation between sentences correct?
Do you have clear antecedents for all pronouns, particularly “this”?
Does the physical formatting (e.g., line spacing, page numbers, alignment) match the requirements of the course and citation manual?

A final check you can use to make sure the essay does not have any obvious errors is to read the paper out loud. If you hear any sentences that sound awkward, extremely long, or extremely short, go back and edit further.

Before you turn in that paper, don’t forget to cite your sources in APA format , MLA format , or a style of your choice.

Key Takeaways

The four stages of writing an essay are prewriting, writing, revising, and editing.
The amount of time you spend in each stage depends on the type and complexity of the essay, as well as your individual strengths and weaknesses.
Writing an essay is a cyclical process, and it is okay if your final essay looks very different from your prewriting outline.
Revising is a process in which you focus on improving the content, structure, and organization of your essay. Editing is a process in which you improve the grammar and mechanics of your writing.

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The Writing Process

The Writing Process Explained

Understanding the writing process provides a student with a straightforward step-by-step procedure that they can follow. It means they can replicate the process no matter what type of nonfiction text they are asked to produce.

In this article, we’ll look at the 5 step writing process that guides students from prewriting to submitting their polished work quickly and easily.

While explaining each stage of the process in detail, we’ll suggest some activities you can use with your students to help them successfully complete each stage.

THE STAGES OF THE WRITING PROCESS

The five steps of the writing process are made up of the following stages:

Pre-writing: In this stage, students brainstorm ideas, plan content, and gather the necessary information to ensure their thinking is organized logically.
Drafting: Students construct ideas in basic sentences and paragraphs without getting caught up with perfection. It is in this stage that the pre-writing process becomes refined and shaped.
Revising: This is where students revise their draft and make changes to improve the content, organization, and overall structure. Any obvious spelling and grammatical errors might also be improved at this stage.
Editing: It is in this stage where students make the shift from improving the structure of their writing to focusing on enhancing the written quality of sentences and paragraphs through improving word choice, punctuation, and capitalization, and all spelling and grammatical errors are corrected. Ensure students know this is their final opportunity to alter their writing, which will play a significant role in the assessment process.
Submitting / Publishing: Students can share their writing with the world, their teachers, friends, and family through various platforms and tools.

Be aware that this list is not a definitive linear process, and it may be advisable to revisit some of these steps in some cases as students learn the craft of writing over time.

Daily Quick Writes For All Text Types

Our FUN DAILY QUICK WRITE TASKS will teach your students the fundamentals of CREATIVE WRITING across all text types. Packed with 52 ENGAGING ACTIVITIES

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STAGE ONE: THE WRITING PROCESS

GET READY TO WRITE

The prewriting stage covers anything the student does before they begin to draft their text. It includes many things such as thinking, brainstorming, discussing ideas with others, sketching outlines, gathering information through interviewing people, assessing data, and researching in the library and online.

The intention at the prewriting stage is to collect the raw material that will fuel the writing process. This involves the student doing 3 things:

Understanding the conventions of the text type
Gathering up facts, opinions, ideas, data, vocabulary, etc through research and discussion
Organizing resources and planning out the writing process.

By the time students have finished the pre-writing stage, they will want to have completed at least one of these tasks depending upon the text type they are writing.

Choose a topic: Ensure your students select a topic that is interesting and relevant to them.
Brainstorm ideas: Once they have a topic, brainstorm and write their ideas down, considering what they already know about the topic and what they need to research further. Students might want to use brainstorming techniques such as mind mapping, free writing, or listing.
Research: This one is crucial for informational and nonfiction writing. Students may need to research to gather more information and use reliable sources such as books, academic journals, and credible websites.
Organize your ideas: This can be challenging for younger students, but once they have a collection of ideas and information, help them to organize them logically by creating an outline, using headings and subheadings, or grouping related ideas.
Develop a thesis statement: This one is only for an academic research paper and should clearly state your paper’s main idea or argument. It should be specific and debatable.

Before beginning the research and planning parts of the process, the student must take some time to consider the demands of the text type or genre they are asked to write, as this will influence how they research and plan.

PREWRITING TEACHING ACTIVITY

As with any stage in the writing process, students will benefit immensely from seeing the teacher modelling activities to support that stage.

In this activity, you can model your approach to the prewriting stage for students to emulate. Eventually, they will develop their own specific approach, but for now, having a clear model to follow will serve them well.

Starting with an essay title written in the center of the whiteboard, brainstorm ideas as a class and write these ideas branching from the title to create a mind map.

From there, you can help students identify areas for further research and help them to create graphic organizers to record their ideas.

Explain to the students that while idea generation is an integral part of the prewriting stage, generating ideas is also important throughout all the other stages of the writing process.

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STAGE TWO: THE WRITING PROCESS

PUT YOUR IDEAS ON PAPER

Drafting is when the student begins to corral the unruly fruits of the prewriting stage into orderly sentences and paragraphs.

When their writing is based on solid research and planning, it will be much easier for the student to manage. A poorly executed first stage can see pencils stuck at the starting line and persistent complaints of ‘writer’s block’ from the students.

However, do encourage your students not to get too attached to any ideas they may have generated in Stage 1. Writing is thinking too and your students need to leave room for their creativity to express itself at all stages of the process.

The most important thing about this stage is for the student to keep moving. A text is written word-by-word, much as a bricklayer builds a wall by laying brick upon brick.

