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Academic Writing: The Writing Process

The Writing Process

Prewriting is the initial step in the writing process, which includes generating ideas, organizing them, and creating an outline. This stage helps to improve the general organization and efficiency of your writing.

Prewriting involves
  • Brainstorming: Identifies the main ideas for the writing.
  • Preliminary Research: Captures key concepts of the topic. (Related Guides: How to Search for Library Materials)
  • Warm-up Writing Task: Boost creativity and help you outline your writing

 

Tips on prewritting:

Credo Reference - How to Select a Topic 

Credo Reference - What To Do When Your Topic is Too Broad

Credo Reference - Using Pre-Research to Understand Your Topic


Prewriting

Learn about steps to take before writing a paper to make the process smoother.

Academic Writer

© 2024 American Psychological Association.

By carefully planning the framework of your writing, you can improve the organization of your ideas and arguments.

Draft an outline
  • to provide a logical structure to convey information effectively
  • to help you work out the main ideas you want to focus on and how you’ll organize them
  • with bullet points or numbering to make your structure clear at a glance

 

Tips on drafting an outline:

Purdue Online Writing Lab - Why and How to Create a Useful Outline

Purdue Online Writing Lab - Types of Outlines and Samples


Drafting

Learn tips to confidently tackle your rough draft and experience a smoother writing process.

Academic Writer

© 2024 American Psychological Association.

Revising is necessary to enhance the quality of writing. This is to ensure that the text is well-organized.

Make considerable improvements by
  • rearranging paragraphs
  • removing redundant sections
  • bringing additional content 
    etc.

 

Editing and proofreading are important to improve sentence structure and clarity.

When proofreading
  • ensure the language is succinct, clear, and grammatically right
  • look out for replication, confusing and redundancy wording
  • look out for typos, missing words, confused word choices, punctuation errors, and missing or excess spaces
  • use a grammar checker but also give a manual check after using 
  • ensure consistent writing style, e.g. American or British spellings, numerals vs. words, and proper capitalization of titles and headings.
  • follow specific standards for formatting and citations

Revising, Editing, and Proofreading

Learn how to successfully revise, edit, and proofread your draft so you can confidently submit a polished paper.

Academic Writer

© 2024 American Psychological Association.

 

Recommended Readings

Useful Databases