Writing Process and Structure | Section 3 – The Writing Center

In this section, you will find information about the writing process and structure. These pages are designed to guide you through the writing process from getting started with your paper to editing it. They also will aid you in structuring your draft, and you can learn about writing common essay components in the “drafting your paper” section. Whether you’re new to academic writing or well-practiced, these pages will help you think through the various stages of composing your draft.

List of Topics

Getting Started with Your Paper

Creating an Argument

Drafting Your Paper

Revising Your Paper

Finishing Your Paper

Writing Collaboratively

Collaborative and Group Writing

In this handbook, you will find many instructional materials we’ve developed for our Writing Center teaching.

However, there are limitations to these materials. Assignments vary, and different instructors want different things from student writers. Outside of classroom settings, the context for your writing will inform the expectations for your project. Therefore, the advice here may or may not apply to your writing situation.

Finally, handouts can give only a fraction of the customized guidance that an individual conference with a Writing Center instructor can provide. If you have questions about the information in our handouts, please make an appointment to work with a Writing Center instructor.

Handbook Sections

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, which lets you remix, adapt, and build upon the Writer’s Handbook non-commercially, as long as you credit the University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center and license your new creations under identical terms.