Instill in your students that they shouldn’t get too hung up on stuff like spelling and grammar in these early stages.

Likewise, they shouldn’t overthink things. The trick here is to get the ideas down fast – everything else can be polished up later.

DRAFTING TEACHING ACTIVITY

As mentioned in the previous activity, writing is a very complex process and modeling goes a long way to helping ensure our students’ success.

Sometimes our students do an excellent job in the prewriting stage with understanding the text purpose, the research, and the planning, only to fall flat when it comes to beginning to write an actual draft.

Often, students require some clear modeling by the teacher to help them transition effectively from Stage 1 to Stage 2.

One way to do this for your class is to take the sketches, notes, and ideas one of the students has produced in Stage 1, and use them to model writing a draft. This can be done as a whole class shared writing activity.

Doing this will help your students understand how to take their raw material and connect their ideas and transition between them in the form of an essay.

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STAGE THREE: THE WRITING PROCESS

POLISH YOUR THINKING

In Stage two, the emphasis for the student was on getting their ideas out quickly and onto the paper.

Stage three focuses on refining the work completed earlier with the reader now firmly at the forefront of the writer’s mind.

To revise, the student needs to cast a critical eye over their work and ask themselves questions like:

Would a reader be able to read this text and make sense of it all?
Have I included enough detail to help the reader clearly visualize my subject?
Is my writing concise and as accurate as possible?
Are my ideas supported by evidence and written in a convincing manner?
Have I written in a way that is suitable for my intended audience?
Is it written in an interesting way?
Are the connections between ideas made explicit?
Does it fulfill the criteria of the specific text type?
Is the text organized effectively?

The questions above represent the primary areas students should focus on at this stage of the writing process.

Students shouldn’t slip over into editing/proofreading mode just yet. Let the more minor, surface-level imperfections wait until the next stage.

REVISING TEACHING ACTIVITY

When developing their understanding of the revising process, it can be extremely helpful for students to have a revision checklist to work from.

It’s also a great idea to develop the revision checklist as part of a discussion activity around what this stage of the writing process is about.

Things to look out for when revising include content, voice, general fluency, transitions, use of evidence, clarity and coherence, and word choice.

It can also be a good idea for students to partner up into pairs and go through each other’s work together. As the old saying goes, ‘two heads are better than one’ and, in the early days at least, this will help students to use each other as sounding boards when making decisions on the revision process.

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STAGE FOUR: THE WRITING PROCESS

CHECK YOUR WRITING

the writing process | Proofreading and editing1 | The Writing Process | literacyideas.com

Editing is not a different thing than writing, it is itself an essential part of the writing process.

During the editing stage, students should keep an eagle eye out for conventional mistakes such as double spacing between words, spelling errors, and grammar and punctuation mistakes.

While there are inbuilt spelling and grammar checkers in many of the most popular word processing programs, it is worth creating opportunities for students to practice their editing skills without the crutch of such technology on occasion.

Students should also take a last look over the conventions of the text type they are writing.

Are the relevant headings and subheadings in place? Are bold words and captions in the right place? Is there consistency across the fonts used? Have diagrams been labelled correctly?

Editing can be a demanding process. There are lots of moving parts in it, and it often helps students to break things down into smaller, more manageable chunks.

Focused edits allow the student the opportunity to have a separate read-through to edit for each of the different editing points.

For example, the first run-through might look at structural elements such as the specific structural conventions of the text type concerned. Subsequent run-throughs could look at capitalization, grammar, punctuation , the indenting of paragraphs, formatting, spelling, etc.

Sometimes students find it hard to gain the necessary perspective to edit their work well. They’re simply too close to it, and it can be difficult for them to see what is on the paper rather than see what they think they have put down.

One good way to help students gain the necessary distance from their work is to have the student read their work out loud as they edit it.

Reading their work out loud forces the student to slow down the reading process and it forces them to pay more attention to what’s written on the page, rather than what’s in their head.

It’s always helpful to get feedback from someone else. If time permits, get your students to ask a friend or other teacher to review their work and provide feedback. They may catch errors or offer suggestions your students haven’t considered.

All this gives the student a little more valuable time to catch the mistakes and other flaws in their work.

WRITING CHECKLISTS FOR ALL TEXT TYPES

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EDITING TEACHING ACTIVITY

Students must have a firm understanding of what they’re looking to correct in the editing process to edit effectively. One effective way to ensure this understanding is to have them compile an Editing Checklist for use when they’re engaged in the editing process.

The Editing Checklist can be compiled as a whole-class shared writing activity. The teacher can scribe the students’ suggestions for inclusion on the checklist onto the whiteboard. This can then be typed up and printed off by all the students.

A fun and productive use of the checklist is for the students to use it in ‘editing pairs’.

Each student is assigned an editing partner during the editing stage of a writing task. Each student goes through their partner’s, work using the checklist as a guide, and then gives feedback to the other partner. The partner, in turn, uses the feedback in the final edit of their work.

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STAGE FIVE: THE WRITING PROCESS

HAND IN YOUR WRITING

Now, it’s time for our students’ final part of the writing process. This is when they hand in their work to their teacher – aka you !

At this point, students should have one final reread of their work to ensure it’s as close to their intentions as possible, and then, finally, they can submit their work.

Giving the work over to an audience, whether that audience comes in the form of a teacher marking an assignment, publishing work in print or online, or making a presentation to classmates, can be daunting. It’s important that students learn to see the act of submitting their work as a positive thing.

