397:
first is to see writing as growing. It must move through stages. The first stage is to generate words before a writer can continue to "grow" a piece of writing and move through the subsequent stages. Elbow argues that writing can be seen as a powerful organic process which develops new knowledge and insight. You "start writing at the very beginning-- before you know your meaning at all-- and encourage your words gradually to change and evolve. Only at the end will you know what you want to say or the words you want to say it with. You should expect yourself to end up somewhere different from where you started. Meaning is not what you start out with but what you end up with. Control, coherence, and knowing your mind are not what you start out with but what you end up with.... Writing is a way to end up thinking something you couldn't have started out thinking. Writing is, in fact, a transaction with words whereby you free yourself from what you presently think, feel, and perceive."
238:. He had to get over beginning by trying to write "well"—that is to write good sentences and work from an outline. He had to learn to write what he liked to call "garbage." He came to accept that he simply couldn't write right; he could only write wrong; and then try by revising to make it right. Elbow has said that the process of freewriting really came about during this time in his life. He would sit down with his typewriter and type out all his thoughts, making writing a sort of therapy. This helped him to write his graduate papers. When it came time to write a dissertation, he spent a year trying to write about metaphor—not metaphor as linguistic decoration but metaphor as thinking. He realized that this would make the process interminable. He settled on
286:
however they want for 10 to 15 minutes—daily. Normal freewriting can be adapted to focused freewriting and public freewriting. Focused freewriting involves trying to stay on a topic, which is particularly useful when a writer has a specific assignment to do. Public freewriting is for sharing, which makes it seem a little more risky. But it can be very useful in groups where good trust has built up. The goal is to create language that is more natural and lively, all the while making the writing process easier and more comfortable
401:
cooking, letting ideas simmer and bubble until they are ready to be used. In this metaphor, Elbow emphasizes interaction, particularly between writing and reiteration. According to Elbow, growing is transformation at the macro level, cooking is transformation at the micro level. Essentially, the writing lets his ideas simmer until he can use them to interact with his writing. Elbow suggests that writers spend sufficient time writing as well as stopping completely and reflecting on what the larger picture is meant to present.
302:-based and reader-based feedback. Criterion-based feedback judges the writing against standard criteria, such as content, usage, organization, and general effectiveness. Elbow claims this is the kind of feedback that most people are used to giving and receiving. What Elbow says is quite useful about criterion-based feedback is that it allows the writer to reflect on her or his own writing as he goes along. It also allows her or him to recognize common troubles he has in writing so that he can avoid them in the future. In
429:
argues that
Western conceptions of good thinking are based on the doubting game or critical thinking: A process that seeks to use a methodology of skeptical doubting to find flaws in thinking that might look good. Elbow argues that really good thinking also calls on a complementary methodology: conditionally trying to believe all ideas in order to find virtues in thinking that looks wrong. (He is NOT arguing against the doubting game or critical thinking; just asking for an additional methodology.)
421:"The Believing Game" is an appendix essay, where Elbow acknowledges the game of believing as a method that he applies to all his work. The essay defines the believing game in comparison to the doubting game – which is also more familiarly known as critical thinking. Elbow feels doubting and believing are two methods needed in order to examine and accept an idea as true.
