Kyle Sankovich ENC 1101 11:30 AM 12:20 PM Journal 9 Summary Berkenkotter, Carol.

. Decisions and Revisions: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer. Writing About Writing. Elizabeth Wardle. Doug Downs. Boston. Bedford St. Martins, 2011. 216-230. Print. Until now there have been no studies outside of a lab on a writer and their composing process. Carol Berkenkotter wanted to examine the writing process of an established author rather than students. She met Donald Murray and decided that she would conduct her study on him. The experiment called for Murray to record his voice for many hours over a certain time frame. These recordings were in an environment he was comfortable in. After the initial stage of the study, he was told to write for an hour about a subject he was not accustomed to in a lab environment. In the lab environment, his dictation was not as fluent and productive when compared to the recordings of him at home. The reading then when on to quote Faigley and Witte; that writing skill might be defined as the ability to respond to them. After coding the writing, Berkenkotter discovered that Murray combined his planning and revising. She called this reconceiving, it means that Murray would write and revise his work until all the problems in it were resolved. This was the first study of its kind and should pave the way for similar studies in the future. The analysis of one writer provided in-depth qualitative data on the writing process of skilled writers. Analysis 28 September 2012 Carol Berkenkotter had Donald Murray participate in a study she was conducting about the writing process of skilled writers. Murray was recorded while he worked on his writing at home and while he was placed in an uncomfortable lab setting with a difficult writing task. This was the first study done on a skilled writer and it had important results. Murray used a process of reconceiving while writing. This process is helpful because it allows the author to combine planning and revising making it easier to continue writing. This was not seen in the articles we previously read by Perl and Rose. This leads me to believe that it is a tactic used by skilled writers. This study proved the ineffectiveness of a study conducted in a lab, such as the ones by Perl and Rose. Murray was clearly not as efficient in his writing in a lab and this could change the findings of Perl and Rose. Instead of being able to focus on the composing processes of the students, Perl and Rose will only be credited with a small portion of their findings. Their work would only be discussed when determining the effects of writing in a lab environment not the students performance in their studies. This study provides a point of basis for studies conducted in the future as the same study can also be conducted on unskilled writers, students, or even groups of skilled writers. This study was effective in obtaining data that is meaningful to people. Although only one trial was conducted, not everyone may be a firm believer that this study was conclusive. More trials may be needed in order to successfully persuade people that method of study is effective.