Though this is the final stage of the writing process, students should be helped to see it for all it is. It is another step in the journey towards becoming a highly-skilled writer. It’s a further opportunity for the student to get valuable feedback on where their skills are currently at and a signpost to help them to improve their work in the future.

When the feedback comes, whether that’s in the form of teacher comments, grades, reviews, etc it should be absorbed by the student as a positive part of this improvement process.

Submitting TEACHING Activity

This activity is as much for the teacher as it is for the student.

Sometimes, our students think of feedback as a passive thing. The teacher makes some comments either in writing or orally and the student listens and carries on largely as before. We must help our students to recognize feedback as an opportunity for growth.

Feedback should be seen as a dialogue that helps our students to take control of their own learning.

For this to be the case, students need to engage with the feedback they’ve been given, to take constructive criticisms on board, and to use these as a springboard to take action.

One way to help students to do this lies in the way we format our feedback to our students. A useful format in this vein is the simple 2 Stars and a Wish . This format involves giving feedback that notes two specific areas of the work that the student did well and one that needs improvement. This area for improvement will provide a clear focus for the student to improve in the future. This principle of constructive criticism should inform all feedback.

It’s also helpful to encourage students to process detailed feedback by noting specific areas to focus on. This will give them some concrete targets to improve their writing in the future.

VIDEO TUTORIAL ON THE WRITING PROCESS

the writing process | YOUTUBE 1280 x 720 1 | The Writing Process | literacyideas.com

And there we have it. A straightforward and replicable process for our students to follow to complete almost any writing task.

But, of course, the real writing process is the ongoing one whereby our students improve their writing skills sentence-by-sentence and word-by-word over a whole lifetime.

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The Writing Process

What Is the Writing Process?
Strategies for Good Writing

Citation Resources

Writing and citation go hand-in-hand. Check out this list of guides covering some aspect of citation:

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There are several stages of the Writing Process. The following list of guides provides you with information on each of these stages:

Brainstorming Library guide for generating ideas.
Drafting Library guide discussing tips for essay construction.
Editing and Revising Library tutorial covering edit and revision strategies.

You might also be interested in these tutorials covering specific writing activities and assignments:

Conducting Effective Peer Reviews A guide for effectively participating in the peer review process
Creating an Annotated Bibliography (APA) Resources to help you write an Annotated Bibliography in APA Style.
Creating an Annotated Bibliography (MLA) Resources to help you write an Annotated Bibliography in MLA Style.
Creating Effective Presentations Guide discussing tools and techniques for building effective presentations.
Creating Outlines Guide for planning the layout of an essay prior to the drafting process.
Literature Reviews Tutorial for locating and writing literature reviews.
Writing Effective Thesis Statements Guide for writing an effective thesis statement for an essay.
<< Previous: What Is the Writing Process?
Next: Strategies for Good Writing >>
Last Updated: May 22, 2023 10:46 AM
URL: https://library.tiffin.edu/writingprocess

Essay Editor

Full Guide to Writing an Analytical Essay

In academic writing, an analytical essay is considered one of the most difficult papers. Not only does it require an extensive understanding of the topic, but also a high level of critical thinking skills. In this article, we’ll break down what analytical essays are, their structure, and how to write an analytical essay for the first time.

What is an analytical essay?

Analytical writing focuses on demonstrating how exactly an author arrived at a given conclusion. It showcases the entire thought process used by the author to draw connections between different ideas.

As a form of analytical writing, analytical essays aim to break down an issue into different components and evaluate how these components work together. It allows the author to interpret and analyze a subject in a detailed and structured manner, using observations, evidence, and examples to support the main idea.

An analytical essay is a more complex type of essay writing. Because of this, it is regarded as a university-level assignment and can be hard to grasp at first. The analytical essay format is most often used as a tool to showcase research findings. It can be written on a variety of subjects, including literature, films, historical events, and scientific phenomena.

Analytical essay outline

Like with other essay types, an analytical essay outline has a standard structure that writers must follow. It consists of the following parts:

Introduction,
Body paragraphs,
Conclusion.

Each part of the analytical essay outline performs specific functions.

In the introduction , the writer should present the topic that they want to cover in the essay. This is also the part where the author states their thesis. It should be mentioned that an analytical thesis should represent a hypothesis that the writer wants to prove or the results of an analysis.

The body paragraphs of an analytical essay are dedicated to dissecting available evidence. Each analysis paragraph should focus on separate points and provide an examination of how each piece of evidence relates to the topic at hand.

At last, the conclusion of an analytical essay should briefly summarize the discussed points and present the results of the analysis. More often than not, the results reaffirm the analytical thesis, so the conclusion should also mention the original hypothesis.

How to write an analytical essay

Writing an analytical essay requires a structured approach to maintain its logic and analytical essay format. Let’s start with understanding how to start an analysis essay.

Step 1. Preparation and research

Before starting to write an analytical essay, it is essential to research its topic. Analytical writing in particular requires a thorough understanding of a topic and related aspects. Writers should prepare and study a list of sources before they can be ready to present a comprehensive analysis for others to read.

That’s why research is the first step. It helps you familiarize yourself with the topic, gain the required knowledge, and understand how to start an analysis essay. Conducting research also ensures that you comprehend how you plan to analyze a topic and what evidence you can bring up to confirm your conclusions.

Step 2. Introducing the topic

After conducting research, you can start your essay with an introduction.

