Can You Really "Write to Learn"?
Can you really write a good article about something you don't know anything about? I picked up William Zinsser's "Writing to Learn" on a whim.
Over time, I've been required to write on an increasing array of diverse subjects, and was interested in anything that might help me do that more effectively and efficiently.
The promise on the back of the book cover - "how to write clearly about any subject" - was enough for me to justify paying retail price for the book.
Zinsser very quickly asserts his premise - that writing about a topic can be an excellent mechanism for learning said topic.
How can someone write about something they don't know about? Simply, as Zissner suggests, by rewriting what is already available.
The strategy is that you absorb information and then write about it clearly enough so that another reader could come to the same points of discovery as you have.
Zinsser is a fan of the narrative to convey information and to bring the reader to a point of discovery.
Everyone loves a story.
And if you can take a reader's mind forward in logical, linear steps using a narrative, then you too can be sure you have learned the subject material adequately.
Unlike reading, which is a passive activity, writing requires you to continually assess if you have said what you wanted to say.
Since the answer is often "no," you must then figure a way to organize your thoughts and communicate them more clearly.
It is this process that creates learning through writing.
Zinsser posits that you can learn through both explanatory writing (i.
e.
, writing that transmits existing information or ideas) and exploratory writing (i.
e.
, writing that enables one to discover what they want to write).
While Zinsser provides a dozen or so attributes of good writing, with a few examples of each, the majority of the book provides extended passages of excellent writing about numerous topics.
Zinsser makes a compelling case that there are few (if any) subjects that aren't conducive to writing that can educate, enlighten, and entertain.
He makes the case...
and makes the case...
and makes the case.
If you perhaps were surprised that one could write eloquently about the earth sciences, you are just a little less surprised when you learn the same can be done for art, and nature, and...
wait for it...
mathematics, and anthropology, then physics, but not before chemistry, and finally (you'll never believe it!) music! I'm not at all suggesting there is no pleasure reading these choice passages Zinsser has gleaned as examples.
The problem is that there is nothing to suggest the authors of the works he cites actually learned their subject through the writing process.
While they may have honed their thought during the process, it seems unlikely it was the core mechanism for their learning.
We could, perhaps, forgive this oversight if Zinsser had provided a roadmap to follow as we attempted to "write to learn.
" Unfortunately, you won't find it in this book.
It's as if we were given a book "Exercise to Lose Weight" and were told about the many different people who used various exercises to achieve their ideal body size.
That's all great and dandy, but including a few exercise plans might have been more useful.
Over time, I've been required to write on an increasing array of diverse subjects, and was interested in anything that might help me do that more effectively and efficiently.
The promise on the back of the book cover - "how to write clearly about any subject" - was enough for me to justify paying retail price for the book.
Zinsser very quickly asserts his premise - that writing about a topic can be an excellent mechanism for learning said topic.
How can someone write about something they don't know about? Simply, as Zissner suggests, by rewriting what is already available.
The strategy is that you absorb information and then write about it clearly enough so that another reader could come to the same points of discovery as you have.
Zinsser is a fan of the narrative to convey information and to bring the reader to a point of discovery.
Everyone loves a story.
And if you can take a reader's mind forward in logical, linear steps using a narrative, then you too can be sure you have learned the subject material adequately.
Unlike reading, which is a passive activity, writing requires you to continually assess if you have said what you wanted to say.
Since the answer is often "no," you must then figure a way to organize your thoughts and communicate them more clearly.
It is this process that creates learning through writing.
Zinsser posits that you can learn through both explanatory writing (i.
e.
, writing that transmits existing information or ideas) and exploratory writing (i.
e.
, writing that enables one to discover what they want to write).
While Zinsser provides a dozen or so attributes of good writing, with a few examples of each, the majority of the book provides extended passages of excellent writing about numerous topics.
Zinsser makes a compelling case that there are few (if any) subjects that aren't conducive to writing that can educate, enlighten, and entertain.
He makes the case...
and makes the case...
and makes the case.
If you perhaps were surprised that one could write eloquently about the earth sciences, you are just a little less surprised when you learn the same can be done for art, and nature, and...
wait for it...
mathematics, and anthropology, then physics, but not before chemistry, and finally (you'll never believe it!) music! I'm not at all suggesting there is no pleasure reading these choice passages Zinsser has gleaned as examples.
The problem is that there is nothing to suggest the authors of the works he cites actually learned their subject through the writing process.
While they may have honed their thought during the process, it seems unlikely it was the core mechanism for their learning.
We could, perhaps, forgive this oversight if Zinsser had provided a roadmap to follow as we attempted to "write to learn.
" Unfortunately, you won't find it in this book.
It's as if we were given a book "Exercise to Lose Weight" and were told about the many different people who used various exercises to achieve their ideal body size.
That's all great and dandy, but including a few exercise plans might have been more useful.
