Many of the idea present in this week’s reading regarding getting writers to start writing reminded me a lot of problems I often encountered with under-experienced writers as an undergraduate writing tutor. Elbow stresses the importance of the writing process and suggests what he believes is the ideal way to go about writing. But his matter-of-fact delivery made me question whether or not his theory is applicable to all writers in all situations. Surely there is great value in freewriting, in working with multiple drafts, being able to “let go” of content and in revisions and editing as Elbow writes, but can’t some of the processes he negates be helpful - or even more ideal - in certain situations and for certain applications? Can’t we combine freewriting with an outline at the beginning of the writing process and have an even more effective and clear result?
Elbow speaks of writing in general contexts, but I think that for this class it will be important to think of how to get students writing for assignments. (Back to that Oliver Twist thing from the other day…) Though I dislike the idea of teaching writing for assignments in comparison to writing for fun or to produce other types of content, I think this reading is particularly worthy of examining from the “mean teacher” perspective. For instance, Elbow seems to be especially hard on writing using an outline (editing with an outline, however, is suggested). I for one have never found outlines particularly useful when composing because I find them too limiting and difficult to work around, but I have known many students who truly struggle with organizing their thoughts and understanding requirements enough to need the assistance of an outline for certain assignments. I also understand the value of using an outline to edit first-hand from my work experience as a professional editor. Therefore, I am stuck on the idea that generating an outline at the beginning of the writing process and using it throughout the process can be, in many cases, extremely beneficial to producing a good final product.
Sure, I would love to write a brand new draft of something every hour and build off only the very best ideas from the drafts, but I feel that this approach will only work for non-scholarly types of writing. You can’t quote Charles Dickens for your research paper out-of-the-blue in your final draft and expect readers to make sense of your thought processes on why it’s there (why? Because I needed a quote, that’s why!); and if Dickens quotes are a requirement of your paper, you might end up lost without having left a particular connecting idea for quote insertion. But to leave a space for something like that would require forethought, or dare I say it: even an outline. You can make the argument that with good editing a quote can easily be inserted, but even so, the thought has to have occurred ahead of time that a quote was needed.
To me, and many of my tutees, the value in breaking down a difficult task into its required parts can help ensure that you are on-track with the goals and requirements of an assignment. No matter how dreaded five pages, 10 sources, and four examples of alliteration can be, we have to face that facts they will most likely be a part of our writing lives and those of our students. This is why I often find the outline can be beneficial.
I found that when a student was having a particularly difficult task with a paper, it often wasn’t because they were having trouble putting pen on paper, it was because they didn’t know what the expected outcome of putting that pen to that paper was. They would come into the center with their assignment sheets in their hands and a desperate look on their faces. Sometimes they already had simple outlines: Intro, Thesis, Point One, Point Two, Point Three, Conclusion, Summary; but they didn’t know where to go from there. I feel like having them freewrite the way Elbow suggests would have got them nowhere but off-task and taken up much of their valuable time. What they needed was a more detailed model to work from. A paper where they could plug-in what they know and work around it - the outline – and where they could explore and develop their ideas – freewrite.
I realize now with my newly-gained Elbow knowledge that combining the outline and freewrite into what I’ll call a “guided freewrite” could have been an excellent solution to their writer’s block and general overwhelmed attitude while keeping them focused on the assignment at hand. Using the outline as a guide, students could develop several different ideas what they think their main arguments will be by “idea dumping/freewriting” their thoughts on each specific idea/section onto paper. Then, like Elbow’s organic freewriting idea, they can pick and choose which parts/arguments are the strongest for inclusion in the paper and develop and use only those three (or however many needed points) to include in their papers. Using this method, they would specifically freewrite on pre-determined ideas, allowing them to explore the ideas, but keeping them focused on the assignment.
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