The focal point of any introduction is the thesis statement. An analytical thesis must introduce the topic of your analysis, the parts of your analysis, and the order in which you will present your evidence. To formulate the thesis, you can ask the following questions:

What was the subject of my analysis?
What were the results of my analysis?
How did I come to these conclusions?

Apart from the thesis statement, the introduction should also include a brief background on the subject of your analysis to ensure that your audience has some understanding of the topic of your essay.

Step 3. Present your analysis

The next step in your writing is explaining how your analysis went in the main part of your paper. Each analysis paragraph should follow a set structure consisting of:

Topic sentence . The topic sentence introduces the main idea of an analysis paragraph. It should directly relate to your thesis statement.
Evidence . Evidence consists of summaries from your list of references and should support the main idea of your paragraph.
Analysis . After relaying the evidence, make sure to introduce a detailed analysis. Explain how exactly the evidence supports your main idea, why it is significant, and provide relevant interpretation.
Reinforcement . Every analysis paragraph should maintain logic, so it is important to reinforce your main topic by mentioning your thesis statement.

An average analytical essay consists of three body paragraphs. However, you should aim to represent your analysis fully, so the essay may end up longer.

Step 4. Conclude your essay

The last stage of our guide on how to write an analytical essay is creating a conclusion.

To write the conclusion of an analytical essay, you should restate your thesis in a new way to reinforce your main argument and remind the audience of your initial hypothesis. In this part, it is essential to summarize the key points of your analysis by highlighting how they collectively support your thesis.

Finally, you can end your essay with a closing thought that emphasizes the significance of your analysis and leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

Summary: Analytical essay

Among other types of academic texts, analytical essays aim to deepen the audience's understanding of the subject through careful analysis and logical argumentation. It requires thorough research and preparation as it gives a more profound insight into a topic.

Essay generator Aithor is created specifically to assist in academic writing. If you struggle with writing your analytical essay, use Aithor for swift and reliable advice on analytical writing.

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Malcolm Cowley on the Four Stages of Writing: Lessons from the First Five Years of The Paris Review

By maria popova.

In 1953, a trio of literary enthusiasts founded The Paris Review . Spearheaded by George Plimpton , who edited the magazine from its founding to his death in 2003, it forever changed the face of literary journalism with its singular brand of incredibly in-depth, borderline existential conversations with beloved authors on the art and craft of writing. Five years later, they published the finest of those interviews — featuring such literary luminaries as William Faulkner , Dorothy Parker , and James Thurber — in Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, First Series ( public library ). Though The Paris Review has since released all of the archival interviews online , as well as in an irresistible boxed set , what makes this particular volume noteworthy is the lengthy introductory essay by the great Malcolm Cowley , who edited the anthology.

Among his keen insights on the craft, synthesized from the interviews, is a theory of how the creative process works, outlining the four stages of writing:

There would seem to be four stages in the composition of a story. First comes the germ of the story, then a period of more or less conscious meditation, then the first draft, and finally the revision, which may be simply ‘pencil work’ as John O’Hara calls it — that is, minor changes in wording — or may lead to writing several drafts and what amounts to a new work.

Cowley illustrates each of the four stages with anecdotes from the interviewees.

1. IDEATION

In outlining the first, he echoes Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling’s insight on where ideas come from , and writes:

The germ of a story is something seen or heard, or heard about, or suddenly remembered; it may be a remark casually dropped at the dinner table (as in the case of Henry James’s story, The Spoils of Poynton ), or again it may be the look on a stranger’s face. Almost always it is a new and simple element introduced into an existing situation or mood; something that expresses the mood in one sharp detail; something that serves as a focal point for a hitherto disorganized mass of remembered material in the author’s mind. James describes it as ‘the precious particle … the stray suggestion, the wandering word, the vague echo, at a touch of which the novelist’s imagination winces as at the prick of some sharp point,’ and he adds that ‘its virtue is all in its needle-like quality, the power to penetrate as finely as possible.

He goes on to give a specific example of this compelling “sharp detail” in action:

In the case of one story by the late Joyce Cary, the ‘precious particle’ was the wrinkles on a young woman’s forehead. He had seen her on the little boat that goes around Manhattan Island, ‘a girl of about thirty,’ he says, ‘wearing a shabby skirt. She was enjoying herself. A nice expression, with a wrinkled forehead, a good many wrinkles. I said to my friend, “I could write about that girl…”‘ but then he forgot about her. Three weeks later, in San Francisco, Cary woke up at four in the morning with a story in his head—a purely English story with an English heroine. When he came to revise the story he kept wondering, ‘Why all these wrinkles? That’s the third time they come in. And I suddenly realized,’ he says, ‘that my English heroine was the girl on the Manhattan boat. Somehow she had gone down into my subconscious, and came up again with a full-sized story.’

Similarly, he cites Anne Porter:

Any book I write starts with a flash, but takes a long time to shape up.

