Writing to Learn: How to Write - and Think - Clearly About Any Subject at All
updated 8h ago
updated 8h ago
the common thread is a sense of high enjoyment, zest and wonder. Perhaps, both in learning to write and in writing to learn, they are the only ingredients that really matter.
julie added 3mo ago
By having them describe how they arrived at a result I can comment on it, and they can make use of my comment when they go back to the experiment. There’s a feedback that isn’t possible when the teacher just grades from numerical answers. Revising helps the students to rethink.”
julie added 3mo ago
Another is that the essence of writing is rewriting. Very few writers say on their first try exactly what they want to say.
julie added 3mo ago
I never stopped to ask, “Who is the typical Yale alumnus? Who am I editing for?” One of my principles is that there is no typical anybody; every reader is different. I edit for myself and I write for myself. I assume that if I consider something interesting or funny, a certain number of other people will too. If they don’t, they have two inalienabl
... See morejulie added 3mo ago
But I had never thought about thinking as a process. How does it work? Why do some people think straighter than others? What are the factors that prevent us from thinking clearly? Can it be taught? I made a note to buy The Art of Thinking when I got back home. I suspected that it would help me to see how so much fuzz gets into the writing machinery
... See moreMargaretC added 5mo ago
Today many of America’s best writing teachers believe that this is the only kind of writing worth teaching, especially to young children. Unlike Type A writing, which they consider mainly a technical skill, Type B writing
MargaretC added 5mo ago
They are in one of the caring professions, no more sane in the allotment of their time and energy than the social worker or the day care worker or the nurse. Whenever I hear them talk about their work, I feel that few forms of teaching are so sacramental; the writing teacher’s ministry is not just to the words but to the person who wrote the words.
... See moreMargaretC added 5mo ago
In my gloom it helps me to remember two things. One is that writing is linear and sequential. If sentence B logically follows sentence A, and if sentence C logically follows sentence B, I’ll eventually get to sentence Z. I also try to remember that the reader should be given only as much information as he needs and not one word more.
MargaretC added 5mo ago
They can be cured only by that most painful of surgical procedures: operating on what the writer has actually written.
MargaretC added 5mo ago