Writing Like a Graduate Student: Trust the Process

Where you put your focus depends on your place in the process!

Writing is a process. So is baking. But writing is not like baking a cake, where once you have stirred in the eggs, you are finished with that part and can move on to the sugar. Rather, writing is more like cooking a complicated sauce. You add a little cayenne, taste to see how that worked, then maybe add a bit more until you achieve the flavor you’re looking for. Photo by Calum Lewis on Unsplash,

The Importance of Process

As anyone who knows me can attest, I am not a heavy user of expletives. So the fact that I have for years loved, recommended, and even repeated aloud the title of Anne Lamott’s essay, “Shitty First Drafts,” is a testament to the content of the piece, rather than the attention-grabbing title. Lamott’s point is that no one writes anything perfectly (or even acceptably) the first time. In her view, what is important is to get something down, not worrying about what anyone will think of it. Then fix it up on the subsequent drafts.

Lamott is talking about professional writing, but her argument is valid for any kind of writing. And it directly relates to the point I want to make in this post, which is that writing is a process, not an act. It is possible that nowhere is this truer than in a large academic project like a thesis, capstone, or dissertation.

Understanding that writing is a process can bring more order and precision into your writing. It can also give you freedom to relax and create. The key is to understand where you are in the process and, even more important, to allow your writing to be a process. That is, be patient with yourself and with your project.

When I say that writing is a process, I don’t mean that it is like following a recipe, where once you have added the eggs, you’re all done with that part and can move on to the sugar or whatever. Instead, writing is what might be called an iterative process, which, in this non-technical sense, just means you are probably going to have to engage various steps more than once. In general, the larger and more complex your project, the more often you may need to repeat the parts of the process.

Writing is more like making a complicated sauce or preparing a feast than like baking a cake. There’s room for experimentation, adjustment, and iteration. Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash.

This post is part of my summer series on graduate-level writing.

The Writing Process

So, what are the parts of the writing process? You can think about it in different ways, but I think it’s most helpful to divide the process into three parts: prewriting, drafting, and revising. Sometimes you’ll see a five-step process, including research towards the beginning and publishing towards the end. For now, though, we’ll focus on the three central steps. In future posts, I’ll discuss each of those parts, detailing specific activities to help you with your writing process. Next time: Prewriting, a step it’s tempting to skip, but vital for a smooth process and a quality product.

What Is the Well-Ordered Mind?

I have decades of experience teaching, advising, and coaching students at every level. I recently completed my own doctoral journey, and I want to use my experience and background to support other students. I can help with academic skills (like writing!), motivation and goal setting, organization and project planning, and more. Find out more at www.wellorderedacademics.com.