2. INCUBATION

This shaping up takes place during the second stage, which reflects T. S. Eliot’s notion of idea-incubation and the third step, “unconscious processing,” of James Webb Young’s five-step “technique for producing ideas.” Cowley writes:

The book or story shapes up — assumes its own specific form, that is — during a process of meditation that is the second stage in composition. Angus Wilson calls it ‘the gestatory period’ and says that it is ‘very important to me. That’s when I’m persuading myself of the truth of what I want to say, and I don’t think I could persuade my readers unless I’d persuaded myself first.’ The period may last for years, as with Warren’s novels (and most of Henry James’s), or it may last exactly two days, as in the extraordinary case of Georges Simenon. ‘As soon as I have the beginning,’ Simenon explains, I can’t bear it very long . … And two days later I begin writing.’ The meditation may be, or seem to be, wholly conscious. The writer asks himself questions — ‘What should the characters do at this point? How can I build to a climax?’ — and answers them in various fashions before choosing the final answers. Or most of the process, including all the early steps, may be carried on without the writer’s volition. He wakes before daybreak with the whole story in his head, as Joyce Cary did in San Francisco, and hastily writes it down. Or again — and I think most frequently — the meditation is a mixture of conscious and unconscious elements, as if a cry from the depths of sleep were being heard and revised by the waking mind.

Like artist Maira Kalman has attested , this gestational period can take place during activities wholly unrelated to one’s creative craft. Cowley writes:

Often the meditation continues while the writer is engaged in other occupations: gardening, driving his wife to town (as Walter Mitty did), or going out to dinner. ‘I have never quite known when I’m not writing,’ says James Thurber. ‘Sometimes my wife comes up to me at a dinner party and says, “Dammit, Thurber, stop writing.” She usually catches me in the middle of a paragraph. Or my daughter will look up from the dinner table and ask, “Is he sick?” “No,” my wife says, “He’s writing.”‘

3. FIRST DRAFT

Next comes the third stage, the writing of the preliminary plight of putting words down on paper:

The first draft of a story is often written at top speed; probably that is the best way to write it. Dorothy Canfield Fisher, who is not among the authors interviewed, once compared the writing of a first draft with skiing down a steep slope that she wasn’t sure she was clever enough to manage. … Frank O’Connor explains the need for haste in his own case. “get black on white,’ he says, ‘used to be Maupassant’s advice — that’s what I always do. I don’t give a hoot what the writing’s like, I write any sort of rubbish which will cover the main outlines of the story, then I can begin to see it.’ There are other writers, however, who work ahead laboriously, revising as they go. William Styron says, ‘I seem to have some neurotic need to perfect each paragraph — each sentence, even — as I go along.’ Dorothy Parker reports that it takes her six months to do a story. “I think it out and then write it sentence by sentence — no first draft. I an’t write five words but that I change seven.’

4. REVISION, REVISION, REVISION

In the fourth and last stage, rewriting and revision — something the current U.S. children’s poet laureate has advocated — take the reins:

There is no stage of composition at which these authors differ more from one another than in this final stage of preparing a manuscript for the printer. Even that isn’t a final stage for O’Connor. ‘I keep on rewriting,’ he says, ‘and after it’s published, and then after it’s published in book form, I usually rewrite it again. … Françoise Sagan, on the other hand, spends ‘very little’ time in revision. Simenon spends exactly three days in revising each of his short novels. Most of that time is devoted to tracking down and crossing out the literary touches — ‘adjectives, adverbs , and every word which is there just to make an effect. Every sentence is there just for the sentence. You know, you have a beautiful sentence — cut it. Joyce Cary was another deletionist. Many of the passages he crossed out of his first drafts were those dealing explicitly with ideas. ‘I work over the whole book, ‘ he says, ‘ and cut out anything that does not belong to the emotional development, the texture of the feeling.’ Thurber revises his stories by rewriting them from the beginning, time and again. ‘A story I’ve been working on,’ he says, ‘… was written fifteen complete times. There must have been close to two hundred and forty thousand words in all the manuscripts put together, and I must have spent two thousand hours working at it. Yet the finished story can’t be more than twenty thousand words.’ That would make it about the longest piece of fiction he has written. Men like Thurber and O’Connor, who rewrite ‘endlessly, endlessly,’ find it hard to face the interminable prospect of writing a full-length novel.

Cowley then dichotomizes how novelists and short story writers approach the process and its stages:

For short-story writers the four stages of composition are usually distinct, and there may even be a fifth, or rather a first, stage. Before seizing upon the germ o fa story, the writer may find himself in a state of ‘generally intensified emotional sensitivity … when events that usually pass unnoticed suddenly move you deeply, when a sunset lifts you to exaltation, when a squeaking door throws you into a fit of exasperation, when a clear look of trust in a child’s eyes moves you to tears.’ I am quoting again from Dorothy Canfield Fisher, who ‘cannot conceive,’ she says, ‘of any creative fiction written from any other beginning.’ There is not much doubt, in any case, that the germ is precious largely because it serves to crystallize a prior state of feeling. Then comes the brooding or meditation, then the rapidly written first draft, then the slow revision; for the story writer everything is likely to happen in more or less its proper order. For the novelist, however, the stages are often confused. The meditation may have to be repeated for each new episode. The revision of one chapter may precede or follow the first draft or the next.

Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, First Series is worth a read even if only for Cowley’s deeply insightful, wide-ranging twenty-page introductory essay, covering many more facets of the creative process and the techniques of various literary greats. Complement it with these 9 books to help you write better , then follow up with the 1939 gem A Technique for Producing Ideas .

— Published April 5, 2013 — https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/04/05/malcolm-cowley-four-stages-of-writing-paris-review/ —

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How to Navigate the Four Stages of Book Editing: A Professional Editor's Guide

JoEllen Nordstrom

Watch joellen's live training on navigating the four stages of book editing, then keep reading for more tips:.

Now, on to the article.

It takes a great number of aspects to bring about a well-written, engaging, and interesting manuscript. Aside from the actual writing, a key part of the creation process is your editing.

