The Writing Process


Overview/Description
Target Audience
Expected Duration
Lesson Objectives
Course Number


Overview/Description
How do you go about writing for your work? Do you procrastinate until your deadline seems like a freight train that is rapidly approaching while you stand immobile on the railroad tracks? Do you try to complete the entire document--defining your message, analyzing your audience, deciding on your approach, worrying about grammar and spelling, organizing your information, and choosing your words precisely--all in a single step? If so, there may be an easier, quicker, and far more effective way to tackle your writing project. This course divides the writing process into manageable components: preparing to write and composing your message. It explains a methodical way of handling the various tasks from beginning to end. It also covers the particular challenges of writing in groups. There is no single correct way to write, and experienced writers usually develop their own individual processes. But if your current approach is haphazard and frustrating, using the process explained in this course may make the act of writing less formidable and more enjoyable. It may also help you to produce more focused, more polished, and more effective business documents.

Target Audience
All professionals for whom work-related writing is both required and challenging

Expected Duration (hours)
5.0

Lesson Objectives

Preparing to Write

  • recognize the benefits of preparing to write by planning, generating ideas, and organizing information.
  • identify examples of the elements that should be considered when planning a business document.
  • determine whether a business writer has considered all necessary elements when planning a hypothetical document.
  • match categories of idea-generating methods with examples.
  • identify the three main organizational elements of any business document.
  • determine whether the three main organizational elements in a hypothetical business document contain the necessary features.

    • Composing Your Document

  • recognize the importance of drafting, revising, and refining a document.
  • identify examples of the activities that are part of the drafting stage.
  • choose examples of questions to ask in the revision stage of composing a document.
  • identify examples of editing and proofreading tasks.
  • determine whether editing and proofreading tasks have been successfully completed on a hypothetical business document.

    • Collaborative Writing

  • recognize the benefits of using a methodical process for collaborative writing.
  • identify examples of task features to be considered when deciding whether a group should write a document.
  • decide, on the basis of task features, whether to use a group to write a document, given a hypothetical situation.
  • match preparatory activities that are necessary for successful collaborative writing with examples.
  • complete all the preparatory activities necessary for a successful hypothetical collaborative writing task.
  • select examples that reflect the characteristics of constructive feedback.

    • Course Number:
    COMM0017