// THEORY OF WRITING
AXIOM: Good writing is socially aware, grounded in the heteroglot, multi-voiced universe.
I want to begin with this graphic and work through it. What I try to represent here is the way in which the process of knowledge creation is situated in, and feeds off of, all other extant knowledge. I utilize Bakhtin's terminology of the "social heteroglot" reality of all utterance (NATC 1089). His famous term heteroglossia which refers to the distinct way artistic prose derives its unique stylistics from its embodiment of multiple voices within the text, is an idea that has much resemblance to ideas laid out by Charles Bazerman in the first volume of A Rhetoric of Literate Action (RLA 2013). In chapter one, Bazerman states, "human language is built on interaction and activity in context and becomes meaningful and purposeful only in use" (RLA 7). This interactive status of language can be seen in the phenomenon of intertextuality, which "is both a resource activated in texts and forms a playing field upon which texts can assert their place, meaning, and consequence" (RLA 59). Thus, it is not surprising that this notion of interconnectedness based in social utterance is concept 1.1 in NWWK: "Writing is a Social and Rhetorical Activity" (17). (See also concept 2.2 in NWWK, "Genres are Enacted by Writers and Readers," where Bakhtin is mentioned as an influence on Carolyn Miller's argument in a 1984 article "Genres as Social Action," and 2.6 "Texts get Their Meaning From Other Texts" (39, 44).)
A marriage between Bakhtin's idea of "the dialogic nature of language" and current writing theory provides the foundation for the way knowledge is produced as I move forward. If the graphic's blue background represents the social / dialogical / intertextual universe of knowledge, the white cloud is the process in which knowledge is both created from and added back into this universe. However, the cloud cannot be entered, and the writing process cannot commence, unless exigency, purpose, and motivation are created or experienced. The importance of these states and their effects on student ownership of learning are explained in detail in the concluduction. Very little transferable or meaningful learning can occur without student knowledge of the dynamic nature of critical conversations and the motivation to explore and ultimately join such conversations.
D.
You many notice something odd in image D. Its the fact that none of the texts exists in the final post. It was rearranged in the process of argument reformulation and moved into either my Philosophy of Teaching or the Spheres of Discourse page. Another example that combines all three techniques of raw-note logging, free-writing, and outline-organizing is image E, or the current state of the Tolstoy and the Victorians page:
The final steps of the writing process involve actually letting other readers review the piece. In a classroom setting, this is easily achieved via peer-review workshops or the instructor can host one-on-one conferences during office hours. Any set of eyes on a written text is valuable, even your little brother, husband, or grandmother. Or your grandmother's husband's little brother. Or a trusted friend. Whatever the method, no amount of time can replace actually having another human being try to make sense of your argument. Remember, writing is social. In order to create usable knowledge, others have to be able to follow your argument. In his chapter on face-to-face speech, Bazerman argues that speech can only act when the speaker "create[s] a mutually recognized space of interaction" (RLA 9). The speaker and listener are said to be in "alignment" once this space is created and it is only after alignment is achieved can our discourse make a meaningful impact (RLA 10). Bakhtin's theory differs in that it argues that the listener's response is already embedded in our speech act, that our speech acts are actually determined by our unconscious awareness of the responding listener. This embodied response is what Bakhtin refers to as the "internal dialogism" of language (DIN 279). Bakhtin's focus on imaginative rather than rhetorical prose is an important distinction, yet I bring in his theory in an effort to further a sub-argument I present in my introdusion: that literary studies are actually studies of literate action.
AXIOM: Good writing is socially aware, grounded in the heteroglot, multi-voiced universe.
