PROCESS ESSAY WRITING

A Process Essay explains how to do something, i.e. it describes some process or procedure. Unless, it is a well-known process, the writer should define the process and make certain, the readers knows what to expect from the paper. In order to write a good process paper one needs to keep in mind the following points:
1. What process is this essay trying to explain? Why is the process important?
2. What does the process affect?
3. Who does the process involve/affect?
4. How long does the process take?
5. What steps does the process comprise?
6. Why is each step of the process important?
7. Can the process use less/more steps? Can the same thing be done in a more efficient manner?
8. Are there any caveats that the reader needs to know to ascertain that the process is smooth-flowing?
The next point is to assess the readers/target audience and the knowledge the target audience needs to possess to understand the process. Since processes of all kinds involve technical knowledge and a logical set of mind, the writer needs to arrange the essay in a way to make it readable by the target audience.
The writer should subsequently, analyze all the steps that make up a given process and explain the rationale for each of them. The reader needs to understand why she/he needs to take a given number of steps and not more or not less.

As with most of the essays one writes in college, topics should be unusual, not mundane or ordinary.  One should not write about topics that everyone has heard about before, for they tend to be boring.  What is more interesting is to take a topic that usually doesn't get top billing when it comes to essay writing.  The essay on doing laundry is an example of what a mundane process is about.  The laundry is certainly not a lofty topic, not something academicians spend lots of time talking about, and it definitely is not rocket science.  Yet part of what will make each student a better writer and a way for one to exercise a sense of creativity and professionalism is practicing one’s writing on unusual topics.  A topic like laundry, proper condom wear, cooking brownies, or changing a car tire present many different and interesting angles into the topic that readers are not likely to expect. It is this angle that will make a student’s unique voice on the topic emerge.

Squeezed between the essay (term paper) introductory paragraph and the concluding paragraphs are the major stages for the process that one is will describe.  These major stages make up the paragraphs in the term paper body.  Therefore, each stage will have at least one paragraph devoted to each particular step in the process/stage described in the term paper.  If the stage is really broad, then 2 paragraphs might be required to develop it.
Once a student figures out the major stages in the process, next she/he will need to sketch out the steps within each stage.  These steps are equivalent to the details that make up different kinds of essay paragraphs.  A college student just needs to remember to be very specific, in order not to omit any essential steps, and to present the steps in sequence.  So the more planning that goes into the process essay, the more successful the end result will be.  It is a good idea to consider the following generic structure.

General Structure of the Process Essay.

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH

• Stage A
• step 1
• step 2
• step 3
• step X
• Stage B
• step 1
• step 2
• step 3
• step Y
• Stage C
• step 1
• step 2
• step 3
• step 4
• step Z

CONCLUSION PARAGRAPH

IMPORTANT: The number of stages and steps in each stage may vary with the topic and the process selected for this term paper.