Why Is Editing Your Manuscript Important?

What are the four stages of editing, 1. structural story editing, 2. line editing, 3. copyediting, 4. proofreading, when should i hire an editor, take control of your self-editing.

Editing is vital in the production of your book. It acts as the protective varnish that embellishes and perfects your writing before you share it publicly or publish it.

You should neither underrate nor take for granted the importance of editing. It enhances the overall feel of your manuscript. If you want a polished final piece that engages your reader’s mind and emotions, you need to edit rigorously.

Editing has four stages. Whether you’re a newbie still getting into your writing journey or a seasoned author with an established writing career, you must be familiar with these stages and ready to apply them in your editing process.

Editing is a little tricky in the beginning. However, in time, you’ll be able to hone your craft, improve your writing, become adept at self-editing, and succeed as an author in your field.

Let’s discuss the four stages of editing so you can plan accordingly.

The four stages of book editing are:

Structural Story Editing
Line Editing
Copyediting
Proofreading

Structural Story Editing requires the broadest approach, with each stage narrowing its focus.

Let’s dive in.

Structurally editing your story is the most in-depth of all stages of editing.

Also known as content, developmental, or substantive editing, structural story editing for fiction evaluates your story arc and presentation from the highest level.

Your story editor reviews in detail your entire manuscript and applies the most rigorous method of correcting your book.

Your best story editor is a certified expert who thoroughly evaluates the structure and presentation of your writing scene by scene. She evaluates your:

Story flow and pacing
Scene openings and endings
Consistency and clarity

Story editing ensures you convey your characters, vision, empathy, and journey to readers. In short, it ensures you take your readers on a journey where they experience another world through the eyes of your protagonist.

Thus, it includes 38 story elements that certified, professional editors evaluate. These elements comprise your book, such as story, characters, plot, and settings.

By carefully reviewing each of these elements, your story editor objectively ensures they overlook nothing.

Can I Do Structural Editing Myself?

When self-editing, ensure you also review the essential 38 story elements . Present your story well, from start to finish, and make sure you portray your intent with clarity.

Evaluate and lay out the scenes in a logical and engaging manner in order to present your entire story. Ensure you set forth clearly the events, characters, and settings involved in each scene.

Story editing requires a comprehensive effort of reviewing your book. Doing it yourself is good practice, as you know your story very well.

However, for an exemplary result, you will need the services of a professional structural content editor after self-editing your story.

At First Editing, we hire only professionally trained and certified story editors who are experts in discovering the ins and outs of a story using a sophisticated, licensed editing software.

Such story editors relay the positive and negative points of your work in-depth using an objective approach. This allows you to make many vital organizational corrections during your initial revision.

More importantly, this thorough editing method creates the foundation for your story arc’s presentation and an impeccable presentation of your book.

After assessing your entire book, the next stage is to check the tone, style, and consistency of your writing. These three should go hand in hand. Tone sets the mood of the story while style is the way you tell your story.

While line editing , ensure that every sentence is working to develop your story’s intended mood. You do this by using words, descriptions, and tenses that enhance your writing.

A story with a happy and adventurous tone is more likely to use short, positive descriptions and sentences, while a story with a sad and unfortunate tone is likely to use negative descriptions in long sentences.

You may use plain and direct language or imagery in forming sentences. Whichever is your style, be sure it agrees with the mood.

Try out ProWritingAid’s Sensory Report with a free account to see which sense you favor in your writing.

You should also line-edit for consistency. Ensure your presentation remains consistent throughout the story and from paragraph to paragraph and sentence to sentence.

Professional line editors are experts in identifying the tone and style of your writing. They help you adapt your style and put forth the mood to your audience in the most effective way. They help pick out inconsistencies and suggest coherent lines more appropriate to your writing.

I always recommend using a different line editor from your story editor for a fresh perspective. Plus, line editing takes a unique set of skills, different from those used by story editors.

Working with a good line editor can help your reader hang on your every word.

Copyediting requires minimal review. It focuses on correcting grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

However, English evolves over time and dynamic guidelines in using the language keep evolving. Help from a professional copyeditor is important to make sure you’re using the correct conventions.

A professional copyeditor recognizes and fixes mistakes in spelling and punctuation, and is also well-acquainted with the rules of grammar.

When you’ve read your work repeatedly, it’s hard to notice issues with sentence structure, subject-verb agreement, syntax, etc. A professional copyeditor will make sure your grammar is up to scratch.

She applies these rules in conformity with the other elements evaluated in the previous stages of editing. She is the last person to make edits to the writing before formatting, proofreading, and publishing.

Copyeditors specialize in focusing on the grammar, spelling, and punctuation rules. If you engage a good copyeditor, you can feel confident that your readers won’t be finding typos after publication.

Proofreading is the ultimate stage of reviewing your edited book. It happens after formatting and before we finally send it to the printer. Proofreading involves fixing the final issues of the book layout resulting from the upload.

Your proofreader ensures your book has proper formatting to make it error-free and presentable to the reader.

A proofreader must be very thorough in reviewing the book to ensure its impeccability. Some aspects to consider in proofreading are paragraph spacing, indention, and choice of fonts and sizes.

Can I Proofread My Own Book?

