(Perhaps) The most important step of the writing process
from Terry Hayek
If you only teach your students one thing about writing, you could do worse than teaching them how to write effectively in advance.
Of course, there’s more. The writing process is a series of goals (also self-serving), each with its own application, utility, and nuance.
Clarifying the purpose of a piece of writing—what it is intended to accomplish—is probably the beginning of most writing, whether it’s a classroom assignment or something in the “real world.” And it all starts with effective prewriting.
The purpose of writing
Years ago, I was 150 pages into writing a book when I realized the content wasn’t exactly what I intended. I was writing for myself, not with the reader in mind. It took me six months to fix a mistake that could have been avoided with a few more days of pre-writing. I was so eager to write that I started just shy of my goal at first, and a few chapters later went completely off course.
As a teacher, I often read wonderfully written essays from students who had completely missed the point of the assignment, which was good because it showed me what that student needed—more effective prewriting—while they were already effective at completing the draft.
The way I explained it to the students is to imagine that someone is painting a house and they did an amazing job. It was a beautiful shade of lavender, painted exquisitely, but the homeowner had requested blue. I would tell them that the writing is strong but inaccurate.
Other times, in the extended response assessment items, students will again have a very well-written response that answers the “question” (or addresses the prompt) incorrectly, or doesn’t answer the prompt itself, but something near to the prompt.
See also A writing strategy that works for every student, every time
The writer’s purpose
What is the difference between a writer’s purpose and an author’s purpose?
A writer’s purpose is the main reason he or she has to write—usually a student in a classroom, but the term can really apply to any writer. (Although it could be argued that these terms are the same, the connotation of “author’s purpose” has more to do with analyzing and examining the writing of an actual author, while “writers” develop writers as students. We’ll explore what educators commonly call “author’s purpose” in another post.)
Some questions to clarify the writer’s purpose (or the purpose of the written product itself) might include:
why are you writing
What message do you want to communicate? If readers understand nothing else, what is the one thing you need them to take away from their reading?
What effect is the writing supposed to “cause” or do?
What should the writing product achieve? How will you know if it’s successful or not?
If the goal is not met, what is the stake?
How can the purpose and audience inform the genre, structure, and other elements of the text so that it is more likely to achieve its purpose?
The purpose, of course, is closely related to the audience: who are you writing for? Who wants or needs to know the information/ideas in writing? Who will benefit?
See also 25 Ways Schools Can Promote Literacy and Independent Readers
The writing audience
An equally important step in the writing process is establishing a clear audience—one who wants, needs, or would benefit from the information or ideas contained in the text. Audience and purpose together form the foundation of classroom writing—ideally, writing that leaves that classroom to achieve an authentic purpose in front of an authentic audience. This is also pre-writing.
So what, then, is the “most important step” of the writing process? Of course, this is subjective and depends on the grade level, the purpose of the writing, the experience and skills of the particular student/writer, etc. But prewriting as a concept or definition is simple—everything a writer does to prepare to write. Preparation without this preparation is not preparing students for success.
Ask them if they would drive across the country without a map or try to cook a complicated meal without a recipe. These types of rhetorical questions can highlight the critical importance of effective prewriting. And keep in mind that this should be pre-writing that the student understands and trusts in that pre-writing that they trust to guide them, not cursory research and vague, imprecise outlines that just go through the motions.
A good pre-write gives the writer everything they need to successfully achieve their goal. It can also save significant time when revising a document that missed the mark in crucial ways.
And that makes it as important as any other step in the writing process.
