This study explores the issue of non-native speakers writing a text in their first language (L1) and then translating the text to the second language (L2) to enhance the final text in L2. Writing samples taken from 25 Iranian engineering students in an intermediate level compulsory general English as a foreign language class served as data. The students were provided with a form which instructed them to write their first essay in Farsi (L1) and then translate it into the foreign language, English. The compositions were suggested to be two paragraphs long to provide enough text to analyze. The second composition done by the same group of students a week later on a second topic was written directly in the target language (English). Each student’s work was evaluated in detail using a rating scale divided into two main sections, writing skills and effective writing. This study showed that intermediate level EFL students writing in L1 and then using a translation strategy did not produce better writing samples in L2 than when they wrote directly in L2.