1044:
755:
507:
should be a crucial part of an undergraduate's career; however, Elbow says that this training can't be completed in just one semester. Elbow says that perhaps one of their greatest differences is that
Bartholomae believes the classroom to be a "'real space, not an idealized utopian space'" (88). This
482:
This book takes writers through the whole writing process from generating ideas (where freewriting once more makes an appearance) to revising and editing both alone and with others. Elbow goes on to address issues when writing to different kinds of audiences and also how to seek adequate feedback. It
408:
is Elbow's proposition of the teacher-less writing class, which is the root of today's writing groups. In these teacher-less writing classes, which meet at least once a week, all group members actively participate by contributing a piece of writing and reading each other's work. They discuss it with
396:
was Elbow's first book about writing, and the one that has made his freewriting technique so popular as a pedagogical practice. In this book, Elbow uses two main metaphors. These are metaphors that reflect Elbow's interest in letting one's ideas develop and change throughout the writing process. The
257:
came to show him some books that he might like to use in his classes. When the representative asked Elbow if he was writing anything, Elbow replied that he had thought about trying to write something to do with teacher-less writing groups—a process he had experimented with while teaching courses for
222:
from 1953 to 1957. While at Exeter
College, Oxford University, on scholarship from Williams, he found himself unable to write the assigned essays. When he began his PhD in English at Harvard University, his writing difficulties persisted, causing him to leave in the first year of his studies. Elbow
400:
In this section Elbow stresses that it is crucial to write as much as possible because the more a writer writes, not only does he have more to work with, but he also has more to throw away, allowing him to keep moving through the growing stages of writing. The second metaphor is to see writing as
428:
has a section called "The
Doubting and Believing Game: An Analysis of the Intellectual Enterprise". Elbow started out simply trying to justify his "no arguing" rule for teacher-less classes, but it developed into what really is the central theoretical foundation underlying all of his work. Elbow
339:
While criterion-based feedback may seem obvious, it is the inclusion of reader-based feedback that makes this overall method fresh for teachers. Elbow claims that reader-based feedback lets the writer see what thoughts and feelings occur in a reader's mind as he or she is reading the text. Elbow
285:
Freewriting, a term commonly used by Elbow, coined by Ken
Macrorie (who called it free writing), is a process of writing without stopping, without editing, without sharing, without worrying about grammar, without thinking, without rushing. Elbow suggests that writers write whatever they want and
522:
The debate has, over the years, helped to shape the study and teaching of composition, especially in regard to how much power is granted to the writer. It has also caused composition pedagogy to consider audience in ways they may not have before. In the end, the two have essentially agreed to
519:, letters, stories, poems, and so forth as ways that students write for themselves with no teachers involved. Elbow acknowledges that unequal power, however, is ubiquitous, and not just in writing, but believes that there is still plenty of writing being done for the students' own enjoyment.
499:
writing. Bartholomae posits that Elbow "comes down on the side of credulity as the governing idea in the undergraduate writing course," whereas he, himself, expresses more skepticism. The debate continued with these differing views: Elbow believes that writing belongs to the writer from the
483:
seems to be Elbow's goal to show writers that there is more than just one "correct" way to involve oneself in the writing process. If writers learn to interact with their writing in these ways, they have learned to write with power.
409:
the goal of getting the writer to see not necessarily what is wrong or right with the piece, but instead what effect the writing has on the readers in the group, as opposed to one teacher's opinion. This is also very similar to
500:
beginning; Bartholomae counters that he is more dismissive, not necessarily granting the writer her own presence. He believes that Elbow is too accepting while he, himself, thinks that the writer should prove himself first.
1079:
1074:
375:
While Peter Elbow is the author of over 10 books, as well as numerous articles which largely deal with writing theory and practice, few of his works have been as critical to his career as
523:
disagree, with
Bartholomae saying that the writer should have the role of authorship to work towards, and Elbow maintaining that writers be accepted as writers from the beginning.
340:
calls this type of feedback "movies of the reader's mind." The list of detailed questions Elbow provides for reader-based feedback follow from the following essential questions:
1089:
1094:
864:
461:
was published in 1981 during an era where writing teachers were starting to try to get a sense of what it meant to be a writer teaching writing. During this time,
231:
from 1963 to 1965. It was at
Franconia where Elbow discovered he could write more easily when writing for colleagues or students rather than as an assigned piece.
432:
Elbow has developed the believing game in a series of essays written throughout his career: "Methodological
Doubting and Believing: Contraries in Enquiry", in
61:
266:. In the nearly 40 years since then, Elbow has written more than 10 books and over 100 articles on writing—theory and practice—and the teaching of writing.
479:, Peter Elbow broke the current-traditionalist mold. This book proffers various techniques for writers to try, finding one that best suits them.
