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Writing Process

Style Guide – Writing Process
One of the first concepts students must understand about producing clear writing is that writing is a process, not an event.  Very few writers, even accomplished ones, are able to sit down and compose spontaneously.  Even if you simply take a few moments to consider your audience and purpose, type your correspondence, then do one re-reading to revise and edit any mistakes, you’ve participated in a writing process.  What is outlined here is an extended analysis of this process used by all good writers.
 
Before writing begins, the writer must answer these among other fundamental questions:

  1. For whom am I writing?
  2. What do I want to say?  (What is my main point?)
  3. What is the most effective way of saying it?
  4.  What is the appropriate tone for this audience and subject?
  5. How can I develop my subject?
  6.  Once I identify my supporting details and examples, how should I arrange them?

 
Audience
Considering your audience before writing the first word will help guide you through the countless choices involved in writing well.  Who is the audience?  What does the audience expect from the writer?  What does the audience already know about the topic being explored?  Developing a sense of audience is an essential – but often underrated – part of the writing process.
 
Depending on the audience and the context of the writing, the particular voice you choose may come from a large variety of possibilities: playful and entertaining; informal and conversational; formal and direct; technical and specific. Choosing the most appropriate language comes from knowledge of the audience, of the writing, and of the context in which you write.
 
In writing for college classes, students should assume that the reader has a good, even extensive, knowledge of the subject.  Therefore, defining most technical terms, such as “osmosis” or “dramatic irony” is unnecessary.  However, some instructors may ask students to write for a general audience and to explain such terms.  Overall, the student writer should assume that the reader is an informed one.
 
Thesis and Purpose
Developing your thesis, the unifying statement that holds your writing together, is in response to answering your purpose questions.  Once you settle on what is the most important question to answer about your topic, you can turn that question into a thesis statement that holds your paper together.
 
Effective writing is concise, precise, purposeful, vivid, and FOCUSED.  Again, a series of questions will help guide the writer to a central focus for the paper.  What am I trying to say?  Why is this important?  What is my purpose?  Look at the following examples:
 

  1. My mother is the most influential person in my life.
  2. My mother’s favorite color is green.

 
The first sentence would make a solid thesis statement because it makes a definite claim that the writer can build up using supporting evidence (examples, reasons, qualities, etc.). 
 
The second sentence, however, is a mere statement of fact.  It doesn’t require any development or supporting evidence.  While this statement may help paint a picture of one’s mother, it doesn’t offer any useful insight or suggest a real purpose for the paper.  Therefore, the second sentence would NOT be a strong thesis/focus for a college paper.
 
After identifying a solid thesis, you will want to spend some time brainstorming examples and details to support the thesis.  In this step of the process, you should strive to select specific details that are relevant to your main point.  Too often, writers go off on tangents that can be confusing to your reader.  You want to bring your reader into your thought process, fully explaining and detailing the logic behind your thesis statement. 
 
With a strong thesis statement and several supporting details in hand, you can then decide how to organize your writing in a way that will make sense to the reader and serve your purpose.  You may want to compare and contrast your topic to another; you may arrange arguments in such a way as to persuade your reader; or you may arrange events in chronological order to analyze what happened and why.  Whatever organization method you choose, make sure that you take your reader along with you using proper transitions and clear writing.  Your reader should not have to work hard to follow the paper or guess at the connection between your details and your thesis.
 

 
 
Getting Your Thoughts on Paper
Once you’ve made all the above decisions about your writing, take some time to get a draft written or typed.  If you don’t wait until the night before an assignment is due, you can allow this first draft to be very rough.  You don’t even have to use complete sentences!  Simply try to get your ideas on the paper in the order you want to use them.  If you start early enough, you will have plenty of time to go back and make sure that everything is correct (grammar, punctuation, formatting, etc.). 
 Once you have a solid draft of your paper, you’re ready to move into the final stages of the writing process: Revision, Editing, and Proofreading.

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