Drafts help writers put their thoughts and ideas together. Writing a draft is perhaps the most challenging step in writing a complex document. Many writers find writing drafts difficult for many reasons. Some may find knowing where and how to start demanding, while others may find putting their ideas into words difficult.
When making your draft, always remember that a rough draft is a long way from your finished document. It is okay for this process to take time. Many people forget that everyone is free to edit and revise their drafts if they are not satisfied with how they turned out. This chapter will discuss the basics of forming your draft. It will also discuss the things you need to consider when writing your first draft, from document purposes and requirements to fonts and writing styles.
The drafting process comprises four steps.
- Step 1: Confirm the information is cohesive and satisfies document purpose and requirements.
- Step 2: Develop draft document to communicate data, information and knowledge according to organisational policies and procedures.
- Step 3: Identify gaps in data, information and knowledge and collect additional material from relevant sources, if required.
- Step 4: Draft text according to document purpose and requirements.
We will look at each of these steps in detail in this topic.
Before you begin writing your draft, ensure that the information you gathered is cohesive, makes sense and satisfies the purpose and requirements of your document. This includes:
- using relevant and credible sources of information
- confirming the information is cohesive.
Let us look at each of these.
Using relevant and credible sources of information
For some documents, you will only need internal organisational data and information. For other documents such as a business case, you may need to support your document by referring to external data. It is essential to obtain your material from relevant and credible sources.
Relevance
A relevant source has the following characteristics. It should:
- support the topic.
- contain recent information.
- contain complete information.
Credibility
Credibility refers to the level of the authenticity or reliability of the source of information you may use when writing complex documents. Credible sources of information include:
- material published within the last ten years
- academic databases (JSTOR, Elsevier, Science Direct)
- material from Google Scholar
- research articles written by respected and well-known authors
- trusted websites (.edu, .gov, .ac)
The following video will explain more about academic journals, and how to use a database.
What is Google Scholar
Not everyone has access to academic databases and they may not be required for your document. However, if you do not have access to academic databases but require academic research for your document, Google Scholar is an alternative. Google Scholar allows you to search scholarly articles that are available online. These works are usually protected by copyright, but you can link to them and access many of them for free. Even if an article is not available, you may find the full text for free online. The following short video explains how to use Google Scholar for research purposes.
Confirming information is cohesive
Now that you have gathered the information you are confident is credible, the next step is to confirm its cohesiveness. This is crucial because it helps you make sure that the information you gathered fits together and can be easily understood. Ask yourself the following questions to help you determine if the information you gathered is coherent.
Will this information be useful?
- Is it relevant to my task?
- Does it relate to my topic?
- Does it help me answer a question or solve a problem?
How understandable is this information?
- If I find it difficult to understand, do I have to use it?
- Can I choose other information that I do understand?
- Does it provide specific information?
Do I really need to use this information?
- Is it essential information?
- How does it help me write my document?
- Is it the best example or most relevant piece of evidence? Do I have better material?
How reliable is this information?
- Does this material come from a reputable and unbiased source?
- Is the author an acknowledged expert in the field?11
Always make sure that the information you obtain is relevant, credible and cohesive. Getting information from credible sources can help you separate opinions from facts. It also allows you to stay focused on the problem by making sure your ideas are consistent.
Scenario
Margaret is keen to open a new fitness centre in a regional area. Her market research shows that the demographic is an aging population. She has informally approached a local physiotherapist about working together to provide exercise, kinesiology and physiotherapy services based in her gym. The physiotherapist is interested and has asked Margaret to submit a formal business proposal. He also indicates that stroke rehabilitation and cardiovascular diseases are a priority in the region. She wants to make sure the data she will include in her report is accurate and believable, but she is not sure how to evaluate what she finds on the internet.
Draft writing is one of the most important steps in the writing process. Drafts are important because they allow you to formally gather your ideas and information. They help you assess your topic's feasibility and whether more research should be done. They basically inform you of what you have, do not have, and what still needs to be accomplished in writing your document.
When writing your draft, there are a number of actions you need to take. Let us look at each of these.
Create a content overview
As mentioned earlier, creating a content plan is always the first step in creating a draft and writing your document. A content plan helps you stay focused on your goals. It reminds you of what you need to accomplish, and it provides you with a guide for the topics you will be writing about.
When creating your content overview, remember the following tips.
- Arrange your headings and ideas properly: Your headings provide you with a guide on what to write in a specific section of your text. Always ensure that your headings flow smoothly and that there are no gaps in the way your ideas are presented. They must always reflect how you intend to use your ideas in your document.
- Make sure that your headings follow your document's purpose: A good content overview always sticks to the main topic being discussed. That being said, your headers and subheaders should always explain your topic and be easy to read.
