Today we’re going to look at the process of writing itself. What we find with a lot of undergraduates is that they start writing at the start, continue all the way through to the end, then stop, and then submit. They don’t draft, they don’t edit.
You should never just write words down, assume they’re in the right order, and then submit your work. This leads to mistakes, no sense of argument, and an absence of critical thinking – all of which we are looking for in your work. It also means that if you go off topic, you won’t notice and you risk not answering the question you’re supposed to be answering.
You’ve probably heard your tutors tell you that you should write a draft of your work. The first version of anything is always called a draft, whatever format it is in. and you never submit your first draft, because they’re generally awful.
Everyone’s first drafts are awful, mine certainly are, it’s got nothing to do with ability and everything to do with the fact that first drafts are basically the dumping ground for all your ideas. They spill out onto the page in any old order, and it’s a bit like putting a bunch of people who don’t know each other in a room and told to ‘get along and make friends’. Awkward. That’s how a first draft sounds to the reader.
Now, I write in a weird sort of way, and it has actually given some of my more organised friends a few anxious moments during writing projects. I actually walk around with ideas in my head, and they actually jumble themselves into an initial set or points that I sort of think about before writing, then I edit as I go until I’m happy with what I’ve written. So, the ‘draft one’ that I send to my editor is actually about draft 3 or 4 by most normal rules.
It works for me, and all my books have been written like that, but I am very conscious this is not a typical way of writing and editing, so it’s not something you want to start with. However, I’ve been writing a long time and have quite a good memory, which is not always the case for everyone. There are many different methods out there, including far more structured ways that can help you create a first draft. The editing part is a touch more difficult.
Ways of creating a first draft.
All of the methods you can find on the internet have something in common – they assume you already know what you want to write about and have the information you need! That’s right, you cannot write anything on the fly, you have to think about it and learn the information first. Reading comes first, along with making notes. There is some helpful information on this post by The Helpful Professor. But here I’ll focus three options, all of which are different ways to plan and draft your essay/assignment.
- LISTS
- Write down a list of all your points and pieces of information
- Organise them in a way that sounds about right and is a good first step to answering the question
- Write first draft
- Edit until you’re happy with it
- MIND MAPS
- Put your question in the centre of a piece of paper (or using a mind-map program on the computer) then brainstorm based on what you know. If there are gaps then read some more.
- OR
- Put your question in the centre, then write all the points and pieces of information you have around it – linking them together into themes and sub-themes as you go
- For this method you will need to have a really good idea of how things fit together, and be comfortable with lots of lines that can be quite messy. However, you can use colours so if you’re someone who likes to use colour to help organise, this might be the method for you
- If you need to re-write your mind map so it’s clear, do that next
- Work out which order you need to write your points in
- Write first draft
- Edit until you’re happy with it
- Put your question in the centre of a piece of paper (or using a mind-map program on the computer) then brainstorm based on what you know. If there are gaps then read some more.
- THEMES
- Write down your question
- Write down your key themes (any format)
- Write down all the information you have about that topic
- Add all the points and information next to these key themes
- Colour-code and/or organise your themes so they make sense in the order you want to write about them
- Write first draft
- Edit until you’re happy with it
Of course, if you’re a bit of a rebel like me, you’ll open a word document, brainstorm, think and crack on. But that method takes A LOT of editing! This is something I don’t mind doing, but editing is definitely hard work, because you have to be completely ruthless with your precious sentences and not be afraid to completely re-write everything if needs be. When you edit, your ego takes a break!
What is editing?
Editing is simply the process of correcting, adapting, adjusting and re-writing your work so that it makes sense as a whole piece and fulfils all the requirements asked of it. This means looking at the way you’ve written it, as well as what you have written about, in close-up detail. Then, if there are things that need changing and removing or adding, you do that until you’re happy with the result.
Editing is how you move from draft 1 to draft 2, all the way through to the final draft that you eventually submit.
When you get better at editing, it becomes a lot easier. But when you first start out with proper editing of your work, some steps and things to think about are useful.
First of all, you’re looking to see if what you’ve written make sense, and if you’ve done the things you need to do. At each stage, you want to address any issues you come up with.
- Read through your work from start to finish
- Does it make sense?
- Did you answer the question?
- Do your points and sections feel disjointed and unconnected?
- Are there connections between the discrete sentences and paragraphs?
- Get the order of information right
- Make sure the information is linked to the question
Now you’re down to paragraph level, so you’re looking a bit more in detail about how it all fits together.
- Make sure your paragraphs link to each other. Remember, you’re aiming for a smooth flow of information transfer, if there are bumps where you jump from one topic to another without any link at all, it will feel disjointed. Links are important.
- Go through every sentence
- Does it make sense?
- Can it be written better?
- Do you have an sensible, clear and appropriate tone?
- Are there colloquialisms, contractions and other textual elements that make it non-academic?
- Are the tenses consistent?
- Do they link clearly to each other?
Now you’re back at the overall level.
- Re-read through your work and adjust each of the points as needed.
- Repeat as necessary until you’re happy with your work.
- Finally, double check the word limit – you don’t want to be penalised for going over any limits you have after you’ve done all this hard work!
As you can see, editing takes a lot of time and effort, which is one of the reasons we always say work well in advance of the deadlines! Editing isn’t easy, and you do have to be really critical with what you’ve written. It gets easier the more you do it though.
When you edit, your ego takes a break!
All you need is practice, so the more you do the drafting and editing process, the better you will get – and crucially, the better your work will get! Just remember, if it feels like you’re just tinkering, it’s time to stop editing and submit your work.
This final word rests with this image I found online (credit in the caption), as I love Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The four stages of writing drafts: with a great set of advice in the blog it came from. Editing and drafting are worth it, because the end result is an order of magnitude better than what you started. It’s always worth it!
The Academic Skills Tutor 
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