Blog Post 7

Decisions and Revision: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer
By: Carol Berekenkotter

I. Summary

The author, Carol Berekenkotter, meets a man named Donald Murray at the Conference on College Composition and Communication in Dallas in 1981. She asks him be be her "lab rat" for an experiment she is doing to see the process he goes through when writing a paper. He willing takes part in the experiment and Berekenkotter learns a lot of him and his style of planning, revision, and editing activities.


II. Conversation
This article reminded me a lot Klenine article because he was also doing a research article about how people write articles and their preparation of writing article much like Berkenkotter does.



III. Assigned Exercise  

1.) What was your impression of Murray's writing process as they're described here? How do they compare to yours? What do you do the same or differently?

A: Like any other writer there is a always a planning process that must be done before writing the actual paper. One must revise, and also must edit their paper well to write an effective paper. In this respect I am like Murray. I spend a lot of the time planning so that i am fully knowledgable about the topic i am writing about. I like revising and changing my papers throughly to make sure i am getting well thought out ideas to the reader. Donald though writes for a much larger audience then i have ever wrote for. He writes for his friends, colleagues, and people he trusts. I write for my teacher and that is really it.


3). How did this study change Berkenkotter's understanding of writing processes, particularly planning and revision?

A: Berkenkotter originally developed code categories for revising activities. What she discovered that the codes where being doubled for both revising and planning. This was a sign that the two activities were unable to be separated. When Donald saw that revisions needed to be made he put planning and writing into one separate thing called reconcieving.


1. (A&E) I would characterize my level of writing experience to be quite high. I, like many of my peers, have been writing papers for the majority of my life. I feel as though my teachers have definitely prepared me well for writing all around quality papers. I think the amount of time i spend on planning is key reason as to why I am a good writer. Digging deeper into research helps you get a better understand on the topic you are writing about. I think the planning and preparation before writing a paper is the make or break moment on if you paper will be good or not.



Meta Moment

One thing I learned from the Berkenkotter and Murray readings that I could use to write more effectively is that I need to write intricate style goes for my paper. I think that this would help me figure out what I am trying to achieve with the paper along with giving my self a outline to what it is I'm writing about.


IV. Personal reflection

Overall I think this article was helpful in showing me the importance of planning, revising, and editing my paper. I think that Berkenkotter enlightened many people with this article by showing the methods of an extremely talented writer. Not only did she show his successes but also his down falls and errors in writing a paper.