Building Blocks for a Writer's Toolbox: The Evolution of the Writing Processes of Online First-Year Composition Students

Writing is an important lifelong skill. Most college freshmen are required to take first-year composition to meet the needs of writing across disciplines. Yet, a great number of students enter college unprepared. To combat this, the writing process should be practiced as part of a solid writing program. This study seeks to define the components of the writing process and how these evolve for students in an online first-year composition course. Invention work, multiple draft production, and the collaborative and social aspects of writing were used throughout a process-based curriculum. Participants made changes to their general writing process by conducting more invention work than they had before and finding the practice worthwhile, by producing more drafts than they had on previous writing projects, and by reflecting on what the collaborative and social aspects of writing mean in terms of acting on feedback from others. The online first-year composition course curriculum gave students the tools to build and shape their existing writing practices.

Melissa Williamson-Pulkkinen is a first-year composition professor. Her work has appeared in English Journal and SIGNAL Journal.