Mr. Lane v. Murray: An Epic Battle

My first experience with writing essays was in a tenth grade history class, oddly enough. In preparation for the AP test, my teacher felt it was important to learn how to write a solid essay in the shortest amount of time as possible. His formula was simple: introduction/thesis paragraph, three body paragraphs to support the thesis, and conclusion. If you have an extra two minutes, outline in the margins before you begin. That sounds far too easy, but I've found that this method can be modified to apply to almost any writing project.

This method of writing seems to conflict with Murray's approach. My primary goal when writing was to create a product to be judged. There was neither the time nor the motivation for hours upon hours of prewriting. Murry's open-ended approach does not consider that students sometimes face unavoidable time constraints when writing.

The process Murry suggested sounds wonderful, but it is hardly practical to assume that beginning writers will put it into practice, even when they do have an unlimited amount of time on their hands. These writers need to see results as motivation to improve; several dozen drafts may not be enough for them.