Writing as Process
Be prepared to write. Composition classes at George Mason teach writing as a process. Instructors ask students to use writing not simply as a way of communicating already formulated thoughts but also as a way of discovering, exploring and developing new ideas. On your way to completing a paper, for example, you may go through the processes of discovery, drafting, reading, revising, and editing.

Discovering/Writing to Learn
Many instructors introduce their students to techniques which use writing to trigger thinking. Often, as thinkers, we don't know (or remember) everything that we really do know. Writing helps us to discover what we know, and work out what we need to know. Instructors may begin or end a class with a writing exercise or ask you to prepare to write a paper through a series of exercises.

You may encounter free-writing, where you are asked to write your unedited thoughts on a particular topic, idea, or experience for a set period. This technique can often jump-start an essay or other assignment. Brainstorming is a more focused technique during which you consciously note all your ideas, questions, facts and figures about a topic. Some instructors may ask you to write poems or imagine your experiences as you shift your place in time or space. In writing to learn, you discover your destination (your new ideas) as you write.

Drafting, Reading, and Discussing
You will probably be asked to write at least one preliminary draft of each of your papers during the semester. Why? First, many of our best ideas develop as we write. If you write multiple drafts and a final version of your paper, for example, you gain multiple opportunities to hone your ideas and craft your language. Second, a draft allows you to ask for feedback, to "test out" the paper and see whether it communicates your thoughts to an audience.

Most instructors ask students to read each others' drafts in classroom workshop sessions. You thus gain multiple perspectives on the paper, that of the instructor and that of your peers. Not all of your reviewers will agree about your paper. As a writer, you need to assess their responses and decide which suggestions would help you communicate your ideas most clearly.

Responding with care to a colleague's work also helps you to read your own work more critically. Reviewing gives you practice in deciding where a paper might need rethinking or rewriting and helps you see how revision might clarify a writer's message.

Revising and Editing
Revision is the time when you look at your work from the new perspectives provided by the reviewing workshops. What should stay in the final paper and what should go? Where should you rewrite passages? Is the structure or evidence strong enough?

Most instructors expect you to do more than fix spelling and grammar and tidy up your sentences. (That's editing.) They are usually more interested in what you have learned about your writing and your ideas during the process of thinking, drafting and reviewing. They want to see how you can integrate that knowledge into the final version of your paper. Instructors will usually give you at least a week to revise your paper and prepare a final version.

Writing a Journal
Most ENGL100/101 classes assign a journal as part of the class grade. The journal is usually an informal record of your ideas over the semester. There you can experiment, ask questions, carry on an informal conversation with your instructor, and record your responses to the classroom and wider world around you. Many students find that ideas for papers and projects emerge from their journals and instructors usually suggest a minimum number of entries per week. See How to Keep a Writing Journal for ideas on keeping a journal as part of your writing process.