Differences in Writers' Initial Task Representations
Abstract
This exploratory study investigates how writers represent their task to themselves before beginning to write. Using data from verbal protocols, we examine the initial plans of twelve writers (five experts and seven student writers) who were working on an expository writing task. The protocols were coded for types of planning. We also obtained independent measures of the quality of the subjects' plans and of the quality of their texts. The analysis suggests that both the quantity and quality of a writer's initial planning may make a difference in the quality of the final text. We found a positive correlation between the amount of initial planning and text quality, and between the quality of planning and text quality. In particular, we found that writers who developed rhetorical plans (i.e., plans for audience and purpose) tended to produce higher-rated texts. From our analysis, we hypothesize that experienced writers build a rhetorical representation of their task. We defined a rhetorical representation as one which is rich in rhetorical goals and plans relating to the audience, purpose, form and language of the text, and in which the writer integrates his plans to form a coherent theory of the task.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA210433
Entities
People
- Christina Haas
- John R. Hayes
- Karen A. Schriver
- Linda Carey
- Linda Flower
Organizations
- Carnegie Mellon University