Prewriting

Introduction to the Writing Process

The writing process is a systematic approach to writing that can help you to achieve your writing goals. From prewriting through publishing and presenting, understanding the stages of the writing process will help you to be a better writer. Here are the stages in the writing process:

    Prewriting: exploring ideas for your writing

    Drafting or Writing: getting your ideas down on paper in roughly the format you intend

    Revising: reshaping and rethinking your writing to improve its form and content

    Editing and Proofreading: polishing your writing to eliminate mechanical errors

    Publishing and Presenting: sharing your writing with an audience

These steps may seem to suggest a linear progression from one to the next, but writers often return to earlier writing stages as they work. For example, when you are drafting, you may discover that you need to do soem additional investigation of your topic. When your are revising, you may decide to include more information from your prewriting stage. In writing, sometimes you have to go backward to go forward!