Topic 3

The Writing Process for Academic Writing

Academic writing is not an event that occurs in one setting but a process that occurs
over time. And this process is necessarily messy. All writers think, plan, struggle,
revise and re-write about it in order to discover exactly what they want to say and how
they want to say it. This is all part of the process. Each step of this process is revealed
below.
An overview of the writing process.
1. Research to gather data. Usually this means reading and taking careful notes.
However, data can also be collected other ways like observations, questioning etc
2. Pre-writing. As the name implies, this is what is done before writing. This
involves things such as planning, creating outlines, generating ideas, or finding
structure.
3. First-draft. This is the first attempt to get ideas on the page.
4. Revise. This is the heart of the writing process. Here the writer re-reads, reshapes,
gets feedback, and revises many times.
5. Editing. Editing should occur only after a piece has been revised several times.
Here the writer looks for spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors.
6. Share. This is the very last step. This is where the paper is sent out into the world.
Step 1: Research to Gather Data.
You cannot write unless you have something to write about. Thus, the first step is to
research to gather data. This is usually done by reading and taking careful notes.
However, data can also be collected through interviews, observations, inquiries, or
surveys. This provides the information necessary to write. Skipping or minimizing
effort here makes writing much more difficult in all subsequent phases. Whether you
are doing expository writing, persuasive writing, or inquiry, having a cohesive body
of information in front of you makes the process of writing much easier and greatly
enhances the quality of your final product.
Step 2: Pre-Writing
Once you have gathered data and taken notes, the next step is to generate ideas and
find a basic yet flexible initial structure. Below are described five strategies for this.
Note that there is no single strategy that is best for every person or every writing
situation. Find the one that works best for you. Adopt and adapt.
• Brainstorm and list. Use a yellow legal pad or sheet of note paper and start listing
ideas as quickly as you can. After you have a paper filled with scratches and messy
sentences, then look for patterns and groups. Use these to create a very flexible,
beginning and then begin to outline.
• Brainstorm and group. Start with your writing topic. Then generate as many ideas
as quickly as you can related to your topic without regard to evaluation. That is,
whenever you brainstorm you should include the silly, far-fetched ideas along with
the more pragmatic ones. These ideas that may be consider conceptual outliers serve
to stretch the boundaries of your thinking enabling you to think more broadly. Next,
look for groups or patterns. Then organize the ideas into groups to create sections and
paragraphs.
• Semantic webs. The semantic web allows you to generate ideas at the same time as
you create structure. It tends to create a more visual structure. First, draw a circle in
the middle of your paper and write your topic in the circle. Then, think of three or
four ideas related to your topic. Each of these will become a node. Next, list as many
ideas as you can related to each node. Finally, use this flexible structure to begin
writing. Each node of your web will become sections or paragraphs.
• Talking. Talking through your writing project or explaining it to a friend or
colleague helps to organize the ideas in your head and detect any missing parts.
Encourage friends and colleagues to ask questions or add ideas.
• Power writing. Power writing helps you get in touch with your unconscious.
Starting with your writing topic, write as many things as quickly as you can for one to
three minutes. Do not overly think here. The goal is to create an abundance of ideas,
both good and bad. Do not let your pen stop moving. Use free association to catch the
first thing that pops into your mind. Let your mind travel. It does not matter if you
jump from one idea to the next or if your ideas are jumbled. You will get it
straightened out later.
Step 3: First Draft - Sloppy Copy
The first draft is your initial attempt to get ideas on paper. The first draft becomes an
external version of your working memory used to hold all your thoughts and ideas as
you generate and organize them and look for associations and supporting ideas. The
first draft should be a poorly written, unorganized pile of garbage. Only then can you
start to pull things away and begin to see some of the good ideas emerging. You have
to throw that first blob of clay on the potter’s wheel before you begin shaping it.
Step 4: Revision
Revision (re-vision) means to see again or in this case, see again and again and again.
