The first thing that most students probably do after been given a writing assignment is panic or claim that they have the so-called ‘pressure’. This is a misguided normal common feeling that can be done away with when one becomes familiar with the Writing Process.
The Writing Process is
a useful rational procedure in the development of a text. It involves a
writer breaking down the writing assignment into several steps to avoid making
mistakes. However, this procedure can be customized to fit a writer’s liking (what
works for the writer) that’s why even before knowing about the writing process.
We have been able to come up with various texts for the reason that we have been
using a scrappy, innate version of the writing process unknowingly.
The basic steps of The Writing Process
Step 1. Time
Allocation: Just after you receive the task, know when the task is due,
then devote as much good time as you can, to make sure you get done writing
before the due date.
Step 2. Analyze
the task: the
element of the task determines everything that one has to do to satisfy it.
a.
Firstly,
know what genre the task is, as this determines the structure of your
submission. Is it an essay, article, thesis, report, research, book or
dissertation?
b.
Secondly,
you need to know who the audience is to know what language convention you
should use.
c.
Lastly,
you have to break the task down to know what the Instruction word, Topic,
Aspect of the topic and what the Restriction is.
For example,
Lecturer: Good morning, students, check your E-learning platform. I have posted
an essay assignment, and the question is ‘discusses ‘ the pros and cons of the media in governance?’
Your analysis of the task should be something like this:
|
The
genre |
Essay |
|
The audience |
Lecturer |
|
Instruction word |
Discuss |
|
Topic |
The
Media |
|
The aspect of the topic |
The
pros and cons |
|
Restriction |
Governance |
Step 3. Brainstorming:
it is simply the generating of ideas. Brainstorming brings out what you already
know about the topic, and it's important to note down this information as it
becomes simple to know what you should research (research more on what you do
not know).
Step 4. Research
and Read: research on both what you already know and what you
do not know to be on the safe side in terms of finding support. And also, it is
important to highlight the fact that our writing is heavily influenced by what
we read, thus reading is a prerequisite for a writer.
Step 5. Plan
the outline: an outline is a skeleton form of your
writing. Where its bones are your main idea (thesis statement), key ideas
(topic ideas), and supporting ideas all put together in sequence and numbered
single sentences.
Step 6. Write
a draft: a draft can easily follow the outline. It should be
coherent and logical to convey a smooth-flowing argument.
Step 7. Improve
the draft: keep rewriting your draft until you come up with a
well-constructed one.
Step 8. Proofread:
it’s better to read your text or give someone to read it to identify the
grammatical, spelling, referencing or punctuation errors.
Step 9. Complete
your final draft, then submits it on time.
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Adapted from:
Academic Skills, The University of
Melbourne (2017) The Research to Writing Process. Available at:
https://youtu.be/ewAkojTzutY (Accessed: 24 Nov. 2021).