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who knows you, you can use a kind of short hand writing; you don’t need to explain all the details or use
a formal tone. These are examples of informal writing, as are the entries in your Life Vision Portfolio. The
audience for informal writing is yourself or someone you know fairly well. The topics and the purposes
of information writing vary and though it may not seem like it at the time, informal writing contributes to
the development of your formal writing skills.

Formal Writing

Formal writing includes the college and professional writing mentioned at the beginning of this chapter.
It is meant to be read by someone other than yourself, and it usually has a pre-determined topic, purpose,
and audience. Formal writing is frequently evaluated in some way. Teachers evaluate writing assignments
for grades and admissions counselors evaluate letters of application to the college. Job application letters
are evaluated by employers and articles in journals are evaluated (and sometimes assessed) by a panel of
experts. Most of the writing you do in college will be formal writing; the Writing Methodology in this
chapter will be helpful for any formal assignment, both in college as well as your profession.

Just because a writing assignment is “formal,” does not mean that you have to leave your own voice out
of the assignment. You are, after all, part of the academic conversation. The Writing Methodology will
simply help you to “speak” clearly so that others will be engaged by what you say. In both Chapters 3 and
10, we invited you to “read a lot,” as Stephen King suggested at the beginning of this chapter. Now we are
inviting you to “write a lot!”

The Writing Process

What process do you use for writing college assignments or essays? Does that
process consistently work well for you? At this point you may be asking: What is
a writing process anyway?

A writing process is how writing instructors explain all the ways a writer can move smoothly from a rough
idea to a polished essay. We will explore the general process here, though you may have a few personal
and specific variations. If you are a visual learner, for example, you might actually draw out some ideas on
paper before you begin writing. Or if you learn kinesthetically, you might want to go for a run or a walk
as you are working out ideas. The main concept of the writing process is that it is a process. Instead of
focusing on the final product, give yourself time to think, write a draft, revise, write some more, and edit
your writing. In college classes, you are likely to have the support of one or more peer reviewers as well.
Peer reviewers are classmates who give each other feedback on the drafts of their essays. As a beginning
college writer, it is sometime difficult to know if your topic and purpose are clear to your audience. Peer
reviewers can help you with this, and your peer reviews will help others.

Before we get into the Writing Methodology, take a minute to think about how, when, and where you feel
the most comfortable and productive as a writer. Do you like to write first thing in the morning or late at
night? In your room or in a coffee shop? On a laptop or a pad of paper? All of these variables are part of
your unique writing process. Knowing where you are comfortable writing and then getting comfortable with
writing as a process will save you from a lot of frustration down the road. One last piece of advice: Every
writer, no matter how famous, works through a writing process. Quiet those voices in your head that try to
tell you that other people can sit down and produce a perfect essay in one sitting, effortlessly. If it is true,
those people are exceptionally rare. Listen to your own voice as it explains your writing process. If yours
begins as you gaze upon daffodils, that’s fine.

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