GENERATING, COMPOSING & OVERCOMING

WRITER’S BLOCK:

How Critical Thinking can Help Students through the

Writing Process

“When I face the desolate impossi-bility of writing five hundred pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me and I know I can never do it. This happens every time. Then gradually I write one page and then another. One day’s work is all I can permit myself to contemplate, & I eliminate the possibility of every finishing.”

––John Steinbeck

STUDENT RESPONSES:

“What simile, metaphor, or analogy would you use to describe

writing block?”

“IT'S LIKE BORROWING YOUR FRIEND’S CAR THAT’S A STICK-SHIFT WHEN ALL YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE IS AN AUTOMATIC. YOU KNOW HOW EVERYTHING SHOULD WORK, BUT ALL YOU DO IS SIT THERE STALLING OUT.”

“IT’S KINDA LIKE A MATH EQUATION ... JUST WORKBACKWARDS FROM THE ANSWER, ONLY YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT NUMBERS TO PLUG INTO THE FORMULA.”

“YOU’RE HUNGRY, YOU’RE STARVING, BUT THERE’S NOTHING IN THE FRIDGE, JUST CONDIMENTS AND SOME BREAD CRUSTS ... YEAH, YOU CAN ‘FIX’ SOMETHING TO EAT, BUT IT AIN’T GOING TO FILL YOU UP.”

DIAGNOSIS & CURE

The root problem: Fixation

The cure: metacognition.

Divergent Thinking: Fluency, Flexibility, Originality

Covergent Thinking.

Adaptive & Innovative Thinking. (Cassis 36)

ADAPTION & INNOVATION: EDISON VS. EINSTEIN

Edison (Adaptive): focused on quality of ideas; typically conservative, but a good success rate.

Einstein (Innovative): focused on the quantity of ideas, typically accept failure better, though they often give up on good ideas before they should. (Cassis 38)

THE TYRANNY OF RULES

The struggle is getting students to think without the equation, without “trans-forming a highly fluid process like writing into a mechanical lockstep” (Rose 398).

Algorithms – think about mathematics: “Functions are consistent ... procedures are routine ... & outcomes are predictable” (Rose 391).

THE TYRANNY OF RULES continued:

Many students want rigid, definite rules, not realizing that such inflexibility often births their writer’s block (Rose 393).

Especially for students with more analytic, empirically focused majors there is a “predisposition to see process in terms of linear, interrelated steps in a system” (Rose 398).

THE TYRANNY OF RULES continued:

They correctly see the value of having a plan, a map. But “once formulated, [it] becomes an exact structural & substantive blueprint that cannot be violated” (Rose 395).

What’s worse, “such rules do not allow a flexible penetration into the nature of the problem” (398).

THE TYRANNY OF RULES concluded:

This inflexibility can be focused on either somthing that is:

Global: uncritical adherence to certain writing strategies or methods of development.

Rule-specific: “The beginning is everything”; “Always grab your audience” (Rose 394-95).

THE VALUE OF HEURISTICS

In most of daily lives we use “heuristics or ‘rules of thumb,’ guidelines that allow varying degrees of flexibility when approaching problems” (Rose 391).

Students often view writing assignments as existing within a vacuum.

THE VALUE OF HEURISTICS continued:

Give them advice on how to take advice, i.e., “writing rules.”

Emphasize that shouldn’t ignore frustration & procrastination.

Bring in Analysis & Evaluation.

SIDESTEPPING  WRITER’S  BLOCK

Provide  students  with  several  ways  to  approach  a  topic.

Begin  with  what  you  knowEstablish  a  personal  connection  to  the  topic.Discuss  topics  as  a  group.Research  topic.

BEGIN  WITH  WHAT  YOU  KNOW

Ask  students  to  free  write  and/or  brainstorm  about  their  topic.Have  students  ask  themselves  a  set  of  questions  about  their  topic  such  as:  

Why  did  I  choose  this  topic?  What  do  I  already  know  about  it?  How  do  I  know  this  information?What  point  do  I  want  to  make  about  this  topic?

ESTABLISH  A  PERSONAL  CONNECTION

Students  seem  to  have  an  easier  time  generating  ideas  when  they  can  see  connections  between  the  topic  and  their  own  lives.

They  tend  to  enjoy  writing  about  themselves.

Students  find  it  easier  to  avoid  writer’s  block  when  they  are  “behind”  their  topic/argument.