515:
Another major aspect of the debate comes from the idea of writing without teachers, a concept that
Bartholomae states doesn't exist. Elbow cites
1099:
848:
704:
130:
806:
1084:
1064:
191:
891:"Fear of Narrative: Revisiting the Bartholomae-Elbow Debate through the Figure of the Writing Teacher in Contemporary American Fiction"
436:
Oxford
University Press, 1986: 253–300); "Bringing the Rhetoric of Assent and The Believing Game Together—and into the Classroom",
1069:
306:, Elbow gives a catalogue of criterion-based questions. These questions all stem from the following essential questions:
475:, for example). This method presented writers with a very cut and dried sense of how to write. With the publication of
664:
Elbow, Peter. "Re: Hunter Students Adjusting Your Knowledge (XXG) Page." Message to the author. Jan. 14, 2011. E-mail.
410:
269:
His most recent book is an ambitious treatment of writing, speaking, and the theory of written and spoken language:
462:
254:
214:, Elbow says that his interest in writing practices came from his own difficulty with writing. He attended
1059:
448:
14 Winter 2009: 1–11. His essay "The Uses of Binary Thinking" is also crucial in this theoretical work.
194:, where he also directed the Writing Program from 1996 until 2000. He writes about theory, practice, and
440:
67.4 (March 2005): 388–99; "The Believing Game and How to Make Conflicting Opinions More Fruitful", in
1104:
235:
146:
86:
584:
557:
442:
Nurturing the Peacemakers in Our Students: A Guide to Teaching Peace, Empathy, and Understanding.
318:
What is the quality of the content of the writing: the ideas, the perceptions, the point of view?
156:
444:
Chris Weber, editor. Heinemann, 2006, 16–25; "The Believing Game or Methodological Believing",
242:. He would eventually make his dissertation book-length and publish it in 1975 under the title
1024:
890:
910:
844:
700:
492:
471:
466:
228:
902:
549:
504:
219:
112:
49:
215:
151:
355:
Summarize the writing: give your understanding of what it says or what happened in it.
352:
What was happening to you, moment by moment, as you were reading the piece of writing?
1053:
865:"M.A. PROGRAM IN ENGLISH COMPREHENSIVE EXAM PART I: RHETORIC/COMPOSITION THEORY LIST"
699:. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. pp. 15–7, 56–57, 136–7, 140–1, 273.
496:
294:
Feedback techniques are also among Elbow's practices. These techniques, presented in
45:
1034:
299:
258:
Harvard's extension program. Soon after, he had an advance to begin a book called
174:
199:
691:
931:
Bartholomae, David. "Writing with Teachers: A Conversation with Peter Elbow."
906:
576:
78:
914:
358:
Make up some images for the writing and the transaction it creates with you.
253:
in 1968. While sitting in his office one day in 1970, a representative from
945:
Elbow, Peter. "Being a Writer vs. Being an Academic: A Conflict in Goals."
938:
Bartholomae, David and Peter Elbow. "Responses to Bartholomae and Elbow."
198:, and has authored several books and papers. He is one of the pioneers of
195:
187:
957:
1039:
1029:
508:
implies to Elbow that Bartholomae believes that "a classroom cannot be
239:
561:
509:
96:
495:
regarding the role of the writer, as well as that of an academic in
491:
In the 1980s and 1990s, Peter Elbow engaged in a public debate with
553:
516:
781:
Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process.
503:
In his response, Elbow agrees with Bartholomae that training for
972:
Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process
381:
Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process
227:
from 1960 to 1963, and then as one of five founding members of
672:
670:
575:
University of California Television (UCTV) (31 January 2008).
446:
Journal for The Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning
250:
224:
1080:
MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences faculty
413:, which are also currently popular pedagogical practices.
1019:
577:"50 Years of Research on Writing: What Have We Learned?"
271:
Vernacular Eloquence: What Can Speech Bring to Writing.
