Writing Process

Welcome to the Writing Process!

Have you ever received a writing assignment, thought “this won’t take long” and then stayed up all night writing the night before your assignment was due because it ended up taking a lot longer than you thought it would? If you have, you're not alone. Many beginning writers struggle to plan well when it comes to a writing assignment, and this results in writing that is just not as good as it could be. When you wait until the last minute and fail to engage in a good writing process, you're not doing your best work—even if you did “get all A’s in high school” as a procrastinator.

Research on writing tells us that the best thing writers can do to improve their writing is improve their writing process! With that in mind, this area of the Excelsior College Online Writing Lab is going to take you through the steps of a thorough writing process—one that involves many stages that will help you become a better writer.

You'll also learn about how the writing process is recursive, which means it's not always linear or in a certain order. Here, you will learn about each step of the process, but you should understand that, sometimes, in fact, quite often, good writers have to go back to earlier steps before they complete a project. It's time consuming, but it's a normal part of a thorough writing process.

With information on everything from prewriting strategies to becoming a better editor, the Writing Process area of the OWL should be your new best friend if you're just beginning to learn about how to improve your writing process.

By the time you review this material, you'll know how to plan your time better and to engage in a writing process that will help you be the best writer you can be!