RE: Against Formulaic Writing

[Profsteven@aol.com]

I agree with Neal's posting.  At times I feel that the 5P format with thesis
at the end of the intro etc. is more for the teacher's convenience than for
the students' learning--if the thesis is where it's supposed to be, e.g., then
we can write a pertinent comment without much thought.  If there are 4Ps
instead of 5, another pre-packaged comment.

Not that pre-packaged isn't sometimes useful.  But the set 5P structure does
pretty much give the lie to the idea that form is organic.  As Neal suggests,
studying model essays to see how published writers struggle with and achieve
useful and effective structures is at times meaningless if we insist on one
particular structure for classes.  Conversely, I think we as a profession
doubt students' willingness to invest the time in such struggles to find the
"ideal" form and so we opt for something we (and they) can grasp quickly.

The point of writing anything is to explore the content and to convey our
insights in a concise and cogent manner.  So in those terms, the 5P structure
is probably more often a hinderance than a help, and it certainly encourages
formulatic thinking as well as formulaic writing.

Steve Strang
MIT
14N-316
617-253-4459
profsteven@aol.com