Revision is at the heart of the super-secret writing process. The first draft is like a
potter throwing the first glob of clay on the wheel. Revision is where the potter begins
to shape the clay. A potter would not spin the wheel once or twice and consider the
pot to be finished. There is always a great deal of shaping and reshaping. New clay is
added and taken away. The same applies to academic writing. Expect to revise a
minimum of four times, but usually ten to fifteen times. Do not worry about spelling
and punctuation here; rather, try to find a logical organization and listen to see if your
sentences and paragraphs make sense.
Step 5: Editing
Editing is the fifth step. Here, you run your writing through a spell check program and
concentrate on correct grammar, punctuation, word usage, and citations. It is also
helpful at this stage to have others read your work and in order to provide feedback.
This will give you a sense of how the ideas are playing inside the readers’ head. This
feedback also enables you to identify those parts of your paper that may be unclear or
confusing. This may bring you back to an earlier step. The super-secret writing
process is recursive. Very rarely will you move through the steps in a nice, orderly
linear fashion. Most often you will need to repeat steps several times.
Step 6: Sharing or Publishing
The last step is to share your writing with the world.
Topic 4
RHETORIC: PERSUASION AND IDENTIFICATION
What is Rhetoric?
The definition of rhetoric commonly used is “the art of persuasion.” Rhetoric is
everywhere and can involve any kind of text including speech, written word, images,
movies, documentaries, the news, etc. So it is important to understand how to
navigate the murky waters of persuasion and rhetoric.
Aristotle defined rhetoric as “an ability, in each particular case, to see the available
means of persuasion”. Since then, Aristotle’s definition of rhetoric has been reduced
in many situations to mean simply “persuasion.” At its best, this simplification of
rhetoric has led to a long tradition of people associating rhetoric with politicians,
lawyers, or other occupations noted for persuasive speaking. At its worst, the
simplification of rhetoric has led people to assume that rhetoric is merely something
that manipulative people use to get what they want (usually regardless of moral or
ethical concerns).
However, over the last century or so, the academic definition and use of “rhetoric” has
evolved to include any situation in which people consciously communicate with each
other. In brief, individual people tend to perceive and understand just about
everything differently from one another (this difference varies to a lesser or greater
degree depending on the situation, of course). This expanded perception has led a
number of more contemporary rhetorical philosophers to suggest that rhetoric deals
with more than just persuasion. Instead of just persuasion, rhetoric is the set of
methods people use to identify with each other—to encourage each other to
understand things from one another’s perspectives. From interpersonal relationships
to international peace treaties, the capacity to understand or modify another’s
perspective is one of the most vital abilities that humans have. Hence, understanding
rhetoric in terms of “identification” helps us better communicate and evaluate all such
situations.
Rhetorical Strategies for Persuasion
According to Aristotle, rhetoric uses three primary modes of persuasion: ethos, logos,
and pathos. A good argument will generally use a combination of all three appeals to
make its case.
 Ethos or the ethical appeal is based on the character, credibility, or reliability
of the writer stating that his or her background, credentials, or experience
should convince you of the accuracy of the argument.
 Logos appeals to logic or reason-often citing facts, figures, and statistics.
 Pathos appeals to emotion, empathetic responses, or shared moral values.
The Rhetorical Strategy of Identification
In rhetoric, the term identification refers to any of the wide variety of means by which
a writer or speaker may establish a shared sense of values, attitudes, and interests with
an audience. Kenneth Burke was the first to use the term identification in a rhetorical
sense.
"Rhetoric . . . works its symbolic magic through identification," says R.L. Heath. [An
author] persuades an audience by the use of identifications; his act of
persuasion may be for the purpose of causing the audience to identify with his
interests; and the he draws on identification of interests to establish rapport between
himself and his audience. So, there is no chance of our keeping apart the meanings of
persuasion, identification, and communication (Burke, 1950).
Example: "You're an improbable person, Eve, and so am I. We have that in common.
Also a contempt for humanity, an inability to love and be loved, insatiable ambition--
and talent. We deserve each other . . . and you realize and you agree how completely
you belong to me.”
