Drafting techniques
The transition from planning to drafting can be challenging. Writers who find themselves stuck are sometimes in the awkward position of knowing what they want to say, but not knowing how. Your task in writing a draft is to get the words down on the page. It is much easier to revise a first draft than it is to write it in the first place. Write your draft as quickly as possible. Do not concern yourself with the finer points of style and mechanics. You will have time to work on those aspects of your draft later (and this will be the focus of the latter part of this module). Trying to get it all perfect the first time is the surest way of developing a case of writer’s block. Following are a few suggestions for how to get started.
Work with structure
Narrow your structure down to the main idea of each paragraph. You can do this by working with the headings and subheadings you have already identified, and refining them further. By the time you get down to this paragraph level, you will have a much clearer idea of what you want to say and in what order you want to say it. Once you know that, develop each of the main ideas into a paragraph.
Avoid writer’s block
Write the sections that are easiest first; then, write the more challenging ones. Sometimes it can be difficult to start at the very beginning and work your way to the end. That is how you want your reader to go through your report or proposal, but it doesn’t mean you have to write that way. Similarly, if you are working on one section and you become stuck, move on to another one. You will spend your time more productively when you are actively writing rather than struggling to start or finish a section.
In this part of the module, we focus on the body of the report or proposal you are writing. Although there are some differences between reports and proposals, both rely on clearly-written paragraphs and logical flow of information to be successful. There are some elements that apply mostly to reports or proposals, not both, and we have identified those. Later on in the module, you will look at drafting and revising specific components of the document, such as the introduction, conclusion, recommendations, and summaries.