The Writing Process

Five stages that do not run in order.

The writing process is usually taught as five stages: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing. The stages are real, but they are recursive. Writers return to planning in the middle of a draft and rewrite whole sections after editing has begun.

Revising is not editing

This is the distinction students most often miss. Revising changes content and structure: what the piece argues, in what order, with what evidence. Editing corrects surface features: grammar, spelling, punctuation. Editing a paragraph that revision would have deleted is wasted work, which is why revision comes first.