THE 5 MAIN ELEMENTS OF WRITING - LITERATURE - 2025

The most important writing elements are planning, organizing, developing, editing, and proofreading. An easy way to remember these five elements is through the acronym POWER: planning, organizing, developing, editing and reviewing.

The writing goes beyond the mechanical elements of writing (spelling, components of a sentence and a paragraph, among others). The mechanical elements are also necessary, obviously, since it depends on them that the text is adequate in the structural and grammatical fields.

However, knowledge of these rules and regulations is not enough to produce well-organized speeches, such as essays, and dissertations, among others.

The elements of writing can be divided into three stages: before, during and after writing. Planning and organization are the steps prior to writing the text, which allow it to be structured appropriately.

The development corresponds to the during, because it is here where the ideas are expressed in writing. Finally, editing and proofreading are subsequent processes, in which the text is corrected and the finishing touches are made.

The 5 most important elements of writing

There are five elements that guarantee good writing: planning, organizing, developing, editing and reviewing. These elements constitute a system and occur in the order in which they were mentioned.

1- Planning

Planning is the first element that must be taken into account when writing and, therefore, constitutes the first approach to the creation of the text.

When planning, the first thing to take into account is the issue to be handled and the point of view from which it will be treated. This is done in order to delimit the content to be handled. It also indicates what the objective of the text will be.

After having defined the topic and having established the objective of the text, we proceed to brainstorm. From this technique, the organization will begin.

2- Organization

The organization, together with the planning, is one of the elements that precedes the writing of the text. At this stage, the data obtained through brainstorming are taken into account.

This data is filtered in light of the specific topic being worked on: data that directly relates to the topic is kept, while the rest is reserved for future research.

After this, said information is organized through hierarchical relationships, cause and effect, similarity and difference, or through any other system that adapts to the text that is being written. The main thing is that the ideas flow naturally and that their order makes sense.

This organization is materialized in a text plan, which is a sketch of the final work. In general, this type of plan contains the thesis of the speech to be written, as well as the main and secondary ideas of each paragraph of the text.

In addition to creating a text plan, the necessary research is carried out during the organization stage to transform the created outline into a text itself.

3- Development

Development is a decisive element in writing, since this is where most of the written work occurs. What needs to be done to ensure a good development is to produce a text that incorporates the ideas of the planning.

During development, it should be borne in mind that the text that will be obtained at the end of this stage is not the finished text. In addition to this, it is good to take into account the following aspects:

- The objective of the text to be written.

- The audience for whom the text is written.

- The inclusion of the ideas of the text plan, as well as any other relevant ideas that may arise while writing.

- The grammar and spelling rules of the language in which it is being written.

4- Edition

The edition is the element that allows making changes to the text that has been previously written. As stated, the development text is nowhere near the final text.

The edition includes the following aspects:

- The grammar.

- The correct spelling.

- The use of punctuation marks.

- The coherence and clarity of ideas.

- The cohesion between the paragraphs.

- The choice of vocabulary and the suitability for the audience and the period in which it is written.

Likewise, at the time of editing, the editor should ask if the objective that had been established in the planning was duly fulfilled, if there are ideas that are too much or if there are ideas that were not fully developed.

Editing can be done by the same person who did the development or it can be done by another individual. Each of these types of editions has advantages and disadvantages.

When the editor is the one who does the editing, he has the advantage of knowing the subject because he has researched it in order to develop it. On the other hand, the disadvantage lies in the fact that it is difficult to detect the failures themselves, especially when the work has been very demanding.

When someone else does the edit, you have the advantage of perspective. Since this person has not been involved in the writing process, it will be easier for them to point out mistakes. The disadvantage is that the editor may not have knowledge of the subject matter.

5- Review

Proofreading is the last element necessary for good writing. This process is done based on the observations made in the edition. Through review, the writer can consider the quality of the content and the clarity of the writing.

Generally speaking, this element includes using critical comments and suggestions to reorganize the text, polish up imperfections, make final corrections, and rewrite the final text.

References

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