By Dana P Skopal, PhD

People have said to us that they fear writing and get frustrated as they keep revising their document. Writing a document may create a mental block at the start, and it can often involve producing many drafts.

Writing is rarely completed without thinking and several drafts – be it a document for work, such as a business case, or an assignment at university. As a writer you need to revise your first draft, as your first version may often be a brain-dump of information or a record of you working through your ideas (and so not coherent for your reader).

As writers we need to understand the four key steps of planning, drafting, editing and proof-reading. However, drafting and editing are closely linked. Drafting usually involves writing the main sections of your document, after which you often evaluate if you have made a strong recommendation or an appropriate response to the assignment question. After this evaluation, we often write a second draft adding or deleting information. Next, editing allows you to make changes to ensure your meaning is clearer (and your message is coherent).  Drafting and editing can be recursive, as drafting leads to editing, which can lead to further drafting with new ideas if gaps are evident (see Chapter 17 in Brick et al., 2020).

Writing to get your message across means you should know your main argument. If you don’t, then no matter how many drafts you write, your document may well be confusing for your reader.

Further, as a writer, you need to focus on why your message is important for the organisation/audience.

Effective writing involves planning and thinking as well as drafting.

Writing: “A word after a word after a word is power.” Margaret Atwood

Brick, J., Herke, M. & Wong, D. (2020).  Academic Culture:  A student’s guide to studying at university.  Bloomsbury Publishing.

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