The process approach to writing focuses on teaching students a systematic approach to writing, and such classes may involve a lesson where students introspect on their writing process – their pre-writing strategies, their drafting and revision process, and other aspects of their writing. Many students can find this helpful for identifying some of their problems, and for learning to use more prewriting techniques. It is also designed to get them to treat writing as a multi-step process, to revise more systematically, and to focus on more important content-level issues in revision rather than on mechanical and grammatical details.

My approach goes further by addressing the problems they have with writer’s block and procrastination, which often have similar roots. These may be because the have chosen a topic that is too broad, and they cannot figure out how to start because it is overwhelming. In this case, a brainstorming technique could help identify a more specific topic. This could be because the topic is properly specific, or too specific, and they lack sufficient information, and need to gather information and ideas first.

Often, though, it is due to psychological barriers. They may have internalized negative voices of criticism from past teachers or parents, which paralyze them and cause anxiety when trying to do an assignment. They may suffer from perfectionism, which makes them worried about what the professor will think about their writing, or the grade they will get, the poor quality of their draft, or such. They could be stressed or burned out, and may need a break, or may need to break the task into smaller, more doable chunks. They have to accept that a seemingly poor, incomplete draft is simply a necessary first step to a process of revision and improving the paper. In the short term, they may learn to focus on brainstorming and prewriting techniques to get them over the obstacle of the assignment at hand. Over the long term, they need to instrospect on the sources of their blocks and confront them.

In my writing class, I have students discuss these issues in groups and then we discuss them together as a class. Then they write a short paper evaluating their writing process and their difficulties. In short:

1. In small groups, students are asked to describe their writing process.
2. In small groups, students then share about their difficultis, such as writer’s block and procrastination, and are asked to think about causes of these blocks.
3. The instructor leads a full-class discussion, including types of brainstorming and prewriting techniques that students might find helpful, the psychological barriers behind these blocks, and ways of overcoming them.
4. Students write a short paper in which they not only describe their typical writing process (say, for writing an academic paper assignment in a college course), but also evaluate their process, discuss their problems in writing, possible reasons for these, and maybe  some potential solutions for their particular situation.

This should focus on not what they think they should do, but what they really do, and why. This can be a good opportunity for class discussion of motivational problems and psychological barriers to writing or learning, especially if they have had bad educational experiences, or have come from high-stress learning environments, which have hurt their self-esteem.

The following is a handout that I have used for this unit.

• Writing process (pdf)