Definition of Writing

Writing is a combination of process and product. The process is referred to the act of gathering ideas and working with them until they are presented in a manner that is polished and comprehensible to readers.[1] However, for many people writing is a difficult skill. Unlike speaking that is a familiar everyday activity, writing is something people do only rarely. 

Another difficulty in writing is how to organize and sequence our ideas. Writing involves more than putting sentences together in a language that is grammatically correct and appropriate. The ideas in those sentences need to be organized in a logical way so that they make a coherent text which is easy for the reader to follow.[2]

In writing, people frequently have more time to think than they do in oral activities. They can go through what they know in their minds, and even consult dictionaries, grammar books, or other reference material to help them. Alice Oshima stated:

Writing is a progressive activity. This means that when you first write something down, you have already been thinking about what you are going to say and how you are going to say it. Then after you have finished writing, you read over what you have written and made changes and corrections. Writing is never a one-step action; it is a process that has several steps.

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1. Caroline T Linse, Practical English Language Teaching: Young Learners, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005), p. 98.
2. Jill Hadfield and Charles Hadfield, Introduction to Teaching English, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 117.

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