Why do capable students and scholars fail to complete writing projects? What are "writing blocks," and how can writers overcome them? Why are writing blocks more common for advanced and experienced writers who are not supposed to need help? And why are they more common in the humanities than
in the sciences? Keith Hjortshoj answers these and other questions in Understanding Writing Blocks. This book demystifies the causes of writing blocks, which are often ignored, misunderstood, or attributed to obscure psychological disorders. Hjortshoj examines blocks instead as real writing problems
arising from specific misconceptions, writing behaviors, and rhetorical factors present at different stages of the writing process. In a lively and informative style, he defines the nature of writing blocks, examines their causes, and offers advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and
professional writers the diagnostic tools and strategies necessary for getting their work done. Although appropriate for any writing course, Understanding Writing Blocks targets advanced composition students and graduate writers who are most likely to encounter immobilizing obstacles, and whose
experience supports the author's assertion that a writing block is usually "an affliction of the good writer." Hjortshoj draws his material and evidence from extensive research, interviews, and consultations with blocked writers from his twenty-five years of teaching. Especially helpful to students
working on dissertations and other complex projects, Understanding Writing Blocks illuminates the factors that undermine writing ability in a wide range of endeavors.
Why do capable students and scholars fail to complete writing projects? What are "writing blocks," and how can writers overcome them? Why are writing blocks more common for advanced and experienced writers who are not supposed to need help? And why are they more common in the humanities than
in the sciences? Keith Hjortshoj answers these and other questions in Understanding Writing Blocks. This book demystifies the causes of writing blocks, which are often ignored, misunderstood, or attributed to obscure psychological disorders. Hjortshoj examines blocks instead as real writing problems
arising from specific misconceptions, writing behaviors, and rhetorical factors present at different stages of the writing process. In a lively and informative style, he defines the nature of writing blocks, examines their causes, and offers advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and
professional writers the diagnostic tools and strategies necessary for getting their work done. Although appropriate for any writing course, Understanding Writing Blocks targets advanced composition students and graduate writers who are most likely to encounter immobilizing obstacles, and whose
experience supports the author's assertion that a writing block is usually "an affliction of the good writer." Hjortshoj draws his material and evidence from extensive research, interviews, and consultations with blocked writers from his twenty-five years of teaching. Especially helpful to students
working on dissertations and other complex projects, Understanding Writing Blocks illuminates the factors that undermine writing ability in a wide range of endeavors.
Preface
1. Are Writing Blocks Real?
A Personal Problem?
What Blocks Are Not
Thought and Movement
Blocks Are Real Writing Problems
2. Product and Process
The Value of Privacy
Stage Fright in Rhearsal
What Are You Actually Doing?
The Phases of the Writing Process
3. Lines, Loops, and Delays
Making Lines Out of Loops
Euclidian Myths
Spiral Progress
Notwriting
4. Methods, Standards, and Premature Judgments
Many Right Ways
Whose Standards Are You Trying to Meet?
The Challenge of Governing Expectations
5. Transitional Blocks in Undergraduate Studies
Diagnostics
Developmental Blocks in the Transition to College
Facing the Necessity of Revision
Institutional Causes and Unfortunate Solutions
6. What Is Your Thesis?
Endless Introductions
What Writers Need
Liminality
Rhetorical Supports in the Sciences
7. Putting Writing in Its Place
Making the Next Move
Syntactic Block
Settling for Less
Gender, Time, and Space
8. Scholarly Production
Synopsis
A Hidden Category
Binge Writng Versus Moderation
Costs and Benefits
9. What Can You Do?
The Normality of Writing Blocks
The Reality of a Writing Block
What You Can Do
A Note to Teachers and Advisors
What Teachers Can Do
What Advisors Can Do
References
Index
TEXTBOOK
" . . . fills a void in books about the complex craft of writing .
. . debunks the notion that a particular personality type causes
'interference with movement through the writing process' . . .
provide[s] a helpful diagnostic for writers, teachers, and advisors
to use as a starting point for their own analyses or for those of
writers who come to them for help. The advice [Hjortshoj] offers to
MA or PhD candidates seems especially insightful."--Deborah
Anne
Hooker, Issues in Writing, Fall/Winter 2001
"I've never seen a book like this one; it is both interesting and
useful."--Rachel Hadas, Rutgers University, Newark
"Very good for an upper-level writing class because it focuses on
problems that serious students experience."--Thad Cockrill,
Southwest Tennessee Community College
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