1045:
Elbow, Peter: The Doubting Game and the Believing Game
1035:
Peter Elbow Workshop Materials courtesy Marist College
327:
Are there mistakes or inappropriate choices of usage?.
249:
After receiving his PhD, Elbow accepted a position at
986:
A Community of Writers: A Workshop Course in Writing.
749:
747:
512:, and that utopian spaces are not real spaces" (88).
234:
In 1965 he returned to graduate school, this time at
1020:
Peter Elbow Homepage: The Democratization of Writing
733:
731:
175:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst faculty profile
1075:
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
660:
658:
540:Reynolds, Mark (Mar 1984). "Freewriting's Origin".
169:
139:
123:
118:
108:
95:
77:
72:
56:
28:
21:
619:
617:
615:
186:(born April 14, 1935) is a professor of English
1025:Peter Elbow: A partial bibliography of his work
724:(2d ed.). New York: Oxford UP. p. 16.
756:"The Believing Game—Methodological Believing"
210:In the introduction to the second edition of
8:
843:. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press.
465:was quite popular in handbooks for writers (
1090:University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty
807:"Writing Is More Than Mere Sentence Making"
974:. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1981, 1998.
223:began teaching, first as an instructor at
18:
967:. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1973,1998.
1095:American academics of English literature
741:2nd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1973, 1998.
532:
762:. University of Massachusetts -Amherst
958:http://works.bepress.com/peter_elbow/
947:College Composition and Communication
940:College Composition and Communication
933:College Composition and Communication
800:
798:
7:
290:Criterion- and reader-based feedback
131:University of Massachusetts, Amherst
192:University of Massachusetts Amherst
321:How well is the writing organized?
14:
889:Schwartz, J. Brian (2007-09-13).
783:New York: Oxford UP, 1981, 1998.
487:The Elbow and Bartholomae debate
991:Elbow, Peter and Pat Belanoff.
984:Elbow, Peter and Pat Belanoff.
587:from the original on 2021-12-19
62:Composition theory and pedagogy
324:How effective is the language?
298:, are divided into two types:
1:
1040:UMass Amherst Writing Program
1030:Selected Works of Peter Elbow
1007:Writing Alone and With Others
954:Selected Works of Peter Elbow
1100:American non-fiction writers
1009:. New York: Oxford UP, 2003.
1002:. New York: Oxford UP, 2000.
995:. 3rd ed. McGraw Hill, 1999.
839:Belanoff, Pat, ed. (2002).
690:Belanoff, Pat, ed. (2002).
262:, which would later become
1121:
1085:Brandeis University alumni
1065:Writers from Massachusetts
907:10.1080/07350190701577934
739:Writing Without Teachers.
165:
68:
965:Writing Without Teachers
829:Bartholomae and Elbow 84
722:Writing Without Teachers
650:Writing Without Teachers
637:Writing Without Teachers
607:Writing Without Teachers
426:Writing Without Teachers
406:Writing Without Teachers
394:Writing Without Teachers
388:Writing Without Teachers
377:Writing Without Teachers
264:Writing Without Teachers
212:Writing Without Teachers
102:Complex Irony in Chaucer
1070:Williams College alumni
434:Embracing Contraries, (
255:Oxford University Press
993:Sharing and Responding
720:Elbow, Peter (1998) .
463:current-traditionalism
244:Oppositions in Chaucer
956:. Mar. 31, 2009. <
926:Selected bibliography
379:(Oxford UP 1973) and
260:Writing Without Tears
417:"The Believing Game"
949:46:1 (1995): 72–83.
942:46:1 (1995): 84–92.
935:46:1 (1995): 62–71.
542:The English Journal
236:Brandeis University
147:Composition studies
87:Brandeis University
73:Academic background
1000:Everyone Can Write
988:McGraw-Hill, 1989.
841:Writing with Elbow
693:Writing with Elbow
678:Writing With Power
477:Writing With Power
467:Strunk & White
459:Writing With Power
453:Writing With Power
383:(Oxford UP 1981).
