The Pre-Writing Steps:[1]
1. Analyzing the writing assignment: Before the writer can
plan his paper, he must know for whom he is writing,
what the length limitation is (such as in publication),
what the conventions (based on the situation) of subject
matter, style, and organization are.
2. Searching for a paper-idea: Starting from what he knows
the writer casts about until he feels he has something
that will work in terms of the writing situation of the
moment. Sometimes what be comes upon is no more
than a feeling and at that one too indefinite, too
uncertain to be called a purpose; really it will be
something like a sense of direction, a feeling that if he
starts writing along a certain line, something right will
come into being. At other times he may get a sense of
shape or form; he may have the beginning of his piece,
or the .end, or both; and the whole will grow from the
part or parts. Sometimes the writer will have a notion or
an idea--some thing that he wants to say, that he thinks
others should hear or will want to. Generally speaking,
what the writer doesn't have is material. And a writer
writes by finding material that will somehow give reality
to his feelings, his notions, his ideas.
3. Examining his knowledge of the selected topic for areas
which may need investigation: The writer must now
determine what information he will need to find before
he can begin writing the paper; this is the step where he
may chooseto use an informal outline or a series of
running notes on the subject to determine the gaps in
his knowledge of the topic.
4. Gathering information: The writer may gather all of the
information for the paper from memory, but more often
he will need to consult books or other people
(interviews) to find the information he needs.
Occasionally he may perform his own experiments as a
source of information about a subject.
5. Organizing the paper: The writer may do this formally or
informally; he may write out his notes in a more or less
formal outline of the paper, he may organize then in his
head, or he may simply sort note cards into separate
piles which he then arranges according to a
predetermined plan. This plan may be taking shape
simultaneously with the preceding two steps, particularly
in the case of the short paper.
The Writing Step:
6. Writing the paper: Some writers prefer to rush through
this step, writing the rough draft as quickly as they can,
to "get everything down on paper" while their flow of
thought is uninterrupted. Others write the first draft
more slowly, thus eliminating the need for as much re-
writing as the first group has. Occasionally, one finds a
writer who writes and rewrites as he goes, so that when
he writes the last sentence of the first draft, his paper is
finished. The last writer, is rare, however, and is usually
found only among the highly experienced writers; still, it
may be the method that comes naturally to one or more
students in class.
The Post Writing Steps:
7. Revising the rough draft: Some writers revise as many
as six or seven times before they are satisfied with the
style, grammar, spelling, punctuation and minor details
of organization. Revision.is a time-consuming process;
it is necessary to allow the paper to lie fallow after the
first draft has been written and perhaps even after each
of the revisions themselves. The writer needs time for
reconsideration of the topic if he is going to be able to
approach the revision with freshness.
8. Copying and proof-reading the MS for typographical
errors.
9. Conferring with an editor: At this point professional
writers usually submit their pieces to an editor or a
group of editors and the finishing of the article becomes
a collaborative; effort. In the classroom the teacher may
serve as editor. (Indeed this may be the teacher's only
proper function.)
[1] The first five steps, the pre-writing steps, are simultaneous to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the writer and the situation. Generally, the longer the paper is, the more clearly independent these steps will become.