When it comes to college writing classes, most students either love or hate them. Writing is a creative subject, by nature. Some students get lost without structure, and others thrive in the freedom.
While a lot of the artistry and expressiveness that accompanies stellar papers comes more naturally and intuitively to certain students, many aspects of strong college writing are skills that can be developed by anyone.
Unlike the technical and cut-throat nature of math and science courses, college humanities courses are more liberal and require personal sapience. Again, depending on the student and their personality, this can be a yay or a nay.
Regardless, the point is that you can excel in these writing courses and produce quality papers despite your natural propensities. There are key steps in the creative process that anyone can implement to simplify and enhance their work.
As a student majoring in both the humanities (philosophy) and STEM (neuroscience & biochemistry), I’m able to compare and contrast the nature of the courses in both domains. Hence, I came to the conclusion that while they may be fundamentally and structurally different, the same student can gain mastery in both areas equally- because of the steps I am about to share with you.
Capture
1. Study the Prompt
Before you put pen to paper to brainstorm or initiate your writing, I want you to study the prompt or topic you are given. If your professor is generous enough, they will give you a rubric of their expectations and the accompanying score points.
Your job before you start writing is to understand exactly what is expected of you, in terms of both content and presentation.
The reason for this is that no matter how glorious your writing is, if it does not meet the expected criteria or address the prompt explicitly, then it is in-effect not a good piece. This effect may be practically worsened by it earning less points. Therefore, the first key of good writing is clarity and directness in achieving the intended aims.
2. Read Before You Write
In most college writing courses, you are given material to read on which your prompt (and consequently, your writing) is based. In this step, I want you to think of these readings not as a time-consuming chore, but as a launching pad for deep diving (your writing).
Whether you read from sources provided by your instructor or choose to do your own research on prompt-related material, the information and/or insights you encounter will stimulate the flow of ideas in your mind.
You can take this step at face-value (i.e. simply consume external information to provoke your own thoughts) or you can take it a step further and methodically keep an account of the relevant and/or interesting ideas you come across.
If you choose the latter method (recording relevant insights), you will have readily available ideas when you come to draft your essay. Personally, I have a saved chart that I use for this phase of almost all of my writing. It includes a column for a citation of the source (for later references), the actual quote/insight, and my own thoughts on it the moment I read it.
This is a simple, yet effective way to capture your insights and also have them on hand to easily plug them into your essay later if you so choose.
3. Linger & Ruminate
This step is one that is often overlooked. Many students do it unconsciously, and often refer to it as “productive procrastination.” To fully galvanize its power, one must do it consciously and intentionally. Specifically, it should be done in exactly this phase of the writing process (preparation phase).
Taking time to contemplate the ideas you gathered and letting your brain chew on them before you begin actively synthesizing is crucial for quality writing. This can come in the form of talking to friends or taking time to do anything else away from the writing assignment.
Though this may seem like a waste of time, rest assured that your brain is working in the background to process and re-form the ideas into your own unique perspective. Additionally, taking time away from the topic will allow you to encounter other ideas that may influence your writing for the better.
Synthesize
4. Outline the Essay
Coming back afresh to the prompt at hand, you will need to start putting those floating ideas into proper, cohesive points to address. The outline is the skeleton of captured ideas around which you build your writing.
It is a skeleton, indeed, but it need not be a rigid one. If you aren’t sure about the order in which you want to address points, that is completely okay. If you’re not sure if you want to add or discard other points, that is also okay. This is simply a rough guide for what your essay will entail and how you foresee your paper to flow.
5. Cross Reference Outline With Prompt
Again, the most important aspect of a well-written college essay is one that addresses all parts of the prompt. Just because you took time to familiarize yourself with the prompt beforehand does not mean that the content of your essay will retain or reflect your understanding of the assignment.
Because of this, you need to check that what you have in the outline so far aligns with expectations. Missing points due to not addressing certain aspects of the prompt or not meeting clearly denoted standards is an act of negligence. The bare minimum is giving due diligence to the criteria of the assignment.
6. Draft the Essay
Not to sound too morbid, but now it is time to put some flesh on your skeleton. The motto of this step is: just do it. There is no one perfect way to skin a cat (ew, why would anyone do that anyways?!), so do not try to make a science out of your approach to a first draft. Just write.
In my experience, I think this is the one step in the creative process that students struggle with the most. It can be difficult to try to think of the most captivating hook to an intro or a banger of a conclusion, but who said you have to write a first draft as such?
Perfectionism can be a real hindrance to this step. This is why it is important to be at ease with messy, ugly, or unsatisfying writing. Your only goal should be to write something. Once you have a substantial body of coherent sentences, then you can start manipulating them.
Reflect
7. Edit the Essay
This is the final step of the writing process, and it the step where you can be as finicky as your little heart desires. In fact, I encourage you to be as meticulous and attentive as a seagull watching its prey.
Once the substance of your essay has been laid down, the details must be attended to. This is where you score the last 10-20% of the points. You can now whole-heartedly fuss about the hook of your intro and crafting a mic-dropping conclusion
Two bonus tips for this editing step: 1) recruit a friend and 2) recruit a thesaurus. If you truly want to take the presentation of your writing to the next level, you must have another pair of seagull eyes pry your paper. Whether you choose to opt for a live human or an AI tool to help you make final edits, you will be so grateful to have the enhancing adjustments.
Due to the national declining vocabulary, having a thesaurus on hand is an invaluable addition to the overall presentation of your writing. Not only will you learn more vocab from exchanging common, overused words and phrases to better suited and more apt words, but you will also gain credibility with your audience (mainly your professor and peers).
On the topic of credibility, the surest way get that off the bat, is to adopt the tone and style of the source materials that you read at the beginning to develop your ideas. I understand that this is advanced x 100, so if it is not intuitive or authentic to your voice, then drop this tip completely.
The important thing is to be painstakingly thorough in your review and final edits, and to not be lazy with adjustments, even if it implies going back to an earlier step and starting over. Be ready to go through the whole process over and over to produce one quality paper…rinse and repeat, on and on.
Conclusion
My friend, I hope you found the Capture, Synthesize, and Reflect framework helpful. With this guide by your side, you can truly attack any writing assignment, from the simplest 5-paragraph essay to a PhD thesis. By recognizing that a writing assignment is a process, not a task, you will put yourself in a much better place to approach and complete it.
As such, you must give yourself ample time and plan accordingly. Furthermore, you must notify or prepare your resources (people and tools) in advance, so that they are aware and/or ready at your convenience.
Lastly, you must be patient. Oh, how you must be patient. Quality work isn’t produced on a whim, no matter the efficacy of the producer. It also isn’t a once-and-done kind of deal. You must be intentional and dedicated, heart and soul, to every step of the creative process. Happy writing, my friend!