Choices and Order
In my sessions with students, order has consistently been one of the most challenging issues to address. Sometimes, a paper just doesn’t seem to go anywhere—it may have good sentences and interesting ideas, but fails to make a point or a solid statement. Other times, a paper may have a good thesis and even a good conclusion, but the rest of the paper just doesn’t successfully connect the two. And other times, a paper just feels wrong—although I may not know why it is wrong or how to fix it, I can tell there is a problem.
Maybe it is so difficult to talk to student writers about order because I don’t know the most correct and most effective order for every paper—I usually don’t even know it for my own papers. It many cases, like Chris mentioned, order is arbitrary—it changes and evolves over time and from place to place. It isn’t a fixed formula, but a choice made by a writer. Sometimes, it can be the most important choice of a piece of writing, but sometimes it can only get in the way.
During the summer months, I like to go to Causey Dam to cliff jump, kayak, and hike. From my house, I can take Highway 84 up Weber Canyon, or drive across town to 12th street and go up Ogden Canyon. Both routes get me to the same place near Pineview Dam where I can continue up Monte Cristo to Causey—the path is different, but the destination is the same. With some papers—although there may be more than two paths to choose from—the destination is the most important element. As long as the writer leads the reader to the right place, she has been successful.
But suppose that on my way to Causey I wanted to show my friend the entrance to the Snowbasin ski resort. If we drive up Ogden Canyon, we could easily get to Snowbasin, but we might have to backtrack to get back on the road to Causey. On the other hand, if we chose Weber Canyon, we would also have to cross Trapper’s Loop and we would pass the entrance to Snowbasin on the way without losing any time or retracing our path. In this scenario, the destination is the same, but the road that we chose is not merely arbitrary, but an important part of our agenda.
Just as the choice to take Weber or Ogden Canyon on my way to Causey may or may not be important on a given day, the order of a specific paper may be more or less important in different circumstances. If the writer has led the reader to the right place and past the desired landmarks, he has done a good job. But what if my friend wanted to take I-15, or Riverdale Road to get to Causey Dam? No matter how pleasant the ride, we would never reach our destination—we would be lost and frustrated. Some students are on the right road—they just need to define clearly their starting point, where they want to end up, and what they want to cover on the way. Other students—although not that many in my experience so far—don’t even seem to be on the right road. They are the hard ones to handle; they need serious directions to get back on course.
As we have discussed, writing has a lot to do with choice. When a writer chooses one path, he often has to eliminate many others—I can’t take both canyons up to Causey, I have to choose just one. In the Writing Center, we can’t make all the decisions for the students, but we can help them see the destination and allow them to choose a path that will get them there.
Maybe it is so difficult to talk to student writers about order because I don’t know the most correct and most effective order for every paper—I usually don’t even know it for my own papers. It many cases, like Chris mentioned, order is arbitrary—it changes and evolves over time and from place to place. It isn’t a fixed formula, but a choice made by a writer. Sometimes, it can be the most important choice of a piece of writing, but sometimes it can only get in the way.
During the summer months, I like to go to Causey Dam to cliff jump, kayak, and hike. From my house, I can take Highway 84 up Weber Canyon, or drive across town to 12th street and go up Ogden Canyon. Both routes get me to the same place near Pineview Dam where I can continue up Monte Cristo to Causey—the path is different, but the destination is the same. With some papers—although there may be more than two paths to choose from—the destination is the most important element. As long as the writer leads the reader to the right place, she has been successful.
But suppose that on my way to Causey I wanted to show my friend the entrance to the Snowbasin ski resort. If we drive up Ogden Canyon, we could easily get to Snowbasin, but we might have to backtrack to get back on the road to Causey. On the other hand, if we chose Weber Canyon, we would also have to cross Trapper’s Loop and we would pass the entrance to Snowbasin on the way without losing any time or retracing our path. In this scenario, the destination is the same, but the road that we chose is not merely arbitrary, but an important part of our agenda.
Just as the choice to take Weber or Ogden Canyon on my way to Causey may or may not be important on a given day, the order of a specific paper may be more or less important in different circumstances. If the writer has led the reader to the right place and past the desired landmarks, he has done a good job. But what if my friend wanted to take I-15, or Riverdale Road to get to Causey Dam? No matter how pleasant the ride, we would never reach our destination—we would be lost and frustrated. Some students are on the right road—they just need to define clearly their starting point, where they want to end up, and what they want to cover on the way. Other students—although not that many in my experience so far—don’t even seem to be on the right road. They are the hard ones to handle; they need serious directions to get back on course.
As we have discussed, writing has a lot to do with choice. When a writer chooses one path, he often has to eliminate many others—I can’t take both canyons up to Causey, I have to choose just one. In the Writing Center, we can’t make all the decisions for the students, but we can help them see the destination and allow them to choose a path that will get them there.
posted by Anonymous at 11:13 PM
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