Writing a Rough Draft
Cassie Ferguson
Lesson One The rough draft helps you to put together all your ideas and then sort them out. It is your first step toward showing an audience how much you know about a topic. Almost certainly, you will add or delete and sometimes even rewrite your draft several times before you come up with your final version. Writing a rough draft is quite easy if you follow a few simple steps. First, think about your topic long enough and hard enough to generate as many ideas on the subject as you can. As these ideas develop, note them down on a piece of paper. This process is also known as "brainstorming." Next, review these ideas and group together ideas that are related in a meaningful way in order to insure you’re following the thesis. Follow this up by arranging the ideas of each group into a logical sequence. When you have a list of ideas grouped in a sequence, the structure of your essay will begin to appear. At this stage you will find that you may want to add more detail or delete what you think is superfluous or repetitive. Finally, proofread sentence by sentence. Lastly, after stepping away from the paper for a day or two revisit proofreading to be certain you haven’t skipped over any grammatical or spelling errors. It is important to not feel constricted to a step-by-step approach, rather allow the steps to overlap one another. It is an ongoing process of rethinking. The process of writing is a series of steps that produce change or development. You will invest a substantial amount of time and thought in your draft. Don’t settle for a draft that’s incomplete or rushed but remember that it does not have to be perfect. It’s nothing other than a place to
Lesson One The rough draft helps you to put together all your ideas and then sort them out. It is your first step toward showing an audience how much you know about a topic. Almost certainly, you will add or delete and sometimes even rewrite your draft several times before you come up with your final version. Writing a rough draft is quite easy if you follow a few simple steps. First, think about your topic long enough and hard enough to generate as many ideas on the subject as you can. As these ideas develop, note them down on a piece of paper. This process is also known as "brainstorming." Next, review these ideas and group together ideas that are related in a meaningful way in order to insure you’re following the thesis. Follow this up by arranging the ideas of each group into a logical sequence. When you have a list of ideas grouped in a sequence, the structure of your essay will begin to appear. At this stage you will find that you may want to add more detail or delete what you think is superfluous or repetitive. Finally, proofread sentence by sentence. Lastly, after stepping away from the paper for a day or two revisit proofreading to be certain you haven’t skipped over any grammatical or spelling errors. It is important to not feel constricted to a step-by-step approach, rather allow the steps to overlap one another. It is an ongoing process of rethinking. The process of writing is a series of steps that produce change or development. You will invest a substantial amount of time and thought in your draft. Don’t settle for a draft that’s incomplete or rushed but remember that it does not have to be perfect. It’s nothing other than a place to