6.3 Writing the Draft

The first two steps in the writing process–prewriting and organizing–are crucial. If a writer just sits down and starts writing a draft, it is likely to be disorganized and unfocused. The purpose of prewriting and organizing is to get you started, provide a clear direction, generate lots of details, and figure out the best organizational pattern to make your point before putting in a ton of time on drafting. With that start, writing the draft is much easier and the resulting document is clearer and more interesting.

Step 3: Drafting

Drafting is the stage of the writing process when you develop the first complete version of the document. An essay draft will include the following:

• an introduction that stimulates the audience’s interest, tells what the essay is about, and motivates readers to keep reading
• a thesis that presents the main point of the essay
• a logically organized body
  • where each paragraph has a topic sentence that states the main idea of the paragraph, with supporting details (facts, examples, explanations) that develop or explain the topic sentence
• a conclusion that reinforces the thesis and leaves the audience with a feeling of completion

This basic format is valid for most essays, regardless of length, that you will write in college.

Start with the Body

Although many students assume an essay is written from beginning to end in one sitting, most well-written essays are built one section at a time, not necessarily in order, and over several sessions.

Always write the body of your essay first, before the introduction.

This may seem odd. Why write the middle before the beginning? Because the body IS the essay. Think of the introduction and conclusion as an appetizer and dessert for the main course. The body of your essay is the meat, potatoes and vegetables. Besides, how can you write an introduction if you don’t yet know what you are going to introduce? Write the body first.

The body of your essay is where you explain, expand upon, detail, and support your thesis. Each point in your outline can be turned into a topic sentence, which then becomes a paragraph by adding details that clarify and demonstrate your point.

Work on the body of your essay in several separate sessions. You’ll be surprised the kind of changes you want to make to something you wrote yesterday when you look at it again today.

Keep working on the body until it says what you want.

Write the Introduction Next

The introductory paragraph has a very specific job: it attracts the reader’s interest, presents the thesis, and supplies any necessary background information. In a long paper, it might also preview major points.

There are lots of ways to write a good introduction. Read through the body of your essay and think about what you could say to invite your reader in. How could you make the reader curious?  Remember these different options for introductions that we looked at in Ch. 5.3:

• Begin with a broad, general statement of the topic, narrowing to the thesis.
• Start with an idea or a situation the opposite of the one you will develop.
• Convince the readers that the subject applies to them or is something they should know about.
• Use an incident or brief story–something that happened to you or that you heard about.
• Ask questions so the reader thinks about the answers or so you can answer the questions.
• Use a quotation to add someone else’s voice to your own.

Then, Write the Conclusion

Once you have put together your body paragraphs and attached your introduction at the beginning, it is time to write a conclusion. It is vital to put as much effort into the conclusion as you did on the rest of the essay. A conclusion that is unorganized or repetitive can undercut even the best essay.

A conclusion’s job is to wrap the essay up in an attractive package so the reader is left with a good final impression. A strong concluding paragraph brings the paper to a graceful end. We discussed several approaches in Ch. 5.3: philosophize, synthesize, predict. Please review that information.

Add the Title

Titles are a brief and interesting summary of what the document is about. Titles are generally more than one word but no more than several words.

Like the headline in a newspaper or magazine, an essay’s title gives the audience a first peek at the content. If readers like the title, they are likely to keep reading.

Caution: Don’t be too clever. A clear title is better than something creative but weird or confusing.

The best writing goes through multiple drafts before it is complete. The final two steps of the writing process–revising and editing–are crucial to the quality of the final document (and your grade). During the final two steps, you will have the opportunity to make changes to this first draft.

Do not go on to Ch. 6.4 until you really feel you have a solid draft. In fact, even if your draft is great, put it away overnight before you try to revise.