Essay Writing Process

My Essay Writing Process

Melissa Geist

Keiser University

        After many years of writing reports, essays and short stories, I have found the best approach for me is to sit down and start writing. I like to do a little bit of brainstorming as I go as well as re-read it multiple times to reorder some of my thoughts. While this is probably not the most efficient way to write a paper, it works for me. Writing a great essay is all about following the process. If you are committed to put in the work up front, your end results will be well worth it. Most people who sit down and try and write an essay in one setting, without following the process, will be much less successful.

        Overall, there are five steps to the writing process. (1) Thinking what your will be writing about. (2) Organizing your thoughts (3) Drafting your essay (4) Re-thinking and editing your essay and (6) Final drafting your essay.

Once I determine (or am told) what I will be writing about, I start brainstorming so that I can organize my thoughts. Brain storming should be the first step in your writing process. With brainstorming, you create lists of one to two words about the topic you will be writing about. This process will help you get the creative side of your brain flowing. There are others names for brainstorming such as clustering and looping which has the same intent behind them as brainstorming.

My next step is to start drafting my essay. I spend a lot of time on this step. I take the ideas from my brainstorming session and start putting those ideas in to complete sentences and statements. I just start writing from the hip in the order in which I think that sound the most organized in my mind. I try to get all the statements and ideas on paper before I spend so much time on the editing piece. I don’t spend a lot of time on grammar or on spelling at this point. Again, my main focus is to get all my thoughts on paper so that I don’t lose my train of thought.

Once I have my initial draft done, I start the editing process. This is also another piece that I spend a lot of time on. I start by reading through the document for organization and whether or not it makes sense to me. This is a process which includes taking out my red pen and marking up the paper like a teacher would. I look for thoughts that are not well organized and for grammatical errors. In this day and age, you should never have any spelling errors due to the technology available to correct those spelling errors. When I feel comfortable with my document I then reach out to a family member or co-worker to provide feedback. I think this is one of the most important pieces of the writing process.

My last step is to give the document one final review before submission. This is again a time for me to reflect on my thoughts and whether my document shares the message I was trying to convey. Will an average person be able to understand my thoughts, arguments or theories? Every time I submit a paper whether it be for school, work or play, I always learn something upon receiving feedback. This to me is invaluable and I try to include any and all feedback in my future papers.

Overall, I enjoy writing much more than I did when I was in high school and look forward to the opportunity to learn and apply new skills. I used to be one of those people who thought I could sit down at the computer and bang out an “A” grade essay in an hour. I have learned that following the process and putting in the time is what truly earns the “A” grade.