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Writing Guide: Writing Process

The MSUB Writing Guide provides supplemental resources for all writing programs at Montana State University Billings.

WRITING Process

Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.  

William Faulkner

On the Writing Process

On The Writing Process

The writing process is personal, unique to each writer, and, often, to each written work. There is no magic formula. No silver bullet. You must discover what works for you and what doesn’t. Take a personality test. Study other writers and their processes. Experiment with various brainstorming techniques. Write. Revise. Write again. Progress.

 

The Writing Process

Prewriting · anything—brainstorming, researching, outlining, mental composition—prior to drafting. Drafting · trying to give form and meaning to your prewriting. Revising · See again. Cut. Add. Re-structure. Create clarity. Edit. 

Writers on Writing: Methods: Drafting: Research

Book & Websites


Websites:

 

Prewriting

CSU The Writing Studio Composing Process: Planning and Organizing: geared toward the planning, researching, and organizing of academic/technical papers.

 

UNC The Writing Center Brainstorming: various brainstorming techniques.

 

Research Process: A Step-by-Step Guide: walks through the research process.

 

Drafting

CSU The Writing Studio Composing Process: Drafting, Designing, and Revising: geared toward the drafting, designing (i.e. illustrations, tables, etc.), and revising of academic/technical papers.

 

Revising

UNC The Writing Center Reorganizing Drafts: “strategies to help you rethink your draft’s organization.”

 

UNC The Writing Center Revising Drafts: “motivate you to revise your drafts and give you strategies to revise effectively.”

 

Draft: The Journal of Process: “is an educational literary journal that features first and final drafts of stories, poems, and essays along with author interviews.”

 

Overcoming Procrastination

UNC The Writing Center Procrastination: provides strategies to overcome procrastination.

 

Writing Models

The Paris Review Interviews: Archive of interviews of significant writers—1950s to present.