Custom Research Papers

The actual flow of words at the moment of research paper writing is something over which the writer has little control, beyond turning the faucet off. Words are independent. The writer does not "choose the words" that the pen will produce, but must accept or reject them as they occur. Before and after the act the writer has at least the possibility of conscious control. There can be contemplation before the event of research paper writing and contemplation afterward. But the words that manifest themselves to express whatever thought lies behind them are neither premeditated nor predictable. The words just come (if they come at all).

But it is difficult to distinguish a "moment of writing " lying neatly between the groundwork and review. Rather the actual writing becomes lost in a fuzzy area of overlap between the two. One can talk about groundwork, when it is the thinking and reflecting and planning that can go on, consciously and unconsciously, before a word is even put on paper. And one can also discuss review, when the draft of a text is reflected upon, modified, and ultimately polished editorially. But when we come to the actual production of words, groundwork, writing , and review frequently seem to be going on simultaneously.

The overlap becomes obvious if we consider a writer producing successive drafts a page, or even a paragraph or sentence or two. What is "review" of the draft just completed becomes "groundwork" of the draft to come. No writer ever produces words (or phrases or sentences) in a mental vacuum, first contemplating what should be written without reference to what has previously been written, and then revising it before beginning to contemplate what is to be written next. The consequence would be a sequence of unrelated words. Instead, every word (except the first) as it is written must be related to what has gone before, and also (unless it is the last) to what will come after. To think of a writing "moment" is misleading.

There is need for some research here, to examine the size and nature of a " writing episode," during which a writer's hand is on the move, when there is no manifest pause for reflection, and any groundwork or review that is being done occurs simultaneously with the act of writing itself. How many words are written, how far back do they seem to be related, and how far forward does the author appear to be looking? (What will probably be found is a considerable variation among individuals and for any one individual from one time to another.)

Other research is required (though it will doubtless show the same confounding range of variation) to illuminate the extent to which words are first written on the page or in the head. Again, a writer has no control at all at the moment that written words are produced; they flow off the pen (or onto the keyboard), and we must look at them to see what we have written. In general, words do just flow from the end of the pen (if they flow at all); there is very little mental rehearsal of the words themselves before they are actually written.