Understanding Writing Blocks by Hjortshoj

Understanding Writing Blocks by Hjortshoj

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Summary

Understanding Writing Blocks is a text for students of advanced composition who encounter writing blocks. It defines and explains the various forms of writing blocks that can be experienced in academic writing by students and scholars. While arguing that these are real writing problems, Hjortshoj examines their causes and offers solutions.

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Understanding Writing Blocks by Hjortshoj

Why do capable students and scholars fail to complete writing projects? What is a "writing block," and how can writers get around these obstacles? Why do writing blocks become more common at higher levels of academic work, where writers are not supposed to need help, and more common in the humanities than in the sciences? These are some of the questions Keith Hjortshoj answers in the first book to explain blocks and related struggels as academic writing problems. Understanding Writing Blocks demystifies types of struggle and failure that teachers and advisors commonly ignore, misunderstand, or attribute to obscure emotional, psychological disorders. Using many examples from his consultations with blocked writers, Hjortshoj argues that these are real writing problems, caused by specific misconceptions, writing methods, and rhetorical factors that bring mocement through the writing process to a halt. Beginning with clear definitions and explanations of these problems, the book examines their causes and solutions in undergraduate work, graduate studies, and scholarship. At each level and in the final chapter, "What Can You Do?, " Hjortshoj offers specific recommendations for avoiding and moving beyond obstructions that impede the careers of many promising young scholars, especially in graduate programs. A "Note to Teachers and Advisors" provides guidance for identifying and helping students who become mired in writing tasks.
". . 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
KEITH HJORTSHOJ (Cornell University) is the Director of Writing in the Majors in the Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines at Cornell University. He is also a senior lecturer in the Writing Workshop, which offers courses and services for students who encounter difficulty with writing and reading, especially in the first year of college. He has worked extensively with faculty development and teacher training across the curriculum. Currently, Hjortshoj is developing courses, workshops, and a book on writing for graduate students.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780195141368
ISBN 10 0195141369
Title Understanding Writing Blocks
Author Hjortshoj
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Year published 2001-02-22
Number of pages 160
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note Unavailable