304:Writing With Power
296:Writing With Power
157:English literature
850:978-0-87421-431-4
792:Elbow "Being" 72)
706:978-0-87421-431-4
493:David Bartholomae
472:Elements of Style
411:Writing Workshops
229:Franconia College
181:
180:
16:American academic
1112:
1005:Schneider, Pat.
919:
918:
886:
880:
879:
877:
875:
869:
861:
855:
854:
836:
830:
827:
821:
820:
818:
817:
811:Inside Higher Ed
802:
793:
790:
784:
777:
771:
770:
768:
767:
751:
742:
735:
726:
725:
717:
711:
710:
698:
687:
681:
674:
665:
662:
653:
646:
640:
633:
627:
621:
610:
603:
597:
596:
594:
592:
572:
566:
565:
537:
505:academic writing
424:The appendix to
404:Also notable in
220:Williams College
177:
113:Charles R. Blyth
109:Doctoral advisor
42:
38:
36:
19:
1120:
1119:
1115:
1114:
1113:
1111:
1110:
1109:
1050:
1049:
1016:
981:
979:Further reading
928:
923:
922:
895:Rhetoric Review
888:
887:
883:
873:
871:
867:
863:
862:
858:
851:
838:
837:
833:
828:
824:
815:
813:
804:
803:
796:
791:
787:
778:
774:
765:
763:
753:
752:
745:
736:
729:
719:
718:
714:
707:
696:
689:
688:
684:
675:
668:
663:
656:
647:
643:
634:
630:
622:
613:
604:
600:
590:
588:
581:www.youtube.com
574:
573:
569:
539:
538:
534:
529:
489:
456:
438:College English
419:
391:
373:
292:
283:
278:
216:Proctor Academy
208:
173:
161:
152:English studies
135:
91:
64:
52:
43:
40:
34:
32:
24:
17:
12:
11:
5:
1118:
1116:
1108:
1107:
1102:
1097:
1092:
1087:
1082:
1077:
1072:
1067:
1062:
1052:
1051:
1048:
1047:
1042:
1037:
1032:
1027:
1022:
1015:
1014:External links
1012:
1011:
1010:
1003:
998:Elbow, Peter.
996:
989:
980:
977:
976:
975:
970:Elbow, Peter.
968:
963:Elbow, Peter.
961:
952:Elbow, Peter.
950:
943:
936:
927:
924:
921:
920:
901:(4): 425–439.
881:
856:
849:
831:
822:
805:Warner, John.
794:
785:
779:Elbow, Peter.
772:
754:Elbow, Peter.
743:
737:Elbow, Peter.
727:
712:
705:
682:
666:
654:
641:
628:
611:
598:
567:
554:10.2307/817229
531:
530:
528:
525:
488:
485:
455:
450:
418:
415:
390:
385:
372:
369:
368:
367:
366:
365:
364:
363:
362:
361:
360:
359:
356:
353:
337:
336:
335:
334:
333:
332:
331:
330:
329:
328:
325:
322:
319:
291:
288:
282:
279:
277:
274:
207:
204:
179:
178:
171:
167:
166:
163:
162:
160:
159:
154:
149:
143:
141:
140:Main interests
137:
136:
134:
133:
127:
125:
121:
120:
116:
115:
110:
106:
105:
99:
93:
92:
90:
89:
83:
81:
75:
74:
70:
69:
66:
65:
60:
58:
57:Known for
54:
53:
44:
39:April 14, 1935
30:
26:
25:
22:
15:
13:
10:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
1117:
1106:
1103:
1101:
1098:
1096:
1093:
1091:
1088:
1086:
1083:
1081:
1078:
1076:
1073:
1071:
1068:
1066:
1063:
1061:
1060:Living people
1058:
1057:
1055:
1046:
1043:
1041:
1038:
1036:
1033:
1031:
1028:
1026:
1023:
1021:
1018:
1017:
1013:
1008:
1004:
1001:
997:
