Name
Purdue University Globle
CM107 College Composition I
Prof. Name
Date
The five stages of the writing process are pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and submitting. Each stage has a different purpose: pre-writing helps plan ideas, drafting turns those ideas into written content, revising improves meaning and organization, editing corrects language and mechanical errors, and submitting prepares the final document for its intended audience. Understanding what happens at each stage can help students answer CM107 writing questions more accurately and improve their academic writing.
The writing process provides a structured approach for developing a piece of writing from an initial idea to a completed document. Although writers may move back and forth between stages, the process is commonly organized into five primary stages:
Pre-writing – planning and organizing ideas before writing.
Drafting – turning ideas into sentences and paragraphs.
Revising – improving ideas, organization, development, and clarity.
Editing – correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other mechanical errors.
Submitting – preparing and presenting the completed work according to the required guidelines.
Recognizing the purpose of each stage is especially useful when answering questions that ask which writing activity belongs to a particular part of the writing process.
Submitting is the final stage of the writing process. At this point, the writer prepares the completed document for an instructor, assessment, publication platform, website, or other intended audience.
The submitting stage can involve checking the final document against assignment requirements and making presentation or formatting adjustments. Depending on the assignment, a writer may need to apply a specific academic style, include visuals, or prepare paragraphs for an online platform.
Tasks that can belong to the submitting stage include:
Formatting the document in APA style when required.
Including appropriate images when required.
Formatting paragraphs for online publication or submission.
Checking that the document meets the required submission guidelines.
The important distinction is that submitting focuses on preparing the finished work for its intended destination, rather than developing or correcting the underlying ideas.
Revising focuses on improving the ideas, content, organization, development, and overall effectiveness of a document. Revision is broader than proofreading because it can involve making substantial changes to what the writer has said and how those ideas are presented.
During revision, a writer may add information that is missing, remove material that is unnecessary, or rearrange sentences and paragraphs to make the document easier to understand.
Revision may include:
Adding relevant information or supporting details.
Removing unnecessary or repetitive content.
Rearranging sentences or paragraphs.
Improving organization and logical flow.
Strengthening explanations, arguments, or examples.
Clarifying ideas for the intended audience.
The correct revising activities are:
Add content.
Remove content.
Both activities can improve the substance and effectiveness of a draft.
The correct answers are:
Add supporting details to improve a paragraph.
Remove content from a draft.
Adding details can strengthen an underdeveloped idea, while removing unnecessary material can make the writing more focused.
The correct answers are:
Add content to a document.
Remove content from a draft.
These activities change and improve the content rather than simply correcting surface-level errors.
The correct answers are:
Rearrange sentences.
Add missing content.
Rearranging information can improve organization, while adding missing material can make an explanation more complete.
Drafting is the stage in which writers turn their planned ideas into a first version of the document. The goal is to develop ideas into sentences and paragraphs rather than produce a perfect final copy.
During drafting, writers can expand an outline, develop body paragraphs, introduce supporting evidence, and create connections between ideas. Grammar and spelling can be addressed more thoroughly during the editing stage.
Drafting commonly involves:
Turning planned ideas into sentences.
Developing paragraphs.
Expanding an outline into a complete document.
Adding examples, facts, and evidence.
Developing explanations and supporting arguments.
The correct answers are:
Start writing out his ideas.
Focus on the ideas he wants to cover.
These activities represent drafting because Isaac is developing his planned ideas into written content.
The following examples represent the drafting stage because the writers are developing new content:
Holly composed her second paragraph using statistics and a personal anecdote.
Marley developed another paragraph using information from a research source.
Debbie developed another body paragraph with historical facts and examples.
Each example involves creating or expanding written material.
A support sentence provides information that explains, develops, illustrates, or supports the main idea introduced by a topic sentence.
Support sentences are important because they give readers the details needed to understand a paragraph. Depending on the subject, supporting information may include facts, examples, statistics, explanations, descriptions, or evidence from credible sources.
For the scenarios involving Victoria, Elizabeth, and Brooklyn, the appropriate sentence type is:
Support Sentence
When identifying a support sentence, look for a sentence that develops the paragraph’s main idea rather than introducing the overall topic.
Editing focuses on correcting errors in the written document after the writer has developed and revised the content. Unlike revision, which addresses ideas and organization, editing concentrates primarily on the correctness and mechanics of the writing.
Common editing tasks include checking grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, sentence completeness, and subject-verb agreement.
Editing may include:
Correcting grammar.
Fixing spelling errors.
Checking punctuation.
Correcting capitalization.
Checking subject-verb agreement.
Identifying missing words.
Correcting incomplete or incorrect sentences.
Holly carefully reads each sentence to identify missing words and punctuation errors.
This is editing because she is correcting mechanical problems in the existing text.
Kelly reads carefully to check for complete sentences and correct spelling.
These are editing tasks because they focus on the accuracy and correctness of the written language.
Julia checks to make sure that subjects and verbs agree.
Subject-verb agreement is a grammar issue, making this an editing activity.