(George Sanders as Addison DeWitt in the film All About Eve, 1950)
Why Do I Need to Think Rhetorically?
A rhetorical analysis asks you to “examine the interactions between a text, an author,
and an audience.” However, before you can begin the analysis you must first
understand the historical context of the text and the rhetorical situation. To locate a
text’s historical context, you must determine where in history the text is situated—
was it written in the past five years? Ten? One hundred? You should think about how
that might affect the information being delivered. Once you determine the background
of the text, you should determine the rhetorical situation (i.e. who, what,
when, where, why). The following questions may help:
 What is the topic of the text?
 Who is the author? What are the author’s credentials, what sort of experiences has
he or she had? How do his or her credentials, or lack of, connect (or not) with the
topic of the text?
 Who is the target audience? Who did the author have in mind when he or she
created the text?
 Who is the unintended audience? Are they related in anyway to the target
audience?
 What was the occasion, historical context, or setting? What was happening
during the time period when the text was produced? Where was
the text distributed or published?
 How does the topic relate to the author, audience, and occasion?
 What is the author’s purpose? Why did he or she create the text?
 In what medium was the text originally produced?
Meaning can change based on when, where, and why a text was produced and
meaning can change depending on who reads the text. Rhetorical situations affect the
meaning of a text because it may have been written for a specific audience, in a
specific place, and during a specific time. An important part of the rhetorical situation
is audience and since many of the articles were not written with you in mind, the
meaning you interpret or recognize might be different from the author’s original target
audience. For example, if you read an article about higher education written in 2019,
then you, the reader, are connected with and understand the context of the topic.
However, if
you were asked to read a text about higher education written in 1876, you would
probably have a hard time understanding and connecting to it because you are not the
target audience and the text’s context (or rhetorical situation) has changed. Further,
the occasion for writing might be very different, too. Articles or scholarly works that
are at least five years old or older, may include out of date references and may not
represent relevant or accurate information. Older works require that you investigate
significant historical moments or changes that have occurred since the writing of text.
Topic 5
Elements of Rhetoric
A key component of rhetorical analysis involves thinking carefully about the
“rhetorical situation” of a text. You can think of the rhetorical situation as
the context or set of circumstances out of which a text arises. Any time anyone is
trying to make an argument, one is doing so out of a particular context, one that
influences and shapes the argument that is made. When we do a rhetorical analysis,
we look carefully at how the rhetorical situation (context) shapes the rhetorical act
(the text).
We can understand the concept of a rhetorical situation if we examine it piece by
piece, by looking carefully at the rhetorical concepts from which it is built. The
philosopher Aristotle organized these concepts as author, audience, setting, purpose,
and text. Answering the questions about these rhetorical concepts below will give you
a good sense of your text’s rhetorical situation – the starting point for rhetorical
analysis.
We will use the example of President Trump’s inaugural address (the text) to sift
through these questions about the rhetorical situation (context).
Author
The “author” of a text is the creator – the person who is communicating in order to try
to effect a change in his or her audience. An author doesn’t have to be a single person
or a person at all – an author could be an organization. To understand the rhetorical
situation of a text, one must examine the identity of the author and his or her
background.
 What kind of experience or authority does the author have in the subject about
which he or she is speaking?
 What values does the author have, either in general or with regard to this particular
subject?
 How invested is the author in the topic of the text? In other words, what affects the
author’s perspective on the topic?
 Example of author analysis for the rhetorical situation: (President Trump’s
Inaugural Address) President Trump was a first-term president and someone who had
not previously held political office. He did not yet have experience with running the
country. He is, however, a wealthy businessman and had a great deal of experience in
the business world. His political affiliation is with the Republican Party – the
conservative political party in America.
Audience
In any text, an author is attempting to engage an audience. Before we can analyze
how effectively an author engages an audience, we must spend some time thinking
about that audience. An audience is any person or group who is the intended recipient
of the text and also the person/people the author is trying to influence. To understand
the rhetorical situation of a text, one must examine who the intended audience is by
thinking about these things:
 Who is the author addressing?
o Sometimes this is the hardest question of all. We can get this information of “who is
the author addressing” by looking at where an article is published. Be sure to pay
attention to the newspaper, magazine, website, or journal title where the text is
published. Often, you can research that publication to get a good sense of who reads
that publication.
