“Writing that Works, And it Works!

Thinking about what is the best way to start to write a paper such as an essay and or research. Well, here are some steps to follow to have a good start. Based on what I read in “Writing that Works”, the first think you should do when writing a paper is to do some research about the topic if you don’t know anything about it. But don’t spend too much on doing research; this should only take you a couple of minutes. Next, you should construct an outline. There are different types of outline, but one of the most common is to have “main points” and 2-3 levels on each of the main points. Then you should have one sentence under each level, this should be facts that would support your writing. Once you finish with the outline, your next step is to write the first draft using the outline as your main tool. When writing the draft, make sure you don’t do any editing because writing and editing are separate steps. Don’t worry about the grammar, spelling, and punctuation; the first draft is considered free writing. Write whatever it comes to your mind based on what you know about the topic and based on any information that you gathered. As soon as you finish with your draft, take a break of at least 2 or more hours so you can go back and do some corrections. It is recommended that you edit your draft after one or two days because it would allow you to think yourself as a reader and not as a writer. This would give you better results when editing since you would consider yourself as the audience and not as the person who wrote the paper (writer). Have in mind that your draft would probably not end up looking as your outline, and that is ok since the outline is only a tool to help you star. When you are editing, make sure the order of your paper makes sense, if not, then this is the time to move things around. If needed, take some breaks in between the writing and revising so you don’t get too frustrated and or tired. Once you review your draft and made corrections; it is a good idea to give it to someone else so they can read it and give you some feedback. You can give it to your professor, friend or anyone one who you think it would give you good feedback, but it is recommended that you give it to someone that is related to whatever you are wrote so he/she can give you better feedback.

There are different ways to organize your paper. For example, you can have your paper in decrease order of importance, this means that you would start from the most important to the least important fact. Another option is to organize your paper by increase order of importance, this means to start with the least important and finish with the most important. When I read this, I kind of know that there was the options were, but reading more about them would help me to better organize my writing.

A good part to start your paper should be with your body and live introduction and conclusion to the last because some people like me don’t know how to start the intro, or what to include in the intro. So, it is recommended that you start with the body, and then it would be easier to start your intro and conclusion. Although, this is not the case for everyone, some would feel better to start the intro then the body followed by the conclusion; anyway you want to start would be good as long as you mention everything that you introduce or vise versa. If you already know what to write in the intro, then start with the intro, but if you don’t know what to write in the intro and conclusion, then start with the body.

Source: Writing that Works