{"id":1221,"date":"2020-03-13T14:45:03","date_gmt":"2020-03-13T14:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/chapter\/putting-it-together-writing-process\/"},"modified":"2020-03-13T14:45:03","modified_gmt":"2020-03-13T14:45:03","slug":"putting-it-together-writing-process","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/chapter\/putting-it-together-writing-process\/","title":{"raw":"Putting It Together: Writing Process","rendered":"Putting It Together: Writing Process"},"content":{"raw":"\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-394 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/107\/2016\/06\/23155652\/Writing-graphic-final-1.jpg\" alt=\"Graphic labeled &quot;The Writing Process.&quot; A line of brightly colored circles are connected by gray arrows wrapping around them. From left to right, they read: Topic, Prewrite, Evidence, Organize, Draft, Revise, Proofread.\" width=\"3008\" height=\"963\">As you now know, writing isn't just something you do in a sudden burst of activity when the essay deadline starts to loom. Such a last-minute approach usually produces poorly organized and incoherent essays, because it eliminates the idea of writing as a <em>process<\/em>, and focuses only on the <em>product<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Feel empowered by knowing that&nbsp;writing is a process with a number of phases, only the last few of which involve setting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Students typically panic about academic writing because they feel they've nothing to say. This sense of mental blankness (writer's block) is, paradoxically, caused by being aware of too many possible things you <i>could <\/i>say. If you avoid committing yourself to any particular approach, your mind is unable to form a coherent mental picture of the topic, so that it seems impossible to form a connected argument.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">You can escape from this mental blankness by defining the problem. Systematically think through what the question is asking you to do and develop writing strategies on the basis of the research you've already done.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Reflect on these key ideas as you face your next writing challenge:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">Process writing is a natural set of steps that writers take to create a finished piece of work.<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">It is a process of organizing ideas and creativity through text.<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">The focus of process writing is on process, not on the end-product.<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">It is useful for all skill levels, from children to published authors, to develop an authentic, creative work.<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">It breaks the act of writing into manageable steps that can be taken over a period of time, rather than all at once.<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">The above steps do not exist in a linear way. Writers sometimes go back and forth among steps.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nYou have the authority to shape the writing process as it best fits YOU. It is a tool meant to serve your best interests, after all.\n","rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-394 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/107\/2016\/06\/23155652\/Writing-graphic-final-1.jpg\" alt=\"Graphic labeled &quot;The Writing Process.&quot; A line of brightly colored circles are connected by gray arrows wrapping around them. From left to right, they read: Topic, Prewrite, Evidence, Organize, Draft, Revise, Proofread.\" width=\"3008\" height=\"963\" \/>As you now know, writing isn&#8217;t just something you do in a sudden burst of activity when the essay deadline starts to loom. Such a last-minute approach usually produces poorly organized and incoherent essays, because it eliminates the idea of writing as a <em>process<\/em>, and focuses only on the <em>product<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Feel empowered by knowing that&nbsp;writing is a process with a number of phases, only the last few of which involve setting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Students typically panic about academic writing because they feel they&#8217;ve nothing to say. This sense of mental blankness (writer&#8217;s block) is, paradoxically, caused by being aware of too many possible things you <i>could <\/i>say. If you avoid committing yourself to any particular approach, your mind is unable to form a coherent mental picture of the topic, so that it seems impossible to form a connected argument.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">You can escape from this mental blankness by defining the problem. Systematically think through what the question is asking you to do and develop writing strategies on the basis of the research you&#8217;ve already done.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Reflect on these key ideas as you face your next writing challenge:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">Process writing is a natural set of steps that writers take to create a finished piece of work.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">It is a process of organizing ideas and creativity through text.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">The focus of process writing is on process, not on the end-product.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">It is useful for all skill levels, from children to published authors, to develop an authentic, creative work.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">It breaks the act of writing into manageable steps that can be taken over a period of time, rather than all at once.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">The above steps do not exist in a linear way. Writers sometimes go back and forth among steps.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You have the authority to shape the writing process as it best fits YOU. It is a tool meant to serve your best interests, after all.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-1221\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Putting It Together: Writing Process. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Image of Writing Process. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Kim Louie for Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Writing Process. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Utah State University. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/ocw.usu.edu\/English\/introduction-to-writing-academic-prose\/writing-process.html\">http:\/\/ocw.usu.edu\/English\/introduction-to-writing-academic-prose\/writing-process.html<\/a>. <strong>Project<\/strong>: Introduction to Writing: Academic Prose. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":29,"menu_order":33,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Writing Process\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Utah State University\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ocw.usu.edu\/English\/introduction-to-writing-academic-prose\/writing-process.html\",\"project\":\"Introduction to Writing: Academic Prose\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Putting It Together: Writing Process\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Image of Writing Process\",\"author\":\"Kim Louie for Lumen Learning\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"814dd516-f6a1-4031-bdb5-3de3f745ad78","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-1221","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":773,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1221\/revisions"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/773"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1221\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1221"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1221"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/irsc-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}