The 10 steps are straightforward and teach you a writing process used by professional writers. After you’ve gone through it, you’ll be able to do it on your own - an effective skill you’ll use over and over again at college.
Some students send their essays to friends for feedback. This often leads to friends re-writing parts of your essay without gaining any valuable input. Others use consultants or teachers that are overly “hands-on” which results in the essay sounding more like an adult. My process teaches you how to review your own essay, applying techniques used by professional writers, which helps you to come up with your own ideas.
In the early steps, you’ll focus on brainstorming, developing a theme, and collecting details. You won’t be concerned about finding that perfect word or catchy first sentence. We’re more concerned with generating lots of good ideas and developing a theme. In these stages, we aren’t worried about everything flowing quite right. Most students are surprised to learn that the first draft isn’t even written until step 5! That might seem crazy, but laying the groundwork is critical before you can achieve a great essay. This is where many students get it wrong - jumping in and writing before really understanding the process. The content is king in the rough draft!
The next steps dig into essay structure. You’ll want to focus on the flow to make sure your essay makes sense. At this step, you’ll examine your essay from different angles and approach revision differently than before. Instead of viewing the essay as something that needs to be fixed, students see their essay with fresh eyes to express themselves in a totally new way.
The last steps involve final edits and proofreading to make the essay really shine. At the end of step 10, your essay will be finished and ready to go!