THE HETEROGLOT UNIVERSE
I want to begin with this graphic and work through it. What I try to represent here is the way in which the process of knowledge creation is situated in, and feeds off of, all other extant knowledge. I utilize Bakhtin's terminology of the "social heteroglot" reality of all utterance (NATC 1089). His famous term heteroglossia which refers to the distinct way artistic prose derives its unique stylistics from its embodiment of multiple voices within the text, is an idea that has much resemblance to ideas laid out by Charles Bazerman in the first volume of A Rhetoric of Literate Action (RLA 2013). In chapter one, Bazerman states, "human language is built on interaction and activity in context and becomes meaningful and purposeful only in use" (RLA 7). This interactive status of language can be seen in the phenomenon of intertextuality, which "is both a resource activated in texts and forms a playing field upon which texts can assert their place, meaning, and consequence" (RLA 59). Thus, it is not surprising that this notion of interconnectedness based in social utterance is concept 1.1 in NWWK: "Writing is a Social and Rhetorical Activity" (17). (See also concept 2.2 in NWWK, "Genres are Enacted by Writers and Readers," where Bakhtin is mentioned as an influence on Carolyn Miller's argument in a 1984 article "Genres as Social Action," and 2.6 "Texts get Their Meaning From Other Texts" (39, 44).)
A marriage between Bakhtin's idea of "the dialogic nature of language" and current writing theory provides the foundation for the way knowledge is produced as I move forward. If the graphic's blue background represents the social / dialogical / intertextual universe of knowledge, the white cloud is the process in which knowledge is both created from and added back into this universe. However, the cloud cannot be entered, and the writing process cannot commence, unless exigency, purpose, and motivation are created or experienced. The importance of these states and their effects on student ownership of learning are explained in detail in the concluduction. Very little transferable or meaningful learning can occur without student knowledge of the dynamic nature of critical conversations and the motivation to explore and ultimately join such conversations.
IN THE CLOUD: ACTIVE PROCESS / MULTIPLE DRAFTS
Threshold concept 5.1 "Writing is (also always) a cognitive activity" - (NWWK)
Once a student is motivated, instruction, and indeed all presentation of context (literature, in the case of WI courses) needs to promote student inquiry and exploration. The writing process begins with immersion in the heteroglossic, intertextual world, and students should be encouraged to read "socially," with pencil in hand, in order to actively engage with a text, and most importantly, to question it. The seedlings of an argument may begin to form if these marginal notes, or raw notes, start to become meaningful through their accumulation. I believe a crucial part of the research process is some form of organizing or categorizing these raw notes into a central space, be it a word document, notebook, Excel sheet, or heaven help us, note cards. The important thing for a student to do is to explore a variety of methods, and see what works for them. However you arrange or manage the data set is irrelevant, so long as you are able to make your data more than the sum of its parts. The following images that I will use to work through the various stages of the composing process are taken from a seminar paper in a graduate English course. They will function as a type of "case study," and are not meant to be representative of All Writing Everywhere, yet this particular case is useful in showing what the various stages in the cloud may look like. The first image below represents just one way raw notes may be translated onto a central space. In this case, a simple word document is used to type out each and every marginal note and accompanying text, including page number.
A.
Image A already shows the raw notes being organized under subheadings / controlling ideas. What is especially important to note about this image is how a crucial aspect of the argument is discovered mid-composition. The realization, the fact that "[a character's] attempts to "read" the texts result in the generation of it" reveals itself while the composer is placing raw notes under the broader subheading "Critic/Reader...Constructing his text," yet the formulation of the idea that it is a certain character's act of reading that determines their textual reality occurs in the additional notes, the free-writing which happens in the wake of the task of raw-note logging. In this sense, the writing that is presented here is truly generative: a connection is made that did not exist before composition. Knowledge was created.
B.
Image B shows an emergent argument that is the result of analyzing and synthesizing the entire data set of marginal notes and free-writing. Note the composer's reliance on prior knowledge. Where did they learn introduction, body, conclusion? Upon composing The Lost Tale of Milo? Who can say, but what we can say is that the composer is bringing in strategies that have (1) previously been successful, resulting in a product that was of high quality in both the opinion of the composer and past instructors, (2) best enacts the composer's disciplinarity. Both ideas in (1) and (2) are derived from the notion of transfer in WAC and the threshold concept "Writing Enacts Disciplinarity" in NWWK, respectively.
