Thinking on Paper: Refine, Express, and Actually Generate Ideas by Understanding the Processes of the Mind

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

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 another ensnare the best of writers. Few, if any, of these books explore writing as a way of shaping thought.

V.A. Howard and J.H. Barton, two Harvard researchers in education, take a radically different approach. While they agree with their predecessors that an important function of writing is the clear, direct expression of thought, they point out that many of our thoughts first come into being only when put to paper. By failing to recognize the link between thinking and writing, we fall into the deadlock innappropriately named writer's block.

Thinking on Paper shows how writer's block as well as many other writing problems are engendered by the tendency, supported by traditional approaches, to separate thinking from writing. Drawing on the developing field of symbol theory, Howard and Barton explain why this sepapration is unsound and demonstrate how to improve dramatically our ability to generate and express ideas. For everyone who writes, this is a readable, accessible manual of immense educational and practical value.

Genres: Writing, Reference, Nonfiction, Self Help

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Carrie Poppy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has exactly one good idea and it gets to it immediately. That idea is: don’t attempt to organize your thoughts and then write. Use writing as a private opportunity to organize your thoughts, even if your first several drafts are stream of consciousness garbage. Then use your subsequent editing sessions as your opportunities to “perform” for your readers. There! I said it in a few sentences! Now you don’t need to read this book and be subjected to the 100 pages that Follow, which is almost entirely very dry grammar and logic analysis you learned in 11th grade.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that toggles a little switch in your mind. And once that switch has been flipped, you can't remember how you used to think otherwise. In this case, the 'switch' is the idea that writing has (at least) two distinct phases—the idea generation and clarification phase and the performance phase. "That is because discovering, articulating, and formulating ideas is not the same as criticizing, testing, and reshaping them." Somehow, through many (many!) years of higher education, I never got that memo.

Thinking on Paper has become my go-to guide for any "difficult" writing project. I break up my writing tasks as directed and voila, anxiety is reduced and progress is made. I've literally kissed this book in gratitude! Yes. I have.

[Tyshawn Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in my "formative" years as a writer when I was eighteen and it changed the face of my writing. I think it should be used in every creative writing classroom and i have all of my students use my copy or check it out at the library. If you are a writer, I highly recommend that you get a copy.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The thesis of this book ("Writing is thinking on paper") and the first two chapters are excellent. They reflect my own experience of journal writing and writing in other formats where the purpose is not to create a polished piece, but to clarify thoughts. However, the rest of the book is hopelessly outdated and riddled with terrible advice.

It's strange to read a book that teaches writers to embrace the awful academic writing tics that I have had trained out of me at professional writing jobs and have in turn had to train other writers out of. Examples include telling the reader what you're going to do/say at the beginning of a piece of writing, repeating content three times in the introduction, body, and conclusion of an essay, etc.

I could forgive the awful essay chapter if it wasn't followed by chapters with nothing but the most generic advice, like "Reasoning includes considering pro and con arguments" and "Here's how to distinguish content that answers the question 'What?' from content that answers the question 'Why?'" The book is also padded with the most basic of grammar overviews.

I can see this book being useful only to beginning writers in high school and college, but even so, I'm hoping that we've moved beyond some of the archaic and crumbling formats of teaching writing that have to be unlearned later by people who want to write outside of academia.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, one that's been sitting on my shelf for a long time, is an effective primer for getting thoughts down in the writing and building of the bones and muscles of an essay. I think the authors do a good job, initially, of suggesting and explaining how to get ideas down on paper and use writing to think through ideas, problems, or questions that can be essay topics.

Part II, "Thinking for Writing" starts out strong but soon loses the focus. I felt the authors spent a lot of time on thinking and reasoning and too little time on how to connect those processes to writing. The grammar section feels like filler writing and doesn't add much to the premise and message of the book. I also felt like the last section of Chapter 4, which has to do with inductive and deductive reasoning, and Appendix A, which offers a more in-depth discussion of the same topic, are more fit for an advanced book on the science of logic.

Those detriments aside, "Thinking on Paper" explores and promotes the concept that writing is a tool for thinking. The authors turn the conventional belief - that thinking must happen first before putting pen to paper - on its head by pointing out, quite correctly in my opinion, that thinking happens before and during writing. Writing and thinking are inexorably linked and many of our thoughts only manifest themselves when written out.

[Jefferson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely little book on thinking and writing. The more practical sections on grammar and punctuation are nicely done, and I liked the section on writing essays to develop one's thoughts on a topic. But I loved their key message of using writing to think: generating, composing, and expressing ideas. I do believe that I shall keep this book close to the keyboard and not back on the shelf.

[JD Shaffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting! But really got the most out of the first several pages where the author lays out his main idea and explains it well.

[Lewis Hines · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half was AMAZING; second half was ok.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent short guide on writing to crystallize and polish your own thoughts in addition to writing for communication. Includes small and useful primer on logic.

[Demetrius Rogers]

Excellent