Thinking on Paper

by J.H. Barton and V.A. Howard

Book Overview

Most books on writing assume that the sole purpose of writing is communication. These manuals seldom go beyond teaching how to avoid the problems of punctuation, grammar, and style that at one time or... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688048730
• ISBN13: 9780688048730
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 156 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

One of the best books on how to write essays

This book will help any high school or college student write classic 3+2 essays as well as help anyone write well-reasoned essays for publication. Here's some of the things that I particularly liked: "Three propositions" for written communications: "1) Writing is a symbolic activity of meaning-making; 2) Writing for others is a staged performance; and 3) Writing is a tool of understandning as well as of communciation." The authors demonstrate how the writer must first discover what he wants to say ("meaning-making"). Then, the writer must fashion that into something understandable to the reader ("staged performance"). They offer questions the writer needs to ask during the writing process, such as: "What do I want my readers to know?, What do I want my readers to feel? What do I want my readers to do?" The authors also explain why the questions "What?, Why?, Why Not?" are so important to inventive problem-solving. This book details how an essay should be developed mechanically. Their coverage of developing a Thesis Sentence was most helpful for me. Here's their definition of a Thesis Sentence: a rational defense and development of an opinion as precisely worded as possible, or, raising a precise question about something controversial and trying to answer it. The authors spend a good deal of time discussing the development of a Thesis Sentence and then how to develop the ideas that support it. I also found their discussion of Introductions very helpful, particularly that we should not be "Barging into the Topic" nor "Bungling into the Topic" -- both sections in the book describing common errors in Introductions. The authors discuss reasoning and do a great job showing the benefits and pitfalls in Inductive vs Deductive reasoning. After reading the book you'll be most knowledgeable about the differences and the details of how to develop arguments. The authors devote a large proportion of their book to the presentation of your argument to your reader, as opposed to the initial development of your argument. The final section on Grammar was not needed considering the large selection of books on this subject. But the extra Appendix on Inductive and Deductive logic was truly great. Think of this book as a combination of: how to write in general, how to write a reasoned essay, how to think, how to marshal your arguments in the most convincing way for the reader, how to search for truth. It's not a large book as it was written very concisely. I highly recommend this book. John Dunbar Sugar Land, TX

A How-to-Write without being superficial

This a book that really epitomizes clear writing is a function of clear thinking. The first part of the book deals with the process of writing a first draft. I really liked how it laid out the stages and what was the objectives of each stage with being a cookbook. The last parts deal with reasoning for discovery and then presentation. Can be a quick read, but if you take your time and asborb the steps and the thinking behind, you will be a much better writer.

I don't know if I could've written a book without this book

So you've opened a new file and are staring at a blank screen. Now what? Howard and Barton, two Harvard researchers in education, argue in Ch. 1, "Writing Is Thinking," that writing is about generating ideas, not just communicating them, and that writer's block comes from preoccupation with the "performance" aspect of writing (and also from the myth that you need to wait for flashes of insight from a fickle "muse"). Ch. 2, "From First to Last Draft," explains a process that puts concerns about performance at the very end, where they belong: (1) Record every thought you have on your topic--half-formed thoughts, confused thoughts, silly thoughts, sentences, phrases, lists, feelings, questions--quickly, with no concern about clear formulation, aiming for quantity, not quality. (2) Go over these notes and give topical labels to large and small chunks of text. (3) Retype your notes (don't cut 'n' paste), grouping sections by topic. While this step is fairly simple and mechanical, you'll inevitably do a bit of rethinking, ammending, and revising along the way, but without stirring up performance anxiety. (4) Rearrange the topics into a sensible sequence. (5) NOW work on performance issues. The remaining chapters are about organizing ideas into an essay format, making an argument, and grammar and punctuation. These chapters may be helpful too, but I think the real gift of this book is not so much that it helps you write well but that it helps you write instead of not writing. The process works. I can vouch for it. I'm hyper-perfectionistic, but with the help of this book and Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird," I wrote a book without ever getting paralyzed in front of a blank screen.

"A wise, witty, and practical guide to improved writing...."

V.A. Howard and J.H. Barton, are two Harvard University researchers in education. They explore writing as a way of shaping thought and tackle the problem of writers block. I just came across this book in my Harvard Philosophy of Education class taught by Professor V. A. Howard; his course was as delightful and inspiring as his book! This is a MUST for any writers book shelf.

Informative, concise, and witty.

Informative, concise, and witty, this book is a gem. An excellent source of ideas about how to start writing. I've gone back to it many times in the last ten years.