What is important to note about the image B is that despite the relatively organized look of the Roman numerals, this argument is clearly still in a fetal stage, dynamically questioning itself. By putting together some components in an outline form (another strategy that has transferred from the past) the composer can attempt to organize all the tidbits of knowledge that were created in the previous stage. An outline allows the composer to get a snapshot of the entire argument as it stands, to better identify which aspects of the argument should be foregrounded, which should be sublimated, and which aspects should be tossed out altogether. Note the commencement of free-writing yet again after the outline. The snapshot has revealed weaknesses to work out and strengths to develop. While the stages covered thus far may cause the writing process to seem closed-off, almost anti-social (picture a lone composer squirreled away in their office), I cannot emphasize enough how thoroughly intertextual these stages are. The creation of data sets literally brings outside texts into the composing process. It ensures the source texts, whether primary or secondary, remain in the forefront of the composer's mind, ensuring thoughtful and dynamic free-writing.
C.
Since uploading examples of the composer's drafts would be both impractical and cruel of me, image C will have to suffice. The purpose of this image is to illustrate that three versions of the textual knowledge-product exist in the folder: the "draft," the "paper," and the true final draft, the "LindseyHolmesResearchPaper." The main mechanisms that produce the draft are identified in image A and B. From the raw note / free-write / outline-organizational stages, a reformulation of the composer's argument occurs through additional free-writing, and ideas are extended and developed into full sentences and paragraph form. It is usually about this time that an entirely new document is created, the "paper." It is at this stage that the mechanism behind the transition to the final product ceases to be composition-based. By that I mean that all the necessary writing has been done. No more free-writing. The meat of the argument is there. The mechanism that the composer must now utilize is time. By taking a significant amount of time away from the "paper," the argument will start to reformulate / rearrange itself in ways that are impossible to achieve without time. The utilization of time will slowly introduce itself in the drafting stages. Revisiting the draft with fresh eyes every day will help get the argument into a stronger state, yet larger chunks of time are needed in order to make further developments. Notice the time stamps on the three documents in image C. The "draft" is dated November 14th, the "paper" November 25th, and the final product December 6th. There are roughly 10 days in between each of these stages. Time is not arbitrary, but in fact a requirement for disengaging from your own echo-chamber, and seeing your work as a reader would. As a general rule of thumb, the more time away from a piece, the better.
An additional example of the raw note / free-write stage in the composing process is given in following image. Image D is a screenshot of this very post in its beginning stages.
Threshold concept 5.1 "Writing is (also always) a cognitive activity" - (NWWK)
Once a student is motivated, instruction, and indeed all presentation of context (literature, in the case of WI courses) needs to promote student inquiry and exploration. The writing process begins with immersion in the heteroglossic, intertextual world, and students should be encouraged to read "socially," with pencil in hand, in order to actively engage with a text, and most importantly, to question it. The seedlings of an argument may begin to form if these marginal notes, or raw notes, start to become meaningful through their accumulation. I believe a crucial part of the research process is some form of organizing or categorizing these raw notes into a central space, be it a word document, notebook, Excel sheet, or heaven help us, note cards. The important thing for a student to do is to explore a variety of methods, and see what works for them. However you arrange or manage the data set is irrelevant, so long as you are able to make your data more than the sum of its parts. The following images that I will use to work through the various stages of the composing process are taken from a seminar paper in a graduate English course. They will function as a type of "case study," and are not meant to be representative of All Writing Everywhere, yet this particular case is useful in showing what the various stages in the cloud may look like. The first image below represents just one way raw notes may be translated onto a central space. In this case, a simple word document is used to type out each and every marginal note and accompanying text, including page number.
A.
Image A already shows the raw notes being organized under subheadings / controlling ideas. What is especially important to note about this image is how a crucial aspect of the argument is discovered mid-composition. The realization, the fact that "[a character's] attempts to "read" the texts result in the generation of it" reveals itself while the composer is placing raw notes under the broader subheading "Critic/Reader...Constructing his text," yet the formulation of the idea that it is a certain character's act of reading that determines their textual reality occurs in the additional notes, the free-writing which happens in the wake of the task of raw-note logging. In this sense, the writing that is presented here is truly generative: a connection is made that did not exist before composition. Knowledge was created.
