The Writing Process: How to Write a Paper in a Few Easy Steps

Writing a paper for school can be very stressful. Just the thought of sitting down at a computer or with paper and pencil gives some people hives. However, if you think of writing as a process, things can be made much easier.

The first thing you need to do is make sure you have a clear understanding of the assignment. Read over the description carefully. Take note of the topic, what kind of a paper the instructor is looking for and page requirements. Does that paper need to be in third person? What specific things need to be included in the paper? What are the format requirements? You can have a wonderfully written essay, but if you do not meet the requirements of the essay, your grade will still suffer.

Next, you will want to do the prep work for your paper. This is sometimes called the prewriting stage. This is where you will pick your topic, and figure out your thesis statement. Your thesis statement tells your reader exactly what your paper will be about. It is not just merely your topic. This is your topic plus an opinion or assertion about the topic. Once you know what you paper is about, it is time to start thinking about content. First, you will want to come up with everything you know about your topic. You can do this in variety of methods from free writing to clustering. If the paper requires research, this is also when you should be researching. There are many ways to effectively keep track of and organize your research. The most traditional way is to use note cards. When you find a fact or point you may want to use you write down that information on one side of the card and the source you pulled it from on the other side of the card.

Once you think you have a strong pool of information, you are ready to organize. This means you are taking a look at all the information you have compiled and determining what you are going to use in your paper. If you have done your prewriting correctly, you should have more information than you will ever need to use. Now you have to pick the strongest points. Once way to do this is to use an outline. Outlines have you list your main points and the supporting points out on paper. Outlines do not have to be made into sentences or paragraphs. You are just listing the points. If you use the note card method, you can color code the cards and number them. Some people think this middle step is unnecessary, but it makes moving on to the drafting step much easier. Instead of taking a huge information pool and trying to make it into a paper, you now have exactly what you want to cover already mapped.

Finally, you are ready to take you first shot at writing the paper. Your first attempt is often referred to as a rough draft. Rough drafts are not meant to be pretty. This is your first attempt to take all your points and put them into paragraph form. This is where we start to work on making points into sentences. Once you have your body paragraphs in place, then it is time to focus on the introduction and your conclusion. Your introduction needs to cultivate interest in your topic, give us any back ground information we need and present your thesis statement. Your conclusion needs to restate your thesis briefly summarize what the paper was about and give the paper closure.

After your rough draft is completed, you are ready to revise and edit your paper. Your first attempt at writing your essay will most likely need some work. Even professional writers read over their work several times before they submit it. The first thing you want to do is revise your paper. Revision takes a look at the content, organization and voice of your paper. Do not worry about grammar and mechanics at this point. Make sure that your paper reads well. Are your paragraphs well developed, or are there holes that need to be filled? Does each paragraph have its own topic sentence? Does each paragraph flow seamlessly into the next? Are you relating to your audience? Can you find you clear thesis statement? Once you have made all the changes you need to make, then it is time to edit. This is where you go through and look for spelling errors, comma splices, run ons, fragments and all the other grammar no-nos.

Once your paper has been completely cleaned, it is time to give it a title. You want your title to let us know what the paper is about. However, you just do not want to regurgitate you thesis statement. You want your title to be innovative and catchy. The title is the first thing your reader will see. Their attention on your paper starts there. If the title is boring, they are already losing interest in the paper that follows.

The final step is to refer back to step one. Take close look at your paper. Do you meet all of the requirements of the essay. Does it meet the page requirements? If it needs a title page or headers, does it have those items. If it needs to be in APA format, is it? If it needs to be in a certain font or double spaced, have you followed the directions. If you find any issues, correct or resolve them before you print your final copy.

The writing process can be daunting. Writers block and disorganization can mire your attempts to complete your assignment. However, if you just follow the steps, you can reduce some of that stress. Yes, it may be time consuming. Still, if the result is a wonderfully written paper and a high grade, the trade off is well worth the work.