 

PERSONAL  CONNECTION

Have  students  compose  a  semi-­‐informal  writing  that  helps  them  establish  this  connection.

What  is  my  opinion  on  this  topic?

Why  does  this  topic  interest  me?

Why  do  I  want  to  write  about  it?

PERSONAL  CONNECTION

What  do  I  want  to  accomplish  in  my  paper?

In  what  ways  have  I  experienced  this  topic  in  my  own  life?

Does  this  topic  have  any  bearing  on  my  career?  On  my  personal  life?  How  so?

GROUP  DISCUSSION

Students  sometimes  find  it  helpful  to  hear  the  opinions  of  others.

Group  work/class  discussion  can  provide  students  with  supporting  arguments,  counter-­‐arguments,  types  of  evidence,  and  possible  sources  of  research.

GROUP  DISCUSSION

Group  discussion  enables  students  to  view  their  topics  from  the  perspective  of  other  students.

Putting  their  topic  up  for  class  debate  can  quickly  aid  students  in  identifying  their  main  ideas,  organizing  their  ideas,  and  then  proving  those  ideas.

RESEARCH

Use  the  Internet  and  your  library’s  online  databases  to  help  students  generate  ideas.

These  sources  can  provide  students  with  ideas  and  inspiration.    

Seeing  what  others  have  to  say  about  a  topic  can  help  students  imagine  their  topic  in  different  ways,  giving  them  a  broader  perspective  and  pushing  them  to  consider  their  topic  in  a  larger  context.      

WRITER’S  BLOCK  BEFORE  WRITING  HAS  BEGUN

What  are  my  main  ideas?

How  do  I  plan  to  organize  them?

What  is  the  point  I  want  to  make?

Besides  answering  the  first  three  questions,  what  impression  do  I  want  my  intro  to  make  on  my  reader?  How  can  I  create  this  impression?

STRATEGIES  TO  USE  DURING  WRITING  PROCESS  

Take  a  closer  look  at  organization  and  your  outline:

Have  I  provided  specific  examples  for  my  claims?

Have  I  addressed  each  of  my  main  points?

Does  each  paragraph  clearly  support  my  thesis?    (The  “so  what?”  question.)

STRATEGIES  TO  USE  DURING  WRITING  PROCESS  

How  can  I  create  transitions  between  paragraphs?

Have  I  addressed  at  least  one  counter-­‐argument  for  each  of  my  main  points?  

Does  my  conclusion  leave  the  reader  with  the  impression  I  intend?  Have  I  used  my  research  to  support  my  claims?

STRATEGIES  TO  USE  DURING  WRITING  PROCESS  

Make  your  argument  out  loud  to  an  imaginary  audience.  What  strategies  would  you  use  to  persuade  them?

Pretend  that  you  are  writing  to  a  completely  uninformed  audience—what  info  do  you  need  to  provide?

Play  devil’s  advocate  and  make  an  argument  that  opposes  yours.

AFTER  THE  ESSAY  IS  WRITTEN

Have  students  reflect  on  their  writing  process.

Ask  them  to  compose  an  explanation  of  their  process  of  writing.

Ask  them  to  evaluate  the  strengths  and  weaknesses  of  their  writing.

AFTER  THE  ESSAY  IS  WRITTEN...

What  did  they  find  difficult?

What  did  they  find  easiest?

What  will  they  do  differently  next  time?

REFLECTIVE  WRITING

Reflective  writing  reminds  students  that  good  writing  requires  self-­‐awareness.  

It  helps  them  to  think  objectively  about  the  writing  process.

Students  are  able  to  transfer  what  they  learned  from  one  paper  to  the  next.

Class  discussion  of  reflective  writings  allows  students  to  share  what  works  for  them.

“I LIKE TO THINK OF HOW IT’S SIMPLY A CHANCE TO

EXPLORE NEW IDEAS. IT’S THE OPPOSITE OF OPENING MY

REFRIGERATOR, FULL OF FOOD, & THINKING, ‘THERE’S

NOTHING TO EAT.’ ”

WORKS CITED

Cass, Dennis. “How to Get Unstuck.” Poets & Writers. (2009): 35-40.

Rose, Mike. “Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Analysis of Writer’s Block.” College Composition and Communication. Vol. 31, No. 4 (Dec. 1980): 389-401.