Have you never written a process paper before and now feel lost and cannot start working on your new writing assignment? Don’t worry, you are not alone. There are a lot of students who have troubles facing the task.
However, the problems are often connected not only the difficulty of the assignment itself but even more with the lack of information about it. Scholars simply can’t understand what this task is, how the final paper shall look and how a teacher shall evaluate it at the end.
While being a very interesting and challenging task that allows you to show your creative thinking and knowledge of the subject, the paper scares a lot of students. We’ve decided to put an end to such an upsetting situation and create an effective guide to creating an A+ process paper that will help any student!
What is a Process Paper?
The reason why so many students get lower marks for writing their process papers is that they don’t have a clear understanding of what a process paper really is and how it shall be written.
Speaking with simple words, a process paper is a kind of instruction that explains how to do something or how something works.
Before starting your preparation, it’s better to ask your teacher which type of a process paper you are supposed to write. It can be a guide to doing something or an explanation of some processes.
If the difference is still not very clear to you, check the examples below:
- An Instruction Type
Example: you explain to your reader how to make a piece of furniture, using tools and materials. - An Explanation Type
Example: you explain to a reader how a furniture is produced on a factory or by designers.
A process paper is not a very common task, however, it’s that universal type of assignment that is given to students of entirely different specialties. Moreover, it’s often assigned to students of a high or even middle school. That’s why knowing some simple rules and definitions will be helpful for anyone.
Steps for Writing a Proper Paper
If you have already dealt with writing an essay, you understand that the most difficult part of the work is the beginning. It’s always hard to start. However, our step-by-step guide will help you to motivate yourself and to manage your time effectively.
Step 1: Choose a Topic
The topic you choose influences the whole writing process. That’s why there’s no need to be in a hurry with deciding on a topic. Be careful and check several possible variations before making your final choice.
A properly-chosen topic shall meet several requirements:
- It coincides with your interests
Choosing a topic relying on your preferences only is not the best advice. However, if you manage to select a topic that both coincides with your interests and meets other requirements, it’s a real bingo!Working with a theme that is interesting to you is always easier and pleasant.
- It’s trending and interesting to your potential readers
Don’t forget that your text is addressed to other people. If the chosen topic is boring and interesting to no one except you, you’d better search for an alternative variant. You can ask your friends, family members, your teacher or other students to tell if the topic is interesting to them.
- It’s not too common and banal
Usually, the similar writing assignment is given to a group of students. Year after year it happens that many scholars choose the same or very similar topics, thinking that they are trending and the most interesting.As a result, your teacher and group mates will hear several reports on the same topic. It may be quite boring. That’s why it’s always wise to make sure your choice is not too common. You can also cooperate with other students and discuss all chosen topics to avoid repeated themes.
- You can easily find information about the topic
If you came up with an idea of an excellent topic, check if there’s enough information about it and how accessible it is. It’s brave and interesting to work with some rare themes. However, it’s not always wise to choose a topic that makes you spend ages searching for some facts or articles about it.
Step 2: Make a plan of your future paper and decide on outlines
Don’t start to search the information before setting some clear goals. If you are spending time reading everything about the topic, you have a chance to become an expert, however, you also have a chance to waste too much time and still have some informational gap starting to work on the text itself.
Decide which questions shall be answered and which exact information may be required to make your text fuller and more informative. The best way to decide it is to make a detailed plan before doing an extra research. Group and manage the found information due to the lines of the plan. So, you will always see, which paragraph needs extra data.
Step 3: Search for some rare facts and interesting articles
No doubts, you can write an essay, using a single textbook. However, it’s better to use additional sources of information. Try to find some rare facts, alternative theories and innovative articles connected to the topic.
Give some fresh breath to your text and let your readers see some new information, not the facts that are known for everyone.
Process Paper Format and Outline
If you are writing an academic paper you shall pay great attention to formatting and structuring your text. It will not only make you acquainted with academic styles and requirements, giving you the experience that can be useful during your academic years but will also help to make your paper look polished and logically structured.
How to Format Your Process Paper
According to the inner requirements of your college and preferences of your teacher, you can be asked to write a process paper in different styles. However, the most common styles that are used for process papers are MLA and APA.
Sometimes teachers do not ask to keep a certain style and give you some clear guidelines for formatting the process paper, without connecting it to a special style. If your teacher doesn’t mention any specific style for formatting your essay, it’s better to ask for this information.
Outlines of a Process Paper
Why keeping a clear structure of an academic text is so important? First, because the clear structure helps your text to be more logical and understandable. Second, keeping a clear structure is a great assisting moment during the preparation and writing the text. And third, stable structure of academic works help your teacher to evaluate it in the shortest time.
- The Introduction. The first part of the text is dedicated to making your reader acquainted to the specific theme and expressing why the paper may be interesting and valuable to read. This part has the medium size, it’s also quite informative. At the same time, an introduction doesn’t reveal some key facts and conclusions, it only stimulates a reader to keep reading the text.
- The Body Paragraphs. The part contains all information and facts that may be useful for a reader. Here, you write the explanation of the process or give clear instructions for your readers.
- The Conclusion. This part is a short summary of the whole information presented in a body paragraph and an answer to a thesis. You don’t have to rewrite all the information written in the paper. However, you can express how useful and practical your text can be.
Writing a process paper is a challenging task, however, you can easily cope with it, following the expert tips we shared!
