The writing process and process writing

[0:00]Hello, I am Cecilia. This video is about writing as a process and how breaking up a writing assignment into several stages can help you avoid some problems that essay writers often face. We all get stuck occasionally when trying to produce a text, especially if the topic poses a challenge and if we don't know how to tackle it. Analyzing the task at hand by breaking it down into smaller components is a fruitful way to get past this initial time or writer's block. Many writers find process writing a useful method. Now, using a process-oriented approach means that you divide the task into different stages. And a good thing about this method is that as your text develops, you see that you need to return to previous stages to make additions and to revise your work. The fact that process writing makes you go back in order to rewrite for improvement is the reason why this method is sometimes described as loop writing. Now, let us look at the three basic stages of the writing process. Before you start to write, you need to define your topic, decide how to approach it, and of course, collect material for your project. This is the pre-writing or invention stage. At this initial stage, it's a good idea to write down a preliminary plan of what you think will be your main points, and also outline how you aim to present your argument and in what order. Depending on what works for you, such initial writing can be done with bullet points or in the form of a mind map. This tentative plan will then serve as a roadmap for your writing, so the second step in the writing process is to produce a first draft based on your blueprint plan. As you write, you are likely to discover that some of your initial ideas don't work, or that you need to add some section or aspect that you didn't know of or think of at the pre-writing stage. A good thing about process writing is that it caters for that development as you are expected to evaluate, rethink, and rewrite as you work on your text. In fact, rewriting, which is the third stage of the writing process, may well take up as much time as the initial writing. It's thus important to recognize the need for revision and development. Writing a perfect text at once is difficult, maybe even impossible. In other words, writing takes time. Now, to make the most of the time you have at your disposal, planning is essential, so make sure you set off enough time for invention, writing, and for rewriting. If you have time to leave your text for a day or two in between the stages or even while working on a specific passage, this will help you create a distance, which will make it much easier for you to review your own text. And did you know that research shows that students who apply a process-oriented approach to their writing, and who revise their texts while working on them, learn more about the subject they write about and produce better essays? So, writing for a course is not just about producing a text that will earn your credits, but also a learning opportunity.