You may do proofreading yourself, but it requires technical skills and ample time to finish. Unless you’re skilled enough, you may need the service of a professional proofreader to help you. Publishers often offer this. I highly recommend you hire a professional proofreader when self-publishing.

what's the difference: copyediting and proofreading

These are the four stages of editing. Knowledge and skills in these editing levels improve your writing abilities and help you produce your ideal book. I encourage you to approach each phase separately during self-editing. Once you have completed that task, engage a professional editor who specializes in your specific editing level, genre, and subject.

Ensure your professional editor has proven experience in publishing and successful results within editing. Ask to see samples of their editing work along with evidence of their advanced certifications, education, and training. I also recommend that you request a free editing sample of your writing.

Ask for the aid of professional editors whenever you need. You’ll appreciate their work and be thankful for the professional results you can trust. Editing is a team effort between the writer and the editors. You will learn so much during each round of revisions.

Self-editing is an essential step in that learning process. Knowing the four levels of editing and what they entail allows you to better prepare for the editing journey.

By learning to self-edit, you can get the best return on investment from your professional editor.

By successfully preparing your manuscript in advance, your editor can focus on the more challenging structural aspects of the manuscript and you get the strongest story possible.

ProWritingAid’s editing software helps you structure your self-edit. Each element of your story is covered by a focussed report.

The 25 reports cover broad areas like readability, structure, style, and pacing as well as the details of your manuscript like dialogue tags, repeated words, sensory words, and sticky sentences.

You’ll find all of the statistics for your document as well as individual suggestions for specific mistakes all in one place:

The Summary Report allows you to get an overview of your work so you can see where you need to focus to make the most improvement in the shortest amount of time.

ProWritingAid gives you the tools to track, implement, and take control of your self-editing.

Looking for more? Join professional editor JoEllen Nordström for in-depth editing training on the third Thursday of every month.

Self-Editing School: The third thursday of every month 7pm UK / 2 pm ET

Find out more about JoEllen's Monthly Editing School

Be confident about grammar

Check every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send.

JoEllen Nordstrom passionately combines online editing tools, AI (Artificial Intelligence), and writing software with vetted, professional editing services to create your publishing success. As the founder of First Editing, JoEllen's editors have assisted over 50,000 writers and boast 400+ published authors. They are the world's first-certified Story Coach Editor company. Learn more about self-editing on her Publishing Power podcast. Besides writing, JoEllen is a digital nomad, yogi, and mamma of six!

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Understanding Continuity: An Important Feature of Writing

Here are 4 ways to connect sentences and ideas seamlessly..

Updated July 10, 2024 | Reviewed by Davia Sills

Continuity is the most important and often the least understood aspect of writing.
Readers may struggle with comprehension when sentences lack transitions.
Using recency positions in sentences can bolster readers' memory of the most important content in sentences.
Primacy and recency positions in sentences help readers to identify clauses and concepts as strongly linked.

English paragraphs typically contain more gaps than Swiss cheese. Why? In languages like Chinese, sentences end when an author’s meaning is complete. In contrast, in English, grammar mostly determines when sentences end. As a result, English’s sentence structure naturally introduces gaps between sentences.

And these gaps sow confusion in readers and create the greatest slow-downs in reading speeds of any aspect of writing. On the other hand, when readers recognize simple connections between clauses and sentences , they perform better on comprehension and recall of material, helping them to perform better on standardized tests and to receive higher grades.

Meet continuity, the most important and least-understood aspect of writing you’ve likely never heard of.

1. When you use transitions to tie sentences together, you make reading easier and meaning clearer.

Without explicit connections between sentences, readers have difficulty understanding stories, let alone more abstract arguments. Readers spend more time trying to understand sentences that lack a clear relationship to the sentences around them and also encounter difficulty in recalling the meaning of discontinuous sentences. On the other hand, transitions like because, since, and then speed up reading and sharpen recall.

Transitions create bridges between sentences across gaps readers would otherwise struggle to understand. Notice the difference that transitions (in bold in the second example) make to a student’s essay on Jane Eyre :

Before: Mr. Brocklehurst then punishes Jane by making her stand in public, and does not allow anyone to speak to her, and it was Helen’s words that give her the courage and strength to get back on her feet. Miss Temple helped her get rid of the unnecessary “ crime .” Jane admired Helen’s broad mind and profound knowledge, and she worked harder to learn. She thought Lowood was better than Mrs. Reed’s.

After: Despite Lowood starving and humiliating the girls, Jane still thinks Lowood is better than Mrs. Reed’s. However, at Lowood, Mr. Brocklehurst punishes Jane by making her stand in public and does not allow anyone to speak to her. Nevertheless, even when Jane feels miserable, Helen’s words give Jane the courage and strength to get back on her feet. In a few days, Miss Temple also corrects the picture Mr. Brocklehurst painted of Jane’s conduct, the unnecessary “crime” of lying that Mr. Brocklehurst accused Jane of. Over the ﬁrst months of her time at Lowood , Jane grows to admire Helen’s broad mind and profound knowledge, which inspire Jane to work harder to learn.

2. Reserve the endings of sentences for your most important points.

In writing, where you put information trumps what you say. For example, a positive performance evaluation strongly influenced overall ratings of a video lecture—but only when the evaluation came last in a series of four. Similarly, poor performance also swayed students’ evaluations of lecture quality—but only when that performance also came last. Researchers have likewise discovered that, when asked to memorize lists of items or even of nonsense syllables, experimental subjects have the clearest recall of the last items.

