The Writing Phases in Academic Papers

A scientific paper can be divided into individual steps. Depending on which stage you are at in the writing process, there are different strategies that can be helpful when writing a paper. This article presents techniques that can support you in your writing process.

The stages in the writing process

The individual phases are interconnected and overlap. Writing is a recursive and reiterative process. You may frequently have to revisit and revise previous drafts, or restructure certain sections.

You should be familiar with the individual stages and plan enough time by creating time and work schedules. Please refer to our article: Planning Writing Time

Here is an overview of the individual writing phases:

Pre-writing: Topic, research question
Collecting material: Research, literature
Structure: Interaction between collecting and processing material
Draft: First text
Revising: Writing for the target audience
Editing: Checking, proofreading, designing layout

The individual writing phases in detail

1. Pre-writing

This phase involves formulating the research question, as well as finding and narrowing down a topic.

Criteria:

Personal interest
Own knowledge level
The topic should not exceed the scope of the paper and must therefore be limited
A hypothesis and a research question suitable to the topic
Related to teaching content or to the respective subject
Consider scope (balance between time and material)
Preliminary research to properly classify the topic

Techniques for this: Freewriting, clustering, mind-mapping, limitation table, brainstorming.

2. Collecting and processing material

Collecting literature means knowing what the literature is needed for and how you want to use it: You should always keep the research question and objective in mind. This phase includes the following points:

Research, collecting data such as texts, measurement results, interview statements, or conversation transcripts, as well as reading and writing.
Identifying and exploring positions and arguments.
Writing about texts you have read, i.e., by extracting the essential ideas: create your own summaries, note direct quotations, make notes about relevance and classification.

Techniques for this: Freewriting, clustering, mind-mapping, brainstorming, mini-exposé, using a reference management program, e.g. Zotero.

3. Structuring

The main requirement in this phase is an interaction between collecting material and processing that material:

Outline topic/paper, classify material
Create preliminary outline
Combine your own argumentation with the material found
Establish connections and identify differences between various aspects
Create individual chapters with partial answers to the central research question

Techniques for this: Mind-map, overview by writing, planning pentagon.

4. Write your first draft

In this phase, your focus is on writing for yourself – i.e., taking a writer-oriented approach. During this stage, you should:

Gain knowledge
Write the first text addressed to yourself, without worrying about finding the perfect wording
Focus on content, not language
Relate your own insights to individual texts you have read
Integrate the text into the structure of your argument
Research any gaps

Techniques for this: Freewriting, writing multiple drafts, dictating to yourself, marking unfinished parts

5. Revising

When revising, you check the text with regard to the writing goal and your target audience. Now write for your future audience – i.e., taking a reader-oriented approach – and revise your text accordingly:

Get feedback.
Revise in several rounds: content, structure, citations and style.
Guide the readers convincingly through the argumentation.
Check if the requirements for scientific texts are met.

Look at the following in more detail: Consider headings and topic sentences, check topics against your line of argument, overview the overall context.

6. Editing and proofreading

The goal of editing and proofreading is to make the work ready for submission:

Check spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
Create and complete lists and appendices: ensure consistent formatting.
Design and perfect the layout.

Useful tools: Word processing programs offer useful functions such as headers, page breaks etc. – it is best to set these from the outset. It can also help to print the text, leave it to one side, and have others proofread it.

Literature: Grieshammer, Ella; Liebetanz, Franziska; Peters, Nora; Zegenhagen, Jana (2013): Zukunftsmodell Schreibberatung. Schreibberatung lohnt sich. Eine Anleitung zur Begleitung von Schreibenden im Studium. Baltmannsweiler: Schneider Verlag Hohengehren.

Frequently asked questions

Can I skip or omit some writing phases, like revising?

Each writing phase has its purpose. Many students are often overwhelmed by revising because it takes more time than expected. But only through revising and intensive engagement with the text can it really become good. Often, the difference between good and bad texts is just how thoroughly they have been revised.

Can I strictly separate the writing phases from each other?

The writing phases influence each other, can repeat and overlap. In other words, you may have to restructure parts of the text while revising. Time and work plans can be very helpful.

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This article was published in August 2025 and last updated in November 2024.

Online Writing Lab