 What is the audience’s demographic information (age, gender, etc.)?
 What is/are the background, values, and interests of the intended audience?
 How open is this intended audience to the author?
 What assumptions might the audience make about the author?
 In what context is the audience receiving the text?
 Example of audience analysis for the rhetorical situation: (President Trump’s
Inaugural Address) Inaugural addresses are delivered to “the American people”; one
can assume that all Americans are the intended audience. However, Americans were
divided at the moment of President Trump’s election, with some voters very happy
that he was elected and others upset by it. Those opinions tended to split along party
lines: Republicans tended to support Trump, whereas Democrats were critical of him.
Republicans may be making the assumption that President Trump would be a great
leader; Democrats were likely making the assumption that he would be a bad
leader. As a candidate, President Trump (like all political candidates) spent most of
his time in speeches trying to rally his base of supporters (his audience – Republican
voters). In the inaugural address, he knows that his intended audience, his Republican
base, is watching and listening with support. But there may be others who are
watching his speech who are not a part of the intended audience, and as president, he
likely wishes to engage and to reach out to even the Democrats who rejected him.
Setting
Nothing happens in a vacuum, and that includes the creation of any text. Essays,
speeches, photos, political ads – any text – was written in a specific time and/or place,
all of which can affect the way the text communicates its message. To understand the
rhetorical situation of a text, we can identify the particular occasion or event that
prompted the text’s creation at the particular time it was created.
 Was there a debate about the topic that the author of the text addresses? If so, what
are (or were) the various perspectives within that debate?
 Did something specific occur that motivated the author to speak out?
 Example of setting analysis for the rhetorical situation: (President Trump’s
Inaugural Address): The occasion of President Trump giving this speech is his
ielection to the presidency. All presidents are expected to give a speech at their
inauguration, therefore, the newly elected President Trump was required to give one.
Purpose
The purpose of a text blends the author with the setting and the audience. Looking at a
text’s purpose means looking at the author’s motivations for creating it. The author
has decided to start a conversation or join one that is already underway. Why has he
or she decided to join in? In any text, the author may be trying to inform, to convince,
to define, to announce, or to activate. Can you tell which one of those general
purposes your author has?
 What is the author hoping to achieve with this text?
 Why did the author decide to join the “conversation” about the topic?
 What does the author want from their audience? What does the author want the
audience to do once the text is communicated?
 Example of purpose analysis for the rhetorical situation: (President Trump’s
Inaugural Address): President Trump’s purpose in the inaugural address was to set
the tone for his presidency, to share his vision with Americans, and to attempt to unite
the country and prepare it for moving forward with his agenda.
Text
In what format or medium is the text being made: image? written essay? speech?
song? protest sign? meme? sculpture?
 What is gained by having a text composed in a particular format/medium?
 What limitations does that format/medium have?
 What opportunities for expression does that format/medium have (that perhaps
other formats do not have?)
 Example of text analysis for the rhetorical situation: (President Trump’s Inaugural
Address) Inaugural addresses are expected for each president. They are delivered in
Washington DC – always in the same spot. The tone is formal. Inaugural addresses
generally lay out a vision for the incoming president’s term.
A Note about Audience:
What is the Difference between an Audience and a Reader?
Thinking about audience can be a bit tricky. Your audience is the person or group that
you intend to reach with your writing. We sometimes call this the intended audience –
the group of people to whom a text is intentionally directed. But any text likely also
has an unintended audience, a reader (or readers) who read it even without being the
intended recipient. The reader might be the person you have in mind as you write, the
audience you’re trying to reach, but they might be some random person you’ve never
thought of a day in your life. You can’t always know much about random readers, but
you should have some understanding of who your audience is. It’s the audience that
you want to focus on as you shape your message.