The Bounce Fitness Style Guide provides staff with a content overview template to use for all documents written on behalf of the organisation. The content overview is especially useful if you are writing large or complex documents such as a business case or business plan.
Research your topic
Researching your topic helps ensure that what you are writing is credible and accurate. When writing your draft, it is better to research your topic before you start writing your text. Researching your topic during the early stages of writing your draft will help you identify potential changes in your document. It will also help you determine the information that is available, which can, in turn, help you determine what you will write.
Manage your time
Writing drafts and thinking of ideas may take time. Because of this, always make time for writing when you are writing your draft. You may also set goals and deadlines for yourself and keep a record of your daily progress. However, most writing is not a linear process! In fact, it is a recursive process where sometimes multiple drafts are required. It is easy to feel you have writer's block when creating your draft. To avoid this, you may choose to skip certain sections while writing and come back to them later. Sometimes, it is difficult to start writing when you do not know where to start. You may also choose to work on your document's body and work backwards towards your topic sentences or introductory paragraph.
Watch the following video to learn tips for effective time management that can be applied to developing documents.
Process your raw data into meaningful information
Before you can communicate the information, you obtained, you must first process your raw data. Raw data is obtained through various means, like statistics, surveys, experiments, and interviews. Your audience will not be able to understand these values if you will not process them into something that can be easily understood.
Select the following headings to learn how to interpret your data.
Consider your organisation's policies and procedures
Policies and procedures help ensure that you are presenting information in a way that complies with legislative requirements, rules of writing, and your organisation's guidelines. Many organisations will have a Style Guide and templates to assist employees to structure and format common workplace documents including:
- emails
- reports
- procedures
- business cases
- letters
- PowerPoint presentations.
It will also provide organisational guidelines on aspects such as:
- templates, proformas and standardised reporting requirements
- font styles
- brand requirements
- visuals and graphics
- writing style
- spelling conventions
- citations, footnotes and references
- file naming conventions.
Scenario
Bounce Fitness policies and procedures require staff to send a notice of the meeting and agenda to employees as early as possible. The purpose and urgency of the meeting will determine when notices and agendas are distributed. Bounce Fitness provides a meeting agenda template to ensure that all meetings are orderly and that all employees involved in the meeting are informed ahead of time of what will be discussed. This also allows presenters to be informed of their roles. Both the notice of meeting and the agenda must provide sufficient information on what the meeting is about.
From the scenario, it is clear that you must always consider your organisation's policies and procedures when developing drafts and writing complex documents. Ensure to communicate information that conforms to your organisation's prescribed guidelines, style guides and templates.
Gaps are a normal occurrence in the writing process. While writing your draft, check that you have all the data and information you need to fully support the position you have taken in the document. You may discover that your current draft is incomplete or there are gaps that need to be met. This may mean further research and redrafting the document.
Common gaps in data, information and knowledge
Examples of possible common gaps in data, information and knowledge are shown in the following table.
| Data | Information | Knowledge |
|---|---|---|
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Identifying and filling the gaps
The following table lists questions that will help you identify and respond to gaps.
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| Is the content (data and information) relevant? | If not, this indicates gaps that need to be filled. Conduct further research to obtain data and information that is relevant. Identify the purpose of the document and why it matters to you and the audience. |
| Is the content (data and information) credible? | If not, this indicates gaps that need to be filled. Conduct further research to obtain data and information that is credible. Cite and reference all sources of information. |
| Does the text support your subject? | If not, these are gaps in content that need to be filled. |
| Do visuals support the content (data and information)? | Ensure that all tables, graphs, diagrams, illustrations, plans etc present data and information correctly and fully. Ensure that tables and figures are labelled correctly and tell readers what data and information they will obtain from the table. |
Scenario
Margaret has finished the first draft of her business proposal to partner with a local physiotherapist. She asks a colleague to review the document and is surprised when the colleague's feedback indicates there are gaps in data and information. Margaret's colleague points out that the table listing data on fitness centres employing physiotherapists in Queensland is 15 years old and thus not credible so alternative data needs to be found. The introduction states Margaret will provide financials for five years but the information provided is only for three years. Finally, there are no recommendations or a conclusion tying the proposal together. Margaret sets a time for later in the day to review her draft and collect additional content to fill the gaps.
If you discover that the information you currently have is not enough to fulfil the document's purpose, you need to conduct further research.
Relevant sources
- Materials published within the last 10 years
- Materials from Google Scholar
- Academic databases
- Trusted websites such as .gov and .au
- Research articles written by respected and well-known authors.
Scenario
Margaret makes a list of the additional material she needs to fill the gaps in her proposal and relevant sources. She needs current data on the number of fitness centres employing physiotherapists in Queensland so will start with researching the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and find more recent statistics. She asks the accountant to send her the financials for the last five years. She has already drafted recommendations and a conclusion to summarise and tie the proposal together.
