Understanding Writing Blocks - Softcover

Hjortshoj, Keith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195141369 ISBN 13: 9780195141368

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2001

Synopsis

Why do capable students and scholars fail to complete writing projects? What are "writing blocks," and how can writers overcome them? Why are writing blocks more common for advanced and experienced writers who are not supposed to need help? And why are they more common in the humanities than in the sciences? Keith Hjortshoj answers these and other questions in Understanding Writing Blocks. This book demystifies the causes of writing blocks, which are often ignored, misunderstood, or attributed to obscure psychological disorders. Hjortshoj examines blocks instead as real writing problems arising from specific misconceptions, writing behaviors, and rhetorical factors present at different stages of the writing process. In a lively and informative style, he defines the nature of writing blocks, examines their causes, and offers advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and professional writers the diagnostic tools and strategies necessary for getting their work done. Although appropriate for any writing course, Understanding Writing Blocks targets advanced composition students and graduate writers who are most likely to encounter immobilizing obstacles, and whose experience supports the author's assertion that a writing block is usually "an affliction of the good writer." Hjortshoj draws his material and evidence from extensive research, interviews, and consultations with blocked writers from his twenty-five years of teaching. Especially helpful to students working on dissertations and other complex projects, Understanding Writing Blocks illuminates the factors that undermine writing ability in a wide range of endeavors.

About this title

About the Author

Keith Hjortshoj is at Cornell University.

Review

" . . . fills a void in books about the complex craft of writing . . . debunks the notion that a particular personality type causes 'interference with movement through the writing process' . . . provide[s] a helpful diagnostic for writers, teachers, and advisors to use as a starting point for
their own analyses or for those of writers who come to them for help. The advice [Hjortshoj] offers to MA or PhD candidates seems especially insightful."--Deborah Anne Hooker, Issues in Writing, Fall/Winter 2001

"I've never seen a book like this one; it is both interesting and useful."--Rachel Hadas, Rutgers University, Newark

"Very good for an upper-level writing class because it focuses on problems that serious students experience."--Thad Cockrill, Southwest Tennessee Community College

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0195141369
• ISBN 13: 9780195141368
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160