Write

Where to begin?

Once you have found your sources and taken notes, you are ready to begin writing. Whether you are writing a persuasive essay or a research paper, carefully organizing your thoughts on the page is important. Consider the genre, audience, and guidelines from your teacher.

Researching

If there are gaps in your research, you will find them during the writing process. Use the research resources provided to stay organized and make connections between your sources and your own ideas.

Outlining

Writing an outline gives you a structure for your essay and the flow of ideas without getting bogged down in word choice, citations, and grammar. Your teacher may require you to use a Harvard Outline, or you may create your own. At a bare minimum, you need an introduction with a thesis, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Kevin deLaplante's "How to Think About Outlining" provides excellent examples of why this overlooked step in the writing process is important.

Drafting

A first draft of a paper can be messy. Write down your ideas, your thesis statement, and the facts you are using to make your point. Getting your ideas out is more important than focusing on spelling, grammar, and punctuation. A well-structured outline is the skeleton of your paper, and you flesh out ideas and connections during the draft writing stage. You can polish your rough draft later.

Proofreading and revising

This final step is often overlooked, but it is the perfect time to catch misspelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes before your teacher does. Work on a printout so you read more slowly and focus. Common mistakes that you can find in this stage include:

  • Spelling errors or typos such as using your in place of you're or to/too/two

  • Not capitalizing proper names such as new york

  • Overuse or underuse of commas

  • Run on sentences or fragments

  • Formatting errors

  • Citation errors

Watch the video from Course Hero to learn more.