Leadership Communication Skills Center

Marine Corps University Communications Style Guide

PART ONE: THE WRITING PROCESS

Good writing is rarely produced in one sitting. Writing involves multiple stages, and the best writing is often a result of a successful writing process. Though the amount of time you spend on each step of the process may change depending on the length, scope, and purpose of your assignment, the steps in the process are essentially the same, whether you are writing a standard operating procedure for your supervisor or a 30-page academic research paper. The following chapters provide you with guidance for approaching the writing process.

It is no accident that writing is depicted as a recursive, cyclical process in figure 2. Though it seems logical that a writer will go through the invention stage before drafting or revising, the writing process does not follow a linear, step-by-step model. In fact, most writers frequently shift back and forth between different phases of the writing process. As you write, your ideas about your topic may begin to change; this may require you to change the focus of your paper and move back to an earlier stage of the writing process. For instance, your thesis statement might change as you read more about your topic. You may then find yourself needing to remove some paragraphs that no longer support your new thesis statement, which is part of the revision process. At the same time, you will likely need to draft text to substantiate your new argument, which means you will enter into the drafting stage again. Further, different sections of the paper may be in different phases of the writing process. For example, the first few paragraphs might be in the polishing stage, while the last few paragraphs are still undergoing conceptual development. These are only a few examples of how you may cycle through the stages of the writing process multiple times before finalizing your document.

Figure 2. The writing process