994:
990:
987:
983:
982:
978:
973:
969:
966:
962:
959:
955:
951:
948:
944:
941:
937:
934:
930:
929:
925:
916:
912:
908:
904:
900:
896:
892:
885:
882:
866:
860:
857:
852:
846:
842:
835:
832:
826:
823:
812:
808:
801:
799:
795:
789:
786:
782:
776:
773:
761:
757:
750:
748:
744:
740:
734:
732:
728:
723:
716:
713:
708:
702:
695:
694:
686:
683:
679:
673:
671:
667:
661:
659:
655:
651:
645:
642:
638:
632:
629:
626:
620:
618:
616:
612:
608:
602:
599:
586:
582:
578:
571:
568:
563:
559:
555:
551:
547:
543:
536:
533:
526:
524:
520:
518:
513:
511:
506:
501:
498:
497:undergraduate
494:
486:
484:
480:
478:
474:
473:
468:
464:
460:
454:
451:
449:
447:
443:
439:
435:
430:
427:
422:
416:
414:
412:
407:
402:
398:
395:
389:
386:
384:
382:
378:
370:
357:
354:
351:
350:
349:
348:
347:
346:
345:
344:
343:
342:
341:
326:
323:
320:
317:
316:
315:
314:
313:
312:
311:
310:
309:
308:
307:
305:
301:
297:
289:
287:
280:
275:
273:
272:
267:
265:
261:
256:
252:
247:
245:
241:
237:
232:
230:
226:
221:
217:
213:
205:
203:
201:
197:
193:
189:
185:
176:
172:
168:
164:
158:
155:
153:
150:
148:
145:
144:
142:
138:
132:
129:
128:
126:
122:
119:Academic work
117:
114:
111:
107:
103:
100:
98:
94:
88:
85:
84:
82:
80:
76:
71:
67:
63:
59:
55:
51:
47:
41:(age 89)
31:
27:
20:
1006:
999:
992:
985:
971:
964:
953:
946:
939:
932:
898:
894:
884:
872:. Retrieved
859:
840:
834:
825:
814:. Retrieved
810:
788:
780:
775:
764:. Retrieved
759:
738:
721:
715:
692:
685:
677:
649:
644:
636:
631:
624:
606:
601:
589:. Retrieved
580:
570:
545:
541:
535:
521:
514:
502:
490:
481:
476:
470:
458:
457:
452:
445:
441:
437:
433:
431:
425:
423:
420:
405:
403:
399:
393:
392:
387:
380:
376:
374:
338:
303:
295:
293:
284:
270:
268:
263:
259:
248:
243:
233:
211:
209:
183:
182:
124:Institutions
104: (1969)
101:
1105:1935 births
548:(3): 81–2.
281:Freewriting
200:freewriting
184:Peter Elbow
23:Peter Elbow
1054:Categories
816:2024-03-14
766:2011-05-05
527:References
79:Alma mater
35:1935-04-14
915:0735-0198
874:March 14,
300:criterion
206:Biography
652:xvi-xvii
625:Selected
585:Archived
196:pedagogy
188:Emeritus
50:New York
46:New York
760:Article
591:15 July
517:diaries
510:utopian
276:Methods
240:Chaucer
190:at the
170:Website
913:
870:. 2020
847:
703:
676:Elbow
648:Elbow
639:xv-xvi
635:Elbow
623:Elbow
605:Elbow
562:817229
560:
97:Thesis
960:>.
868:(PDF)
697:(PDF)
558:JSTOR
371:Works
911:ISSN
876:2024
845:ISBN
701:ISBN
680:240.
593:2016
218:and
29:Born
903:doi
609:xiv
550:doi
469:'s
251:MIT
225:MIT
1056::
909:.
899:26
897:.
893:.
809:.
797:^
758:.
746:^
730:^
669:^
657:^
614:^
583:.
579:.
556:.
546:73
544:.
246:.
202:.
48:,
37:)
917:.
905::
878:.
853:.
819:.
769:.
709:.
595:.
564:.
552::
33:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.