Keywords

writing strategies, writing process, transferable skills

Abstract

By focusing on specific strategies that they could apply to different stages of the writing process, Deborah Dean helped students acquire control over their writing in varying contexts.

I would never think of teaching a reading strategy that worked for only one text. And students do not consider predicting or summarizing to be strategies unique to a specific text, either. Why, then, do students so often look at writing strategies as practices useful for only one assignment? Why do they complete freewrites or webs after they have finished the paper? Or "mess up" a copy of a paper just to make a pretend rough draft, as if these processes were products in themselves instead of strategies to help them write more effectively?

Original Publication Citation

“Strategic Writing: Moving Beyond the Classroom Assignment.” English Journal 95.2 (2005): 82-88.