Introduction - A writing process

The task of completing a writing assignment can intimidate many students. The gap between a student’s idea for a paper and the final polished essay may seem to be an insurmountable obstacle. Teaching the writing process as a series of steps helps to break the work down into manageable tasks that incrementally develop the student’s idea into a coherent piece of writing. Seeing the process as a collection of concrete steps also enables students to build skills in a variety of areas, all of which contribute to their overall improvement as writers.

This edition presents a writing process that includes steps advocated by teachers and writing experts. The order of the steps need not be followed in a linear way: Completion of one step may lead to the next step or may compel the writer to circle back to a previous step. Some stages of the process can be combined or eliminated based upon preferences and student needs.

This attempt to reach a wide-ranging audience with various needs and interests is not intended to prescribe the only way a writing process can be identified and implemented. The primary intent is to demonstrate concretely what a writing process might include and how its content can be modified to accomplish a variety of writing tasks.

Acknowledgments

Publishing a document requires the assistance of editors and their associates, including peers who review the work. This document is no exception. Special recognition and appreciation are given by the writer for the expertise of the people, such as Emily Jack, Associate Editor of LEARN NC, who worked diligently and competently on this publication.