Chapter 6: The Writing Process

Since you've been writing in school for years now, you probably have learned about the writing process before. The graphic above shows the steps of the process how it is commonly learned: the writer moves from planning, to drafting, to revising, to editing, and then completion. This chapter explores a few things to keep in mind about the writing process when you are tutoring writers.

Writing is messy. You likely know that when we are writing, we don't usually go directly through the stages in order. We often do a little planning (prewriting), then we might draft (writing), only to realize we need to go back and do an outline or a mindmap (prewriting) so we can think about where the paper is going. Other times, we might be revising our writing and realize that we're missing a main idea and we need to go back and do more drafting. This is why the graphic shows arrows going in both directions.

So, when talking with writers, always find out what stage they are at but never be afraid to suggest they return to an earlier stage. Sometimes to move forward, we have to go backwards just for a bit.

Revising is different than editing. Usually, when a writer has a draft, we are first helping them with revision. We want to talk with them about their main ideas, the order of ideas, and their evidence first. We are helping them to see if they are doing what they need to be doing for the assignment or type of writing. After they have revised, we can help with proofreading.

Sometimes writers might come to the writing center and just ask: "Can you correct my paper?" or "Can you check my grammar?" They are asking for proofreading help when they haven't revised yet. Be sure to ask if they would like to discuss the content and organization before moving on to editing. (We'll discuss this more in Chapter 11.)

Pay attention to the process. Help the writers that you talk with think about how they do each stage of the process best. Do they draft better when they start by drawing out a picture of where their writing should go? Do they revise best by talking through what they've written with another person? Do they edit best while listening to music? When we pay attention to when we do our best, we can use that information the next time we draft. Of course, we can also pay attention when we do not do our best and take a different approach the next time.