Writing a first draft

Once you have a clear idea of your structure, it’s time to produce a full first draft.

This process can be quite non-linear. For example, it’s reasonable to begin writing
with the main body of the text, saving the introduction for later once you have a
clearer idea of the text you’re introducing.

To give structure to your writing, use your outline as a framework. Make sure that
each paragraph has a clear central focus that relates to your overall argument.

Hover over the parts of the example, from a literary analysis essay on Mansfield
Park, to see how a paragraph is constructed.

Example of a paragraph

The character of Mrs. Norris provides another example of the performance of

morals in Mansfield Park. Early in the novel, she is described in scathing terms as
one who knows “how to dictate liberality to others: but her love of money was
equal to her love of directing” (p. 7). This hypocrisy does not interfere with her self-
conceit as “the most liberal-minded sister and aunt in the world” (p. 7). Mrs. Norris
is strongly concerned with appearing charitable, but unwilling to make any
personal sacrifices to accomplish this. Instead, she stage-manages the charitable
actions of others, never acknowledging that her schemes do not put her own time
or money on the line. In this way, Austen again shows us a character whose
morally upright behavior is fundamentally a performance—for whom the goal of
doing good is less important than the goal of seeming good.

When you move onto a different topic, start a new paragraph. Use
appropriate transition words and phrases to show the connections between your
ideas.

The goal at this stage is to get a draft completed, not to make everything perfect as
you go along. Once you have a full draft in front of you, you’ll have a clearer idea of
where improvement is needed.

Give yourself a first draft deadline that leaves you a reasonable length of time to
revise, edit, and proofread before the final deadline. For a longer text like a
dissertation, you and your supervisor might agree on deadlines for individual
chapters.
Step 4: Redrafting and revising
Now it’s time to look critically at your first draft and find potential areas for
improvement. Redrafting means substantially adding or removing content, while
revising involves making changes to structure and reformulating arguments.

Evaluating the first draft

It can be difficult to look objectively at your own writing. Your perspective might be
positively or negatively biased—especially if you try to assess your work shortly
after finishing it.

It’s best to leave your work alone for at least a day or two after completing the first
draft. Come back after a break to evaluate it with fresh eyes; you’ll spot things you
wouldn’t have otherwise.

When evaluating your writing at this stage, you’re mainly looking for larger issues
such as changes to your arguments or structure. Starting with bigger concerns
saves you time—there’s no point perfecting the grammar of something you end up
cutting out anyway.

Right now, you’re looking for:

 Arguments that are unclear or illogical.

 Areas where information would be better presented in a different order.
 Passages where additional information or explanation is needed.
 Passages that are irrelevant to your overall argument.

For example, in our paper on Mansfield Park, we might realize the argument would
be stronger with more direct consideration of the protagonist Fanny Price, and
decide to try to find space for this in paragraph IV.

For some assignments, you’ll receive feedback on your first draft from a supervisor
or peer. Be sure to pay close attention to what they tell you, as their advice will
usually give you a clearer sense of which aspects of your text need improvement.

Redrafting and revising

Once you’ve decided where changes are needed, make the big changes first, as
these are likely to have knock-on effects on the rest. Depending on what your text
needs, this step might involve:

 Making changes to your overall argument.

  Reordering the text.
 Cutting parts of the text.
 Adding new text.

You can go back and forth between writing, redrafting and revising several times
until you have a final draft that you’re happy with.

Think about what changes you can realistically accomplish in the time you have. If
you are running low on time, you don’t want to leave your text in a messy state
halfway through redrafting, so make sure to prioritize the most important changes.