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Critical Thinking and Writing: Seeing What I Think and Going from There

By Mona Pelkey

The best thing to do is just start. That’s what many of us tell students who suffer from writer’s block, isn’t it? Sometimes even the most loquacious can suffer from writer’s block. I find that this month I have been suffering from this phenomenon more than usual. There are many new distractions to blur my focus on writing: a household disrupted by both moving and the assimilation of a new tenant upstairs and an extra person in our spare bedroom; a litter of premature puppies that beg for constant care; the percussive hiss-chunk of the nail gun as my husband continues to remodel. In addition, I find that since I am tutoring online, rather than face-to-face, it is sometimes more difficult to find the inspiration needed to write because as a teacher I thrive on social interaction with students. However, in my reflections about why I am having such difficulty in beginning to write, I realize that I am really not much different from many students I have worked with. It is this realization that reminds me of the genuine struggle many students encounter as they procrastinate in writing a paper.

There are many reasons why students put off writing papers: they say they focus better under pressure, they “hate” writing, they dislike the topics they are assigned. Sometimes they just don’t know what to say, perhaps because they know little to nothing about the subject matter. Sometimes they suffer from perfectionistic tendencies; they believe that they must begin at the beginning with a flawless and unchanging thesis statement, they believe that each word must be perfectly spelled, in perfect order, and that the paper must be completed in one draft. They may also believe that a paper is merely an end result, something to be endured on the quest for good grades and graduation. If they are aware that a good paper is developed in stages, they may liken it to the metaphor of the caterpillar that can develop in stages, over time, metamorphosing into a beautiful butterfly. What they may not realize is that the paper is additionally the physical manifestation of the thought process itself, and that our thoughts are not “finished” the first time around, either.

For many years, I have quoted well-known author, essayist, and poet Erica Jong, in order to illustrate to students one very important reason why they must write: “It is for this, partly, that I write. How can I know what I think unless I see what I write?” It is partly the very exercise of putting words on the page that helps one to focus on his/her thoughts rather than the distractions. One’s hands are involved in the keyboarding/writing, and one’s eyes are directed toward the thoughts as they appear on the screen/page. It is not merely attentional focus that is important here; it is that, in the revision process, one must wrap one’s head around the logic and the syntax of the written ideas expressed. It is this physical and mental process that teaches students how to think critically as well as research a topic and practice written communication skills.
The word “revision” is generally understood as a reference to the editing process. The interesting thing about the term is that it also implies “re-vision,” or a “re-seeing” of the thoughts as they appear on the page. This is important, because as a writing tutor I find myself perpetually reminding my online students that they must reconsider their words from the perspective of their intended audience. They must “re-see” their thoughts through the eyes of another person. It is in this re-seeing that students begin to discover how they communicate their ideas to others, and how they might be perceived. They also begin to consider the possible flaws in their logical arguments as they consider how another might attempt to prove that their ideas are outright wrong.

The fear of being wrong in unforgiving black-and-white and risking being judged as foolish is a real roadblock for many developing writers. Seeing oneself as a writer means also acknowledging oneself as a risk-taker. Jong notes that “No one ever found wisdom without also being a fool. Writers, alas, have to be fools in public, while the rest of the human race can cover its tracks.” Writers are developers of ideas. Even when the written work is “finished,” there is more that could be considered, explored, or tweaked. Helping those who dare to write to learn to be better thinkers and better writers is a challenging endeavor. Those who attempt to do so are better equipped to help if they are cognizant that writing is a developmental, risk-taking, and ongoing critical thinking process that just happens to manifest itself in print.

There—I have done it. I have written the article; I have a product for publication. But even more importantly, as I painstakingly produced it, I practiced “just starting,” I free-wrote for a little bit, attempting to make connections between my life and the academic subject at hand, and eventually stumbled upon what I really wanted to talk about. It was somewhere, trapped in my brain, rattling the bars, waiting for someone or something to find the key to open the cell. I put the thoughts that were in the forefront of my brain into print, and then wrote past my distractions. I did some revision, reading my piece aloud, hearing and re-seeing my thoughts and refining them a bit (it was not until I saw the word “revision” in print that I thought of the metaphor of “re-seeing,” and it was not until I heard my own words that I realized that I repeated some words too often). If my sole purpose was to create a “finished” product to impress my readers with my skills as an author, I would probably chop off the first couple of paragraphs and write a new introduction in the next revision. But, in the interest of modeling my thought process, in the hopes that something I have touched upon will help someone else help writers, I will allow the slightly off-topic beginning paragraphs to remain, and take the risk of being thought a fool.

Questions or comments? Contact the author at mpelkey@learningassistance.com.

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