CRITICAL THIINKING, COLLABORATION AND THE WRITING PROCESS

WRITING AS A PROCESS
INTRODUCTION:
In 1992, an educator and journalist named DONALD M. MURRAY proposed that
teachers should “Teach Writing as a Process, not a Product.” This means that writing
consists more than just drafting a paper but rather as three stages; pre-writing, writing
and rewriting (1972)
(Olson, 1999) writing as a process has very important implications: “that writing is first
and foremost a social activity; that the act of writing can be a means of learning and
discovery” this means that when students learn writing as a process, they are more
involved in the process of learning about the subject, other people’s ideas, and their
own writing. While working on the latter, they become aware that they are actually
collaborating on the construction of new ideas and knowledge that is part of an ongoing
scholarly conversation.
THE PRE-WRITING STAGE OF THE WRITING PROCESS
 Choosing a Topic and Limiting It
 Pre-writing stage is defined as “everything that takes place before the
first draft” (Murray, 1972) it begins with brainstorming exercises and
preliminary research to select a topic.
 Asking Research Questions and Establishing the Significance of One’s
Research
 The next helpful step is to barrage the specific topic with questions to
come up with the essay’s main Research Question. It is helpful to begin
with questions that ask who, what, when or where, these should be used
as background research questions.
 Composing a Thesis Statement
 This is the explicit statement of what will be the paper’s central idea, point
or argument that is the main assertion that will be supported by the entire
essay.
 KIM and MICHAEL FLACHMANN (2011) authors of the Prose Reader
say that the thesis is” a contract between [the writer] and [his/her]
readers.” This means that a writer must deliver on the “promise” made by
the thesis statement: that the essay will assert one central point and that
this will be focused on and supported by every paragraph in the essay.
 Preparing a Writing Outline
 An outline consists of three main sections, the introduction, the
development and the conclusion.
 In an academic paper, the introduction typically consist of an interesting
opening to draw the reader into the subject, background information on
the topic, and a statement of the paper’s thesis. The next section, called
the development should be more detailed and specific. The subheadings
 in this section should consist of three or more subtopics that act as
supporting points for essay’s central idea. The final section of the paper
and offline is the conclusion this typically contains a wrap-up or summary
of the essay’s main points and a final point
THE WRITING STAGE IF THE WRITING PROCESS
This is writing or “the act of producing a first draft” according to DONALD MURRAY
(1972) says is the “fastest” part of the writing process, taking up as little as 1% of the
writer’s time.
According to educators MURRAY SUID and WANDA LINCOLN (1989), writing or
drafting is “like making a sketch for painting: the painter doesn’t worry about getting all
the lines perfect the first time”
THE REWRITING STAGE OF THE WRITING PROCESS
This is third stage involves “researching, rethinking, redesigning, rewriting – and finally,
line-by-line editing, the demanding, satisfying process of making every word right”
(Murray, 1972).
The rewriting stage becomes collaborative, not just when the instructor gives the
student writer feedback, but also when student read one another’s essays and comment
on these in a workshop or peer preview session. It is ideal to get concrete feedback
from more than one reader on aspect of content, grammar, mechanical, documentation,
and style, so that later drafts benefit form reader’ suggestions.