Works Cited

                                                         

                                                                Works Cited




     Murray, Donald M.  "Before Writing: Remember What Makes Writing Easy."  SCIWAY.  University of New Hampshire.  Web.  20, April 2012.<http://www.sciway.net/edu/k12/cet9596/murray.html>.

     Murray, Donald M. "The Listening Eye, Reflections on the Writing Conference."  College English 41.1 (1979). Print.

     Murray, Donald M.  "The Maker's Eye."  Writer  111.10 (1998): 20-22. Print.

     Murray, Donald M.  "One Writer's Curriculum."  The English Journal  80.4 (1991): 16-20.  Print.

     Murray, Donald M. "Write before Writing."  College Composition and Communication 29.4 (1978): 375-381.  Print.

   

Murray Exploratory Essay by Nina Uppal

Was Murray mad to say that writing is not a product, but a process and when we judge it by it's final product instead of looking at how students write, we are robbing the students of their right to find meaning, their right to discovery on their own?  He proposed something that sounds crazy and defiant to many teachers who are stuck with the tradition that all writing is literature and should be looked at with a critical lens that can wreak havoc on the writing itself.  

This process is of creativity; it is of discovery of meaning.  It is a process of delivering that meaning in a unique way.  But how do we measure the process?  How do we go home with the writer and watch her make her choices, choosing one word instead of another?  How do we define what is right and wrong in that process?  It seems like all we sometimes have is the final product and we have no way of knowing how the writer got there and where they need assistance. 

When I was in high school I was always waiting for someone to talk to me about how we put the words on the page, how we make sentences, basically I wanted someone to talk to me about the process.  But we are left alone with the process of writing; it is a lonely process.  So what do we talk about to our student’s when we talk about writing process?   I would say that we say what Murray would say, that writing is a discovery of ourselves.  The students are to discover the meaning of their lives through the discovery of how to communicate that meaning.  We also create the meaning while observing it.  

When Murray suggests that all writing is autobiographical, he is suggesting that we are contained in the writing itself.  Our minds, our bodies, our histories, and our thinking is all present within the text.  We cannot ignore that our writing represents who we are.  It may be that we are even writing the same theme, over and over again, in different genres and different modes for different audiences.

When I look over the many writings in different genres that I have done, I do find a similar note in all of them.  I find there is a longing, a personal longing to be defined and a search for inner peace that I am looking for in all my writing.  I find that I often write about my family and I write about a woman striving to be heard.  With my voice I am searching for my voice throughout my writing.  Our voice is always autobiographical; it is the way we communicate through words, our perception of the world.

Yet there is still this thing called objectivity.  Does it exist?  Even if I am writing a newspaper article, it is the very article I choose to write that is a part of my being.  My choices, even when I am writing something that is completely fact based, the facts I choose to put in there represent my self, my leanings, my opinions.  I don’t think there is such a thing as objectivity.  I think it is something that is made up by western culture so those in power can pretend like the choices they make are the right choices.  For example, in the media, the things that they choose to cover and not cover, are all the choices they make whether they cover those things factually or not.  And even if they cover the stories factually, those facts are chosen by the writers and editors.   

The voice in every piece is always autobiographical, however this voice cannot be heard if I don’t make myself clear by using the correct standards of grammar and writing as a whole.  The meaning of what I am saying can be swayed and misunderstood if I don’t use the language properly.  But what if I am trying to make a point by misusing the language?  Murray says you can create your own words sometimes, but what about creating your own language?  It is too ambitious? Will you not be able to communicate with anyone, if everyone is speaking in their own language?  Is that why we have standards?

On the one hand I want to be totally unique, but on the other hand I want to be understood.  So how do I manipulate the language as to be my own person, by using words that I did not even create?  Someone else made up this mode of thinking that I am using, so how can I use it creatively to come up with the meaning that I am searching for?  In the end, I agree with Murray that it is all about meaning.  I could string a bunch of letters together, but if they did not mean anything to anyone, than what is the point?  But I want so badly to create something that has never been created before.  I want to say a sentence that no one has ever said before.  If I say, “The cockroach ate the flamingo,” it may be a sentence that no one in this universe has ever said.  But what does it mean?  Maybe it represents the little guy, taking over the big guy.  Maybe it does mean something, but I have to personally make it mean something.  I can turn it into a poem or a short story the genre is up to me.  But the point is to create meaning.

When I am teaching writing what I want from my students is to create and recreate themselves through their writing.  I want them to find the right words, through the writing process, as Murray suggests, and I want them to create meaning by investing themselves in the writing that they do.  I want them to realize that their writing is a reflection of themselves.  The choices they make, the words that spin from their minds, the sentences they put together, are all mirrors into their minds. 

This mirror starts when we begin reflecting on what we will write in the first place.  The writing before writing is also vital to the process of writing.  The prewriting, Murray states, will take longer than all the other steps in the writing process.  And what is that prewriting?  It is the living, the thinking, the meditating.  It is when we are sitting down and tracing back our history, our family, our childhood, or even our present condition.  It is about feeling and being.  The writing itself is simply a communication of that that living and being.

And through it all we use words, which are confusing and their meanings are changing with time.  Words are limited, because we human being are limited.  When I want to convey the beauty of a sunset, how do I do so in words?  Can I do so in words?   Murray says to surprise yourself and you will surprise the reader.  How do I do that with the limited number of words that I have at my disposal? 

