Writing is a complex process.
You may be writing a research paper, a thesis, a book, or even a blog post, but putting your thoughts into words on paper (or Word document) is not enough. Your thoughts are unstructured, but writing requires structure. Without proper planning and research, it may not seem authentic either. Hence, following a step-by-step guide is essential to transforming your thoughts into well-researched and structured content worthy of publishing. These steps are also immensely helpful when you experience writer’s block. The 5 stages of the writing process ensure that your work gets published without any glitches or delays.
Brainstorming or Pre-Writing
The writing process does not begin when you put pen to paper or when you start typing on the keypad. In fact, it begins much before – right when an idea germinates in your mind. Brainstorming gives you the chance to bring your ideas out of your head and give them a visual format. Here, you can structure your thoughts and link the main idea with other supporting ideas that you can include in your writing. You can also create an idea about the tone of your write-up by thinking about your target audience at this stage.
Research and Planning
Research is extremely important if you want your publishers to take you seriously. Be it a historical article, a scientific thesis, or even a novel, you must take out time for research. Your research material can come from the internet, books, and even interviews with experts. However, before you go on a researching spree, plan your research as well. Your research plan should be focused and appropriate. Know what you need to research and how you plan to discover information. Also, keep a deadline for research and complete it within the stipulated time.
Drafting
This is where the actual writing process begins. The brainstorming, planning, and researching processes culminate into a structured write-up that has a beginning, middle, and ending. The more time and effort you have put into the first two stages, the easier the third stage becomes. Apart from providing your content proper structure with chapters, paragraphs, and page numbers, it is also important to note your resources. This provides authenticity to your article or content.
Copy Editing
After you have concluded the writing part of the process, editing follows. It is the most critical stage of the writing process. This time is when you have to look at your write-up critically. It is best to take a break for a few days and come back to your article with a fresh set of eyes. This helps you to edit your article more clearly. While editing, you need to focus on the flow of the article. During this stage, you also need to remove repetitious points or fluff and add more evidence if an idea or thought does not seem convincing. If the thoughts in a paragraph or chapter do not seem clear, this is the right time to rephrase them and enhance clarity.
Proofreading
Once you are 100% sure about your draft’s content, it is time to move to the final stage before publishing, which is proofreading. While editing is all about finding and repairing the deficiencies in content, proofreading focuses on the technical aspects of writing. Here, you need to concentrate on sentence structure, grammar, punctuations, spelling, capitalizations, syntax, etc. In short, this step is where you make your article error-free. It is a good idea to hand over your article to a friend, colleague, or family member to proofread your article. An objective perspective prevents judgment from being clouded by emotional attachment. You can also hire a professional proofreading company like Siliconchips Services Ltd. to do this work effectively.
Conclusion
Writers have their own writing processes that they have developed over the years. However, if you are a newbie or seem to be stuck in your writing, following these 5 steps will help you to improve your work and complete your project on time.