Barrett checks each sentence for punctuation and spelling.
Both are standard editing concerns.
Nic checks each sentence for punctuation and spelling, including the spelling of each dive location.
Again, the focus is on correcting language and mechanical errors rather than changing the ideas.
Pre-writing is the planning stage that takes place before a writer develops a full draft. It helps establish what the writer wants to communicate, why the topic matters, and how the information can be organized.
Pre-writing can include reviewing assignment instructions, identifying the purpose and audience, brainstorming, researching a topic, creating an outline, or organizing ideas in a mind map.
Pre-writing may involve:
Reviewing assignment instructions.
Identifying the purpose of the writing.
Considering the intended audience.
Brainstorming ideas.
Conducting preliminary research.
Creating an outline.
Organizing ideas before drafting.
The correct answers are:
Identify assignment guidelines.
Identify the purpose of the paragraph.
Both activities help the writer understand the requirements and establish a clear direction before drafting.
The following activity does not describe pre-writing:
Maria corrected the spelling of each dormitory and classroom building.
Correcting spelling is an editing activity rather than a pre-writing activity.
The key distinction is that pre-writing happens before the main draft is developed, whereas spelling correction focuses on improving an existing piece of writing.
A useful way to answer writing-process questions is to focus on the action being performed.
| Writing Stage | Main Purpose | Typical Activities |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-writing | Plan ideas | Brainstorming, researching, outlining, identifying purpose |
| Drafting | Create content | Writing sentences, developing paragraphs, adding ideas |
| Revising | Improve content | Adding, removing, rearranging, and strengthening ideas |
| Editing | Correct errors | Grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization |
| Submitting | Finalize and present | Formatting, adding required visuals, preparing the final document |
A simple way to remember the difference is:
Plan → Write → Improve → Correct → Submit
This sequence can make it easier to distinguish between similar activities when answering CM107 questions.
Revising and editing are often confused because both occur after a draft has been created. However, they serve different purposes.
Revising changes the content and organization of the writing. A writer may add information, remove unnecessary ideas, rearrange paragraphs, or strengthen an explanation.
Editing corrects errors in the existing writing. A writer may correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, capitalization, and subject-verb agreement.
For example, adding another supporting example is revision, while correcting a misspelled word is editing.
Pre-writing happens before the writer creates the main draft. It involves planning, brainstorming, researching, and organizing ideas.
Drafting occurs when those planned ideas are turned into actual sentences and paragraphs.
For example, creating an outline is pre-writing, while using that outline to write a body paragraph is drafting.
Understanding the purpose of each stage is more useful than simply memorizing the names of the stages. When presented with a scenario, identify what the writer is actually doing.
Pre-writing: Plans and organizes ideas.
Drafting: Turns ideas into written content.
Revising: Adds, removes, rearranges, or strengthens content.
Editing: Corrects grammar, spelling, punctuation, and mechanics.
Submitting: Prepares the completed document for its required audience or platform.
Support sentences: Provide details, evidence, examples, or explanations that develop a topic sentence.
The five stages are pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and submitting. Each stage serves a different purpose, from planning the initial ideas to preparing the final document.
Pre-writing helps writers plan and organize their ideas before creating a draft. Activities can include brainstorming, researching, outlining, identifying the purpose, and reviewing assignment requirements.
Drafting involves turning planned ideas into sentences and paragraphs. Writers develop their ideas, create body paragraphs, and incorporate examples and evidence into the first version of their work.
Revising improves the content, organization, clarity, and development of a document. Writers may add information, remove unnecessary content, rearrange sentences, or strengthen explanations.
Editing focuses on correcting language and mechanical errors. Common editing tasks include correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and subject-verb agreement.
Submitting is the final preparation stage. Depending on the assignment, it may include applying APA formatting, adding required images or visuals, formatting content for online publication, and checking submission requirements.
A support sentence develops the main idea introduced by a topic sentence. It can provide explanations, examples, facts, statistics, descriptions, or evidence.
Revising improves ideas and organization, while editing corrects language and mechanical errors. For example, adding supporting details is revision, whereas correcting spelling is editing.
Look at the action described in the scenario. Planning and brainstorming indicate pre-writing; creating paragraphs indicates drafting; changing content or organization indicates revising; correcting grammar or spelling indicates editing; and final formatting or preparation indicates submitting.
The writing process moves through planning, drafting, revising, editing, and final preparation.
Pre-writing helps writers establish purpose, audience, ideas, and organization.
Drafting transforms planned ideas into sentences and paragraphs.
Revising focuses on content, organization, clarity, and development.
Editing focuses on grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and sentence-level correctness.
A support sentence develops or explains the idea introduced by a topic sentence.
Final submission may require formatting the document according to academic or publication guidelines.
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://apastyle.apa.org/products/publication-manual-7th-edition
Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). The writing process. Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/index.html
The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (n.d.). The writing process. https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/the-writing-process/
University of Washington, The Odegaard Writing and Research Center. (n.d.). The writing process. https://depts.washington.edu/owrc/
