The+Writing+Process


 * __ The Writing Process: __**
 * 1) **Prewriting**
 * 2) **Drafting (writing)**
 * 3) **Revising**
 * 4) **Editing**
 * 5) **Publishing/Sharing**

These steps may be done in a linear fashion, but often they are intertwined and a writer may be performing more than one of these steps at the same time. Taken from Spandel and Hicks, __WriterTraits’ Advanced Notebook Level 1__, Great Source Education Group Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006
 * 1) __Prewriting__- This is the stage in which the writer attempts to find a topic, narrow it, and map out a plan. The writer usually isn’t concerned with creating whole sentences or paragraphs at this point. Prewriting is done before the writer begins to write, and it is aimed at defining an idea and getting it rolling.
 * 2) __Drafting__- In this stage, the writer’s ideas begins to come to life. Sentences and paragraphs begin to take shape. The writer may experiment with different leads. In this stage, writers need to know that they can change directions, cross out words or sentences, and draw arrows to link details that are out of sequence. The term rough draft, or first draft, refers to writers in motion, changing directions and letting their ideas take shape.
 * 3) __Revising__- When writers revise, their topics and ideas come into focus. In this stage, writers do a great deal of math, adding or subtracting single words, phrases, or entire paragraphs. What to revise often becomes clearer to students if they have had some time away from their drafts. Putting a draft away, out of sight and mind, for a few days or even more, may provide a sharper focus on weak areas. A writer might even ask, “Did I really write this?” The efforts made at revision will easily separate strong writing from weak writing.
 * 4) __Editing__- This stage is all about making a piece of writing more accessible to readers. In this stage, writers fine-tune their work by focusing on correct punctuation, capitalization, grammar, usage, and paragraphing. Writers will want to be open to all the technological help (spell check for example) and human help they can find.
 * 5) __Publishing/Sharing__- Not every piece of writing reaches this stage. The term sharing refers here to something more public than the kind of interactive sharing that should be happening at the previous stages. When writing is going to be “published” in the classroom or put on display as finished work, it needs to have been carefully selected as a piece of writing that has truly experienced all the other stages of the writing process.