There are many factors to consider when creating your draft. Aside from organisational policies and procedures, you must also take your document's purposes and requirements into consideration when drafting your text. Let us first recap on organisational policies and procedures related to writing documents that will assist in Step 4.
Organisational policies, procedures and style guides
As mentioned, policies and procedures help ensure that you are presenting information in a way that complies with legislative requirements, rules of writing, and your organisation's guidelines. Many organisations will have a Style Guide and templates to assist employees to structure and format common workplace documents including general emails, reports, procedures, business cases, letters, social media and PowerPoint presentations. It will also provide organisational guidelines on aspects such as:
- font styles
- brand requirements
- visuals and graphics
- writing style
- spelling conventions
- citations and references
- file naming conventions.
Recap on document purpose
Remind yourself of the purpose of the document you are drafting. Is the document a research report, a business case for recruiting more staff, a business proposal, documenting a new work procedure? Common uses for documents include:
- conveying research findings
- influencing attitudes, opinions, and beliefs
- meeting legal requirements
- meeting data, information, or knowledge needs of an audience
- proposing recommendations, options, and actions.
Knowing your purpose will help you clarify your thoughts and prepare you for the entire writing process. For example, if you are writing your document to convey research findings, your draft should also focus on what you are researching. It should show your research process and it should also explain how you arrived at your results. If you are writing a business case to acquire a new company you should highlight why and provide business data and market analysis to support your case.
Recap on document requirements
Remind yourself of any specific requirements for the document. These requirements will usually be documented in an organisational Style Guide which may include:
- templates, proformas and standardised reporting requirements
- brand requirements
- font styles
- visuals and graphics
- spelling conventions
- citations, footnotes and references
- file naming conventions.
Drafting and editing your documents
The drafting and editing steps are closely linked and can be understood as a cycle.
What is drafting?
Drafting involves writing out your response to the task (for example, preparing a business unit report or a project progress report) in full. You will probably do numerous drafts before you are satisfied with your work. Watch the following video that will explain these points further and you will learn more about the drafting process for tertiary students.
Developing a clear writing style
The following points are essential for giving your writing a clear and appropriate style at the drafting stage.
- Use evidence and logic to argue to support a personal opinion.
- Be objective and neutral where required.
- Be specific and avoid sentences of more than 35 words.
- Use source material correctly (citations, footnotes and references).
- Use appropriate form and formality (for example, avoid contractions such as it's or can't), write in full sentences and use punctuation correctly (it is crucial to meaning).
- Use acronyms accurately and provide the full form with the acronym in brackets at the first mention.
Using a drafting checklist
There are essential elements you should keep in mind as you are drafting your document. The following checklist identifies key elements and tips that can be used as a guide.6
| Element | Tips |
|---|---|
| Document purpose | Confirm this with your manager or the person who engaged you to write the document. |
| Document requirements | Identify any special requirements and confirm with your manager or the person who engaged you to write the document. This may include referring to an organisation style guide. |
| Have a clear overall structure |
Most documents will need the following basic structure.
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| Make connections | The sections of your document should connect logically. Write a detailed plan or content overview and check if the connections are clear and logical. |
| Use signposting | Signposts help a reader navigate through the document and what to expect. They also help to establish connections. Signposts can be headings or phrases.
|
| Show reasoning | The following signposts will help connect, contrast or develop the points you want to make in your document.
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| Use visuals and graphics | Use visuals and graphics such as tables, graphs, illustrations, plans etc to present data and information where appropriate. Tell the reader the purpose of the visual or image. |
| Have clear paragraph structure | Paragraphs vary but should have at least three sentences. Generally, they should focus on one idea, have a logical flow so the reader can see (either through a signpost or content) how one paragraph follows from the previous. |
What is editing?
Editing is the process of evaluating your draft and making changes (edits) for clarity. Many people think of editing as only changing grammar, punctuation, and spelling (which when done poorly can distract the reader or give incorrect or ambiguous information). When editing at the draft stage focus less on the grammar and more on what so on you are trying to say. Serious editing occurs in the final stages of writing a document.
Drafting and editing should be done more than once to get your ideas as clear as possible and to make sure you have evidence to support your ideas. As you draft and edit you may have to restructure your document or rework your introduction (because what you want to say or argue will have changed as you are writing). You may also formulate your conclusion by restating your position and drawing together the main points. Let us look further at drafting and editing.
Key points
- Before writing your draft, double-check your compiled information to ensure that what you are conveying is accurate and reliable.
- Drafts are important because they allow you to formally gather your ideas and information.
- Always identify gaps to prevent inconsistencies in the information you present in your document.
- When conducting research, make sure to obtain your additional material from relevant sources.
- Always take your document's purposes and requirements into consideration when drafting your text.
The final activity for this topic is a set of questions that will help you prepare for your formal assessment.
