The Writing Process

Steps of the Writing Process

  1. Brainstorming (coming up with an idea)
  2. Collecting (research)
  3. Organizing
  4. Drafting
  5. Editing
  6. Proofreading

Ideas for Planning Your Writing

To plan and organize your writing, you could do one or more of the following:

  • Brainstorm List lots of ideas related to your topic; then choose which ones you want to use.
  • Imagine Imagine talking about your topic with someone to sort out your ideas.
  • Draw Draw a picture or a diagram of your topic or your ideas.
  • Web Organize your thoughts by drawing lines between ideas to connect them.
  • Outline Organize your ideas into main points and subpoints.
Ideas for Reviewing Your Writing

To review what you have written, you could think about the following:

  • Purpose Have I said what I want to say about the topic?
  • Development Do I need to develop my ideas by adding details or do I need to take out some details?
  • Organization Are the sections of my writing clearly connected and in the right order?
  • Clarity Will my audience understand what I wrote?
  • Correctness Have I checked for correctness in
    • grammar?
    • punctuation?
    • spelling?
Source: Institute for Education Sciences, US Department of Education

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