Amorim 1

Step by Step

My relationship with writing has not always the been a good one. For years I felt really

insecure about my writings and I own this fact to the way I was thought how to write a text

during my school years. I have always been told that there is a certain way you have to write

and a determined structure you have to follow in order to produce a considerable good text,

and I did not feel comfortable with that. However, when I got to my freshman year in high

school I had a teacher that finally gave me the freedom of writing by my own rules. I was

finally able to structure a text the way I wanted to and had no more guidelines to follow other

than the assignment prompt, of course. This completely changed my relationship with writing

because I finally could do it in a way that I felt comfortable with. After giving us this

freedom, this teacher asked me and my peers to analyze how we write step by step,

something I had never paid attention before. That was the moment I realized that I had

developed a writing process that I followed every single time: brainstorming, outlining,

taking a break, writing the first draft, receiving feedback, revising, and writing the final draft,

exactly in this order, and some other breaks sometimes. Therefore, for this paper, I will be

explaining this writing process using as an example the first paper I wrote for my English

Composition class (ENC 1101) called English: From Secondary to Primary, where I talked

about my relationship with English.

Brainstorming: The first part of my writing process is brainstorming. In this step, I analyze

the assignment prompt and understand what it wants me to do. Then, I decide what will be

the theme of my paper, and divide the ideas I have for it under different categories. When I

make this division, I am able to organize myself in a more structured and simple way, and
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this is very helpful when I follow the next step. Furthermore, I think it is hard to have a lot of

good thoughts at this point because I am not a very creative person. Because of that, I write

down everything I think of, even if it is not the best idea but at this step, I believe that

quantity leads to quality. I think that the best way to get a good quality idea is to credible

information and a variety of ideas.

For a better understanding, lets take a look on how the process of brainstorming for

the paper being analyzed worked. The prompt of the writing was to talk about a personal

literacy, so I choose to write about my relationship with the English language. After deciding

the main topic that the paper will address, I divided my ideas into four categories that are

related to this theme: my sponsors, research, texts/documents/images, and a timeline. To

better understand what I am talking about, it follows below a graphic example of what my

brainstorm was based on when writing English: From Secondary to Primary, with the

different sections all connected to the main literacy I want to develop.

Outlining: When I am brainstorming, I come up with a lot of ideas but not all of them will be

included in the paper. In the next step, outlining, I will decide which of these ideas I want to

keep in the paper and the ones I dont. This is where I start shaping the text as a whole.

Furthermore, I try to organize the ideas paragraphs in a way that the sequence makes sense
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and that it achieves my writing purpose in the best way possible. In other words, I take the

ideas I had and position them in a way I think it would make sense for the readers as they can

follow my logic and understand the thesis/claim, facts, and arguments I used to explain it.

However, it does not mean that I will follow it in this exact way because when writing I am

able to see different possibilities that maybe would work better than the one I was thinking.

But it helps me to organize the ideas in a more structured way.

For this paper, I started organizing the outline by deciding which order I wanted to

follow, and I chose the chronological order. In English: From Secondary to Primary, I

followed a timeline since I started to learn English until the present days. Therefore, I made

each paragraph a different time of my life which I had a different relationship with the

language. I believed that this would make it easier for the readers to follow and understand

what I was talking about and the background of that. Also, I tried to make an introduction

where I talked a little bit about the main topic and why I was talking about it.

Pause: This step is not a writing-related one but is an essential part of my writing process. I

always take some time for myself before going into writing. I usually like to take a break so I can
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start to write the paper with a more relaxed mind, which helps me to make the writing flow when

I sit down to develop it. The fact that I dont use this time to write something does not mean that

it is not important for me because it is. This pause helps me to come to the writing with different

thoughts, which can help me to improve my writing and make it more well-developed. Even

though I am not sitting down writing something, I am still thinking about the text and having

now ideas, and when I think of something new for the paper I write it down on the Notes

application on my phone so I can include on the text later on.

This pause can take from 2 hours to 4 days, it depends on what I am writing and how I am

feeling at that moment. In the writing is analyzing for this paper this step took me 2 entire days

and was very productive because I had many other ideas during this time. I have the following

notes written down on my phone that I thought about while in this step:

Most of the notes I write down are used on the paper, such as the ones presented above.

First Draft: Finally, I start to write. This is

the part that takes the most amount of time.

At this step, I start developing sentences,

arguments, and paragraphs. Therefore, even

though it does not look like it, this is the part where I have to dedicate myself to analyze and

think a lot. I have to make decisions such as what could be include in a certain paragraph, where

a specific information should be added, and how to develop a sentence in order to sound exactly

like I want it to. When writing, I am constantly looking at my outline, trying to develop the ideas

I wrote in there and to follow the guidelines I made for myself. However, I still have to make

some changes to make the text even better. I am also looking to the notes I took so I can include

them in the right place. Sometimes, I text my friends and family to have, for example, for this
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paper I talked to my parents and asked them a few questions to understand why they decided that

I should learn English. Furthermore, the internet is also a resource when I am at this step, I do

not look only for some word synonyms but also to find some quotes or information that I can use

to strengthen my paper.

Peer-Review & Reflection: After finishing the first draft, I send it to peers so they can review it

and make comments and suggestions on how to make my paper better. On English: From

Secondary to Primary, I had 3 peers reviewing my paper and helping me to make necessary

changes. This step helps me because I get feedback from the readers about what they think that

can do to make to my paper better and my arguments stronger. Also, they help me to identify

parts that I could develop more. I have separated two comments from two different peers that

really stood out and helped me to make changes that made my paper better and helped me to

achieve my writing purpose:

Going in depth about the opportunities will strengthen the purpose of the paper and why

your parents believed that learning another language would benefit you as an

individual- This gave me directions on how I could make my paper stronger. Also, it

helped me to re-write it in order to achieve my writing purpose in a way that I dont leave

any part of the text vague to the readers.

Try to explain more about "how" after this sentence. This is kind of dropped without

enough of a foundation to be supported. This makes me realize that some parts need

more development to make my point clearer.

Final Draft: After receiving all the feedback I make the necessary changes that the readers (or

peers in this case) think will improve my paper. Also, I change what I think would sound better

or what I could include to make it strong in my own opinion. This is good for me making the
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writing better because after all of that I am able to see some things that I couldnt see before. I

really like dividing my screen into two, one with the paper I am editing and the other with the

comments and suggestions by my peers. On the paper I am analyzing, I made a lot of changes,

going from 1604 to 1993 words, what shows that I was able to develop my writing a lot after

revising it and re-writing for the final draft, the one I will submit for a grade and present to my

readers.

After understanding more about my writing process, I can see that all the stages are

integrated and work together in order to produce a good writing at the end. Dividing the process

into different parts makes it easier to write a good and well-develop text. Although some of these

stages may be similar, the steps are not, each of them contribute to the writing in a different but

necessary way. For me, following this order and going through every step not only helps me to

produce a text but to develop it in a way that I can reach my goal with the writing.