I would say, and Murray would say, be honest.  That writing is the most honest act we commit to.  We may have new forms of media, with texting and email and blogs, but we need that honesty in those mediums more than ever.  If you really want to describe a sunset, than ask yourself how it will make you feel.  What about the sunset inside of us that goes on when we see one in the sky?  If you have to email a friend, then tell them the truth about the sunset, tell them it made you cry.

We are seeking truth here, by doing this act of writing.  Murray wants us to discover our own truth.  Although he doesn’t really mention the limited nature of writing and words, it is clear that he understands that if we have this medium to tell the truth by, then we should use it wisely.  Words are so interesting, on the one hand they are as real as living things, and on the other hand they are just symbols.  We are the ones who give them meaning.  Our job is to create the truth and find the truth that already exists and bring it to the light.  Through writing, through reading, through communicating with each other.  Through words is our salvation. 

 

Teach Writing as a Process, Not Product by Donald Murray

In this essay Murray delivers his opinion about the fact that writing is not a product it is a process.  This is an infinitely important statement about writing, about how it is not liner and does not come out of students like literature.  Writing is a process so therefore mistakes are inevitable, but the writer must be encouraged to discover their voice, to discover their truth, despite what mistakes they make along the way. 

The process that Murray is talking about is the way in which we view the world, how we feel about it and how we convey that through language.  We also invent the world through our perception of it. 

Murray talks about prewriting, writing, and rewriting, prewriting being the most important of the three.  Prewriting is about awareness of the world, when we look at the world around us through our own lens and make mental notes and daydream and make outlines.  It is the time of reflection.

Writing and rewriting are just as important, but they seem to flow at a faster pace once the prewriting is done.  

     1.  Murray, Donald M.  "Teach Writing as a Process, Not Product."  The Leaflet  (1972): 11-14.  Print.  

Writing and Teaching for Surprise by Donald Murray

In this article Murray goes on to talk about how when a writer is surprised with her own writing, only then will she surprise the reader.  The act of writing should be associated with surprise since we don’t know what will leap on the page until we put it there. He says that we will see a surprise more often if we are expecting it.  He also goes on to say that surprise leads to surprise. 

Writing must become a habit, something the writer engages in everyday, like breathing.  Even if it is just fragments of sentences, it is still writing, it is still engaging the mind with words and ideas.  This habit will bring upon the surprises on a daily basis, if one is engaged in finding new angles and new dimensions of writing. 

Murray says to come to writing when it comes easily, not when you have to force it.  He calls his pen the blind man’s cane, and he allows it to tell him where to go, but not to force him to go anywhere if he is not ready.   

    






     1.  Murray, Donald M.  Writing and Teaching for Surprise.  College English 46.1 (1984): 1-7. Print.

Why Teach Writing---And How by Donald Murray

Murray continues to elaborate on how necessary writing is in our electronic and modern age.  He lists seven reasons why writing is so important and relevant in today’s society.  His basic message is that we create meaning and discover meaning in our lives through the written word; we are not just reporting it with mechanical clarity.  We are living the writing as we do it.

Murray speaks very vividly about writing as an honest act of self-discovery.  Students learn to unravel themselves through writing; it is a process of discovery that can lead one to eternal truths if that is what one is seeking.  He talks about the pre-writing, writing and rewriting that is essential for all writing projects. 

Murray creates a space for us to meditate on what is important and relevant to students today.  He says that in the electronic age, writing is even MORE important because there are so many different modes and levels of communication going on that we must learn how to communicate effectively with words.  Writing is not going out of style and it never will.  










     1.  Murray, Donald M. "Why Teach Writing--And How?" The English Journal  62.9 (1973): 1234-1237. Print.

Making Meaning Clear by Donald Murray

 

Murray states that we discover meaning while we are clarifying it, while we rewrite we reinvent and rediscover what the text actually means.  Writing and thinking go hand in hand; in fact they are one and the same thing.   Since we are creating a piece of meaningful text, every act of editing must relate to meaning.  We must encourage ourselves to delve into the shift and change of meaning when we are editing.

Every mechanical error that we correct has to do with making the meaning of the text clearer.  One comma in the wrong place and we could be saying something totally different than what we think we are saying.  We start with correcting for meaning and then we solve the problems of order and finally of voice.  We don’t revise to be “correct” we revise to discover our meaning in the text. 

Murray believes that we need to revise a piece of writing based on its focus, form and voice.  He says that a good piece of writing really only says one thing.  This would mean that we need to discover what the point is of the work.  Murray wants us to ask: What do you mean by what you say?

     1.  Murray, Donald M.  Making Meaning Clear, The Logic of Revision. Journal of Basic Writing (1981): 88-95. Print.

All Writing is Autobiography by Donald Murray

Murray conceptualizes the notion that all that we write about is autobiographical.  He comments on his own work that his voice, his history, his life cannot be ignored when reading his writing.  Murray inherently writes that he plays the same tune with each piece of writing regardless of the genre.   

Murray relates how we all have a particular way of looking at the world and of communicating what we see with language.  This perception that we have of the world and our expression of it is wholly unique to our individuality, or history and our personality.  He says that we often return to the same topics and conversations, we are working out our pasts, our families, or histories.  

Our writing reflects our dreams, our failures and our obsessions.  It is an expression of all that we are, and in truth all that we see to be true in the world.  It is our truth, revealed through the lens of our perception.  We make meaning out of our lives through the therapy of this autobiography, Murray conveys with enthusiasm and delight.  He is delighted that his work is so much a part of him and that he has become so much a part of his work.   








     1.  Murray, Donald M.  "All Writing is Autobiography."  College Composition and Communication 42.1  (1991): 66-74. Print.