donald murray (writer)

 

  • In other words, writing is not what the writer does after the thinking is done; writing is thinking.”[11] Murray also believed it was essential that students care about their
    academic writing, to ensure their writing would be meaningful.

  • [14] Murray advised teachers to avoid making editing corrections in early drafts as meaning is not always discovered by the writer in the first draft.

  • [2] Throughout his book, Crafting a Life, Murray demonstrates his writing process and provides guidelines for readers developing their own writing.

  • In this approach, the student explores their writing as a process that is constantly growing and never quite finished, empowering them to become more independent writers.

  • [9] Many have called Murray’s approach to writing “writing-as-problem-solving”.

  • To demonstrate this, he provides examples of his own writing and along with that, writes what the reader might think or say in response.

  • [15] In the time allowed for multiple drafts, teachers employ Murray’s idea of teaching “unfinished writing”, where teachers can encourage students to feel excited about discovering
    their writing and focus on the meaning of their writing, rather than teachers focusing what is right and wrong in their students’ writing.

  • “In effective writing and, especially in personal-essay writing, the author exposes himself or herself, revealing thoughts and feelings that the reader had also experienced
    but may have denied…and that is the strength of many essays.

  • When considering how to begin his own writing, Murray said, “I remembered them as being unexpected but true to what happens in the essay”.

  • In addressing the complexities of voice in writing, Murray noted the following elements as important to developing a writer’s voice: revealing specifics, the word, the phrase,
    the beat, and the point of view.

  • In 1981, he wrote that revision “is not just clarifying meaning, it is discovering meaning and clarifying it while it is being discovered.” To achieve these ends, Murray argued
    that the writer must “go back again and again and again to consider what the writing means and if the writer can accept, document, and communicate that meaning.

  • In a column published just before his death, he wrote, “Each time I sit down to write I don’t know if I can do it.

  • This approach involves teachers allowing their students to be in the driver’s seat during the writing process; the student discovers where they want the paper to go before
    the teacher begins to correct or edit any writing.

  • [17] Post-process theorists also saw Murray and other proponents of process theory as enabling prescribed rules that limited the writer’s ability to explore through writing
    and harked back to Current Traditional Rhetoric.

  • His check list involved reading for three things: focus, form and voice.

  • [16] While Murray’s teaching strategies were especially popular in the late 20th century, his perspective on the writing process is found in the contemporary classroom for
    both secondary and postsecondary composition.

  • [2] He wrote for many journals, authored several books on the art of writing and teaching, and served as writing coach for several national newspapers.

  • Criticism Because Murray emphasized the importance of the individual writer, composition theorists including James Berlin contended that he neglected the social aspect of
    writing.

 

Works Cited

[‘o Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014. Social Security Administration.
o ^ Jump up to:a b c d Marquard, Bryan (31 December 2006). “Columnist Donald Murray dies at 82”. The Boston Globe. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
o ^ “1954 Winners”. The Pulitzer
Prizes. Columbia University. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
o ^ Romano, Tom (January 2000). “The Living Legacy of Donald Murray”. The English Journal. 3. 89 (3): 74–79. doi:10.2307/822100. JSTOR 822100.
o ^ “Columnist, UNH prof, Donald Murray dies
at 82”. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
o ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Murray, Donald. Crafting a Life in Essay, Story, Poem. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, 1996.
o ^ Murray, Donald (1972). The Leaflet: 11-14. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
o ^
Murray, Donald. “Teach Writing as a Process Not Product”. The Leaflet: 11-14.
o ^ Murray, Donald (1972). “Teach Writing as a Process Not Product”. The Leaflet: 11-14.
o ^ Michaud, Michael (January 1, 2018). “What We Talk About When We Talk About
Donald Murray: Revisiting A Writer Teaches Writing at 50”. Composition Forum. 40.
o ^ Murray, Donald (1981). “Making meaning clear: The logic of revision” (PDF). Journal of basic Writing. 3 (3): 33 – via WAC Clearing House.
o ^ Michaud, Michael
(January 1, 2018). “What We Talk About When We Talk About Donald Murray: Revisiting A Writer Teaches Writing at 50”. Composition Forum. 40.
o ^ Murray, Donald (1981). “Making meaning clear: The logic of revision” (PDF). Journal of Basic Writing.
3 (3): 35–36 – via WAC Clearinghouse.
o ^ Donald Murray (2003). Victor Villanueva (ed.). Cross-Talk in Comp Theory: A Reader (2 ed.). Urbana: NCTE. pp. 3–6 [5].
o ^ Murray, Donald (1981). “Making Meaning Clear: The Logic of Revision”. Journal
of Basic Writing: 88–95.
o ^ Murray, Donald. “Teach Writing as a Process Not Product”. The Leaflet: 11-14.
o ^ Berlin, James (Sep 1988). “Rhetoric and Ideology in the Writing Class” (PDF). College English. 5. 50 (5): 477–494. doi:10.2307/377477.
JSTOR 377477. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
o ^ Stewart, Thomas (2011). “Aloneness and the Complicated Selves of Donald M. Murray”. Composition Studies. 39 (2): 45-60.
o ^ Scanlan, Chip (December 30, 2006). “Don Murray Dies: Writer, Teacher, and
Inspiration to Both”. Poynter Institute. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
o ^ Robinson, Dennis. “Don Murray Taught Writing by Writing”. SeacoastNH. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
o ^ “Boston Globe columnist
Donald Murray dies at 82”. Boston.com News. Associated Press. December 31, 2006. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
o ^ Clark, Roy Peter (March 3, 2011). “The Death and Life of Donald Murray”. Poynter.org. Poynter Institute. Archived from the original on
6 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
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