Читать книгу Engaging Ideas - John C. Bean - Страница 64

1 Choose a topic.

2 Narrow it.

3 Write a thesis.

4 Make an outline.

5 Write a draft.

6 Revise.

7 Edit.

This description presupposes what Elbow (1973) calls the “think, then write” model of composing in which writers discover, clarify, and organize their ideas before they start to write. But it seriously misrepresents the way most academic writers actually compose. For example, few scholars report starting an article by choosing a topic and then narrowing it. Rather, academic writers report being gradually drawn into a conversation about a question that does not yet seem resolved. The writer‐to‐be finds this conversation somehow unsatisfactory; something is missing, wrongheaded, unexplained, or otherwise puzzling. Similarly, having focused on a problem, only rarely does a skilled academic writer write a thesis statement and outline before embarking on extensive exploration, conversation, correspondence with colleagues, and even, on some occasions, writing one or more drafts. A thesis statement often marks a moment of discovery and clarification—an “aha!” experience (“So this is my point! Here is my argument in a nutshell!”) rather than a formulaic planning device at the very start of the process.

Presenting students with this problem‐driven model of the writing process has a distinct advantage for teachers. It allows them to link the teaching of writing to their teaching the modes of inquiry and discovery in their disciplines. Their goal is to get students personally engaged with the kinds of questions that propel writers through the writing process. Thus the writing process itself becomes a powerful means of active learning in the discipline.