B.
Image B shows an emergent argument that is the result of analyzing and synthesizing the entire data set of marginal notes and free-writing. Note the composer's reliance on prior knowledge. Where did they learn introduction, body, conclusion? Upon composing The Lost Tale of Milo? Who can say, but what we can say is that the composer is bringing in strategies that have (1) previously been successful, resulting in a product that was of high quality in both the opinion of the composer and past instructors, (2) best enacts the composer's disciplinarity. Both ideas in (1) and (2) are derived from the notion of transfer in WAC and the threshold concept "Writing Enacts Disciplinarity" in NWWK, respectively.
What is important to note about the image B is that despite the relatively organized look of the Roman numerals, this argument is clearly still in a fetal stage, dynamically questioning itself. By putting together some components in an outline form (another strategy that has transferred from the past) the composer can attempt to organize all the tidbits of knowledge that were created in the previous stage. An outline allows the composer to get a snapshot of the entire argument as it stands, to better identify which aspects of the argument should be foregrounded, which should be sublimated, and which aspects should be tossed out altogether. Note the commencement of free-writing yet again after the outline. The snapshot has revealed weaknesses to work out and strengths to develop. While the stages covered thus far may cause the writing process to seem closed-off, almost anti-social (picture a lone composer squirreled away in their office), I cannot emphasize enough how thoroughly intertextual these stages are. The creation of data sets literally brings outside texts into the composing process. It ensures the source texts, whether primary or secondary, remain in the forefront of the composer's mind, ensuring thoughtful and dynamic free-writing.
C.
Since uploading examples of the composer's drafts would be both impractical and cruel of me, image C will have to suffice. The purpose of this image is to illustrate that three versions of the textual knowledge-product exist in the folder: the "draft," the "paper," and the true final draft, the "LindseyHolmesResearchPaper." The main mechanisms that produce the draft are identified in image A and B. From the raw note / free-write / outline-organizational stages, a reformulation of the composer's argument occurs through additional free-writing, and ideas are extended and developed into full sentences and paragraph form. It is usually about this time that an entirely new document is created, the "paper." It is at this stage that the mechanism behind the transition to the final product ceases to be composition-based. By that I mean that all the necessary writing has been done. No more free-writing. The meat of the argument is there. The mechanism that the composer must now utilize is time. By taking a significant amount of time away from the "paper," the argument will start to reformulate / rearrange itself in ways that are impossible to achieve without time. The utilization of time will slowly introduce itself in the drafting stages. Revisiting the draft with fresh eyes every day will help get the argument into a stronger state, yet larger chunks of time are needed in order to make further developments. Notice the time stamps on the three documents in image C. The "draft" is dated November 14th, the "paper" November 25th, and the final product December 6th. There are roughly 10 days in between each of these stages. Time is not arbitrary, but in fact a requirement for disengaging from your own echo-chamber, and seeing your work as a reader would. As a general rule of thumb, the more time away from a piece, the better.
An additional example of the raw note / free-write stage in the composing process is given in following image. Image D is a screenshot of this very post in its beginning stages.
D.
You many notice something odd in image D. Its the fact that none of the texts exists in the final post. It was rearranged in the process of argument reformulation and moved into either my Philosophy of Teaching or the Spheres of Discourse page. Another example that combines all three techniques of raw-note logging, free-writing, and outline-organizing is image E, or the current state of the Tolstoy and the Victorians page:
E. 
CONGRATULATIONS! BACK TO THE HETEROGLOT UNIVERSE
By composing a thoughtful piece of text, one sends it out into the intertextual unknown, where it can impact other texts, and maybe change the way other humans think. To see the three spheres where I have tried to put this theory into practice, go here.
No comments:
Post a Comment