3.1 – Beginning the Writing Process
Learning Objective
- Use the writing process to create clear and correct prose.
- Use steps to break down the writing process.
Getting Started
If you think that a blank sheet of paper or a blinking cursor on the computer screen is a scary sight, you are not alone. Many writers, students, and employees find that beginning to write can be intimidating.
When faced with a blank page, however, experienced writers remind themselves that writing, like other everyday activities, is a process. Every process, from writing to cooking, bike riding, and learning to use a new cell phone, will get significantly easier with practice.
Just as you need a recipe, ingredients, and proper tools to cook a delicious meal, you also need a plan, resources, and adequate time to create a good written composition. In other words, writing is a process that requires following steps and using strategies to accomplish your goals.
Breaking the Process Down
These are the five steps in the writing process:
- Prewriting
- Outlining the structure of ideas
- Writing a rough draft
- Revising
- Editing
Effective writing can be simply described as good ideas that are expressed well and arranged in the proper order. This chapter will give you the chance to work on all these important aspects of writing. Although many more prewriting strategies exist, this chapter covers six: using experience and observations, freewriting, asking questions, brainstorming, mapping, and searching the Internet. Using the strategies in this chapter can help you overcome the fear of the blank page and confidently begin the writing process.
Attributions & References
Except where otherwise noted, this chapter is adapted from “8.1 Apply Prewriting Models” In Writing for Success by University of Minnesota licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
