My Unique Writing Process

My writing process is not that complicated, but it does consist of routine steps. It is a process that is unique to me and my writing style. My writing process begins by reading the assignment/ prompt. I have to read it a couple of times before I decide which direction that I want to go with my paper, and what ideas I want to incorporate. Once I have read the prompt several times, I then write my thesis. I tend to write this thesis on the assignment paper so that I have the assignment and thesis all in the same place. After the thesis, I write an outline of the topics for my paragraphs, based on my thesis. I do this because this way I have a good idea of the direction that my paper is going to go before I write it. In addition, I look through my text, and highlight or underline quotes that I think will fit into my paper. I tend to choose more quotes before I write my paper than I actually include because I do not know which quotes will fit into my paper until I write the paper.
After I have my thesis and basic outline, I get my laptop, iPod, and sit on my bed and just write my paper. Next, after the essay is written, I take a break and walk away from my essay. I take this break because if I were to read my essay through, I would not catch as many errors because my eyes get tired from looking at the computer screen for so long. When I come back to my essay, I read it through and make any necessary corrections, Then, I have a friend and/ or my mom edits it. Once these steps are taken, then it is time for peer review. After peer review, I take into consideration the suggestions of my peers and make the corrections that will enhance my paper.
Each of my papers follows this general process as it has become a routine that fits my writing and organizational habits and abilities.
For the argumentative paper, one change that was made to my general writing process was that I had to do more research before I started writing my rough draft as the paper required a second outside source. For this source, I looked on Academic Search Complete. Another change to the writing process was that I was the only one who edited my paper before peer review. This was because I had read over my paper after I had walked away from it and I was very pleased with it.
For the literary analysis paper, the only change that I made to my general writing process was that I made the web brainstorming sheet in class. I think that this will be a nice addition to my typical writing process because it not only helps me have a general outline of the main topics, but it also includes some more specific details for those ideas. In addition, it allows me to see everything at once, as I can see my topic, main ideas, and details as it starts out general in the middle and then the more that is added to the web, the more specific it gets. I think that I will benefit from this addition to my writing process because I am a visual person, and I think that it will help me visual my paper better as I write it.
In the future, I think that I will only make small additions to my writing process, like the web, as I feel that my writing process works really well for me; but there is always room for improvement!