As writers, we typically end sentences with a whimper, not a bang, usually by providing a rationale for an action at the end of sentences or insignificant details about time or place. For example, the writer of the email excerpt below ended a sentence with the reason for a requested deadline—presumably to show other employees that administrators created the deadline for a specific purpose. However, the underlined words in the sentence’s stress position strand the deadline in the sentence’s dead zone, far away from either primacy or recency effects in memory . As a result, readers may register the deadline but are less likely to recall it than they would be if they received the revised example, which shunts the deadline into the sentence’s recency position in boldface.

Before: We need your response about scheduling preferences before Friday at noon at the latest to ensure we can finalize the schedule prior to early registration .

After: So we can ﬁnalize the schedule prior to early registration, we need your response about scheduling preferences before Friday at noon .

3. Limit the lengths of sentences to reduce readers’ cognitive overhead.

Long sentences challenge readers’ ability to connect ideas across sentences because lengthy sentences strain readers’ working memories . Even strong readers can face too many demands on verbal working memory from long sentences. Moreover, we also recall less content when writers cram more clauses into sentences. In sentences with more than two clauses, make one clause independent and turn it into a short sentence, which helps readers recall a greater amount of specific content .

For example, this example, ironically about improving students’ reading and writing skills, tries to cram too many ideas into a single sentence.

Before: But if we are seeking to boost our students' learning of course content, to improve their basic intellectual skills—such as writing, speaking, and critical thinking—and to prepare them for success in their careers, then I believe we can find in small teaching an approach to our shared work of educating students that is effective for our students and accessible to the largest number of working college and university teachers.

After: As educators, we seek to boost our students’ learning of course content and to improve their basic intellectual skills—such as writing, speaking, and critical thinking—and to prepare them for success in their careers. And, with these goals , small teaching can prove effective for our students and accessible to the largest number of working college and university teachers.

4. Create bridges between the endings and beginnings of sentences with common words.

To create the strongest ties between ideas, link concepts through common phrases shared across sentences. This use of referential continuity builds bridges between sentences by placing new information in the recency position in sentences and then beginning the next sentence with a reference to one or more words from the recency position. This strategy for tying sentences together boosts reading speed and comprehension alike. Moreover, readers easily identify these links at the outsets of sentences because the final clause of the preceding sentence occupies a privileged place in their working memory.

Writers will find these short sequences, linking recency and primacy positions in sentences, most useful in technical explanations, particularly for non-expert audiences, like the first description of deep-brain stimulation below. This excerpt challenges readers because its sentences lack any explicit links to tie its sentences together. On the other hand, the second example links the recency position of the first sentence with the primacy position of the second and continues this (bolded) sequencing of ideas through every sentence.

As the second example also reveals, you can either use the same words, like the initial repetition of pacemaker . Or you can use a related word, as in the transformation of electrical stimulation into electrode .

Before: Deep Brain Stimulation is sometimes described as a pacemaker for the brain. Electrical stimulation of the heart has a longer history, the ﬁrst pacemaker having been implanted in 1958. An electrode is threaded inside the heart, which gives small shocks at a rate of about 60 per minute in order to stimulate the muscle to pump normally. The technology owes its success largely to the invention of a commercially viable transistor, in 1948, which made possible the miniaturization of electronics. Today, some three million Americans are estimated to have a cardiac pacemaker.

After: Deep Brain Stimulation is sometimes described as the brain’s pacemaker. Pacemakers for hearts rely on similar technology, using electrical stimulation. An electrode is threaded inside the heart, which gives small shocks at a rate of about 60 per minute, stimulating the muscle to pump normally. This form of stimulation owes its success largely to the invention of a commercially viable transistor in 1948, which miniaturized electronics. These electronics today power the cardiac pacemakers of an estimated three million Americans.

Yellowlees Douglas, Ph.D. , is a consultant on writing and organizations. She is also the author, with Maria B. Grant, MD, of The Biomedical Writer: What You Need to Succeed in Academic Medicine .

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Table of Contents

What are the Steps of the Writing Process?

Summary – Writing Process Steps

1. Prewriting

2. Invention

3. Researching

4. Collaboration

5. Planning

6. Organizing

Writing-Process Plans

Planning Exercises

7. Designing

8. Drafting

9. Rereading

10. Revising

11. Editing

12. Proofreading

13. Sharing or Publishing

Brevity - Say More with Less

Clarity (in Speech and Writing)

Coherence - How to Achieve Coherence in Writing

Flow - How to Create Flow in Writing

Inclusivity - Inclusive Language

The Elements of Style - The DNA of Powerful Writing

Recommended

Academic Writing – How to Write for the Academic Community

Structured Revision – How to Revise Your Work

Professional Writing – How to Write for the Professional World

Credibility & Authority – How to Be Credible & Authoritative in Research, Speech & Writing

Citation Guide – Learn How to Cite Sources in Academic and Professional Writing

Page Design – How to Design Messages for Maximum Impact

Other Topics:

Citation - Definition - Introduction to Citation in Academic & Professional Writing

Collaboration - What is the Role of Collaboration in Academic & Professional Writing?

Information Literacy - Discerning Quality Information from Noise

Rhetoric: Exploring Its Definition and Impact on Modern Communication

The Writing Process - Research on Composing

Writing Studies

Featured Articles

The Writing Process

Steps of the Writing Process

Step 1: Prewriting

Step 2: Research (if needed)

Step 3: Drafting

Step 4: Revising

Step 5: Editing and Proofreading

Resources for Writers: The Writing Process

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The 7 Steps of the Writing Process

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