Crash Course in the Writing Process

A 3-minute video on the four major steps of the writing process (prewriting, writing, revising and proofing)

This short 3-minutes video is from Walden University’s Writing Center. It outlines four major steps (prewriting, writing, revising, and proofing) in the writing process. Each step entails several different tasks, such as critical reading and taking notes.

Similar to other crash course videos from Walden University’s Writing Center, the clip is helpful to students who are new to academic writing or want a quick refresher. In particular, this video may be helpful if you are unsure where to start after receiving your writing assignment. It provides some direction because it identifies the different steps and tasks important in writing. You can also use the steps to reflect on what tasks you struggle with and skills you need to develop.

Resource Info

Click below to watch the video or read the transcript. Visit the Walden University’s Writing Center Writing a Paper page for more resources.

Tips & Key Insights

Prewriting is everything you do before you start writing. Key points include: “reviewing the assignment prompt, critically reading the learning resources and/or researching in the Library, taking notes, outlining, and generating ideas.”

Writing involves: writing a thesis statement, organizing ideas in well-developed paragraphs, and citing your sources according to your instructors’ style requirements. The video mentions that students often find that it’s helpful to write from an outline.

Revising refers to reviewing your writing for larger changes about ideas and sentence-level changes about word choice. It may be useful to revise your writing in stages, making the big comprehension and organization changes first. Then, you can go back and make changes to individual sentences.

Prewriting is everything you do before you start writing. Key points include: “reviewing the assignment prompt, critically reading the learning resources and/or researching in the Library, taking notes, outlining, and generating ideas.”

Writing involves: writing a thesis statement, organizing ideas in well-developed paragraphs, and citing your sources according to your instructors’ style requirements. The video mentions that students often find that it’s helpful to write from an outline.

Revising refers to reviewing your writing for larger changes about ideas and sentence-level changes about word choice. It may be useful to revise your writing in stages, making the big comprehension and organization changes first. Then, you can go back and make changes to individual sentences.