College Composition and Communication Jun 2018

Writing in Social Worlds: An Argument for Researching Composing Processes

Pamela Takayoshi

Abstract

Empirical research on composing processes is virtually absent in our field. What do contemporary writers actuallydowhen they compose? I argue that we need a return to research on composing processes, as writers are every day weaving together the social and cognitive through writing. One writer’s composing process think-aloud suggests how some writers today weave together cognitive and cultural processes of meaning making in ways unimagined at the time of the last composing process research.

Journal
College Composition and Communication
Published
2018-06-01
DOI
10.58680/ccc201829692
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation context

Cited by in this index (9)

  1. Cui (2026)
    A multimodal process-retrospective inquiry method: Studying writing transfer in…
    Computers and Composition
  2. Kester et al. (2026)
    Self-sponsored writing and rhetorical awareness: An empirical study of students…
    Computers and Composition
  3. Shahri et al. (2025)
    Digitally Mediated Micro-processes of Novice Multilingual Writers: Textualizati…
    Written Communication
  4. Walker (2025)
    Machine Learning’s Unintended Curriculum: The Impact of Large Language Models o…
    College English
  5. Ching (2023)
    The uses—and limits—of distraction-free writing
    Computers and Composition
Show all 9 →
  1. King (2023)
    Guided Reading: The Influence of Visual Design on Writing with Sources
    College English
  2. Amicucci (2020)
    Experimenting with Writing Identities on Facebook through Intertextuality and I…
    Computers and Composition
  3. Wang (2020)
    Becoming Multilingual Writers through Translation
    Research in the Teaching of English
  4. Wang (2019)
    Tracing Connections and Disconnects: Reading, Writing, and Digital Literacies a…
    College Composition and Communication

References (86) · 20 in this index

  1. Aldrich (1982)
    “Adult Writers: Some Reasons for Ineffective Writing on the Job.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  2. Beach (1976)
    “Self-Evaluation Strategies of Extensive Revisers and Nonrevisers.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  3. Bean (1983)
    “Computerized Word-Processing as an Aid to Revision.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  4. Bereiter (1987)
    The Psychology of Written Composition.
  5. Berkenkotter et al. (1983)
    Decisions and Revisions: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer, and Re…
    College Composition and Communication
Show all 86 →
  1. Berkenkotter (1984)
    “Student Writers and Their Sense of Authority over Texts.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  2. Berkenkotter (1981)
    Understanding a Writer's Awareness of Audience
    College Composition and Communication
  3. Bizzell (1992)
    Academic Discourse and Critical Consciousness.
     ↗
  4. Berkenkotter (2003)
    Cross-Talk in Comp Theory: A Reader
  5. Blau (1983)
    “Invisible Writing: Investigating Cognitive Processes in Composition.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  6. Boice (1985)
    “The Neglected Third Factor in Writing: Productivity.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  7. Brandt (2011)
    Struggles for Perspective: A Commentary on “‘One Story of Many to Be Told’: Fol…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  8. Brandt (2006)
    Travel Notes from the New Literacy Studies: Instances of Practice
     ↗
  9. Breuch (2002)
    “Post Process ‘Pedagogy’: A Philosophical Exercise.”
    JAC
  10. Buck (2016)
    Literacy in Practice: Writing in Working, Private, and Public Lives
  11. Case (1985)
    “Processing Professorial Words: Personal Computers and the Writing Habits of University.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  12. Catano (1985)
    “Computer-Based Writing: Navigating the Fluid Text.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  13. Clark (1992)
    “On Blocking and Unblocking Sonja: A Case Study in Two Voices.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  14. Collier (1983)
    The Word Processor and Revision Strategies
    College Composition and Communication
  15. Cooper (1978)
    Research on Composing: Points of Departure.
  16. Cooper (1983)
    “Talking about Protocols.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  17. Crowley (1977)
    “Components of the Composing Process.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  18. Daiute (1983)
    “The Computer as Stylus and Audience.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  19. de Beaugrande (1979)
    “Moving from Product toward Process.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  20. Emig (1971)
    The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders.
  21. Faigley (1985)
    “Learning to Write in the Social Sciences.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  22. Faigley (1981)
    “Analyzing Revision.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  23. Flower (1989)
    Cognition, Context, and Theory Building
    College Composition and Communication
  24. Flower (1979)
    “Writer-Based Prose: A Cognitive Basis for Problems in Writing.”
    College English  ↗
  25. Flower (1980)
    “The Cognition of Discovery: Defining a Rhetorical Problem.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  26. Flower (1981)
    “A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  27. Flower (1980)
    Cognitive Processes in Writing
  28. FLOWER et al. (1984)
    Images, Plans, and Prose: The Representation of Meaning in Writing
    Written Communication
  29. Flower (1977)
    “Problem-Solving Strategies and the Writing Process.”
    College English  ↗
  30. Flower (1986)
    “Detection, Diagnosis, and the Strategies of Revision.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  31. Flynn (1983)
    “Composing Responses to Literary Texts: A Process Approach.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  32. Graves (1978)
    “Levels of Skill in the Composing Process.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  33. Gregg (1980)
    Cognitive Processes in Writing.
  34. Harris (1985)
    “Student Writers and Word Processing: A Preliminary Evaluation.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  35. Hawisher (1995)
    Computers and the Teaching of Writing in American Higher Education, 1979–1994: A History.
  36. Hayes (1986)
    “Writing Research and the Writer.”
    American Psychologist  ↗
  37. Humes (1983)
    “Research on the Composing Process.”
    Review of Educational Research  ↗
  38. Jensen (1984)
    “Personality and Individual Writing Processes.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  39. Kent (1999)
    Post-Process Theory: Beyond the Writing-Process Paradigm
  40. King (1978)
    Research in Composition: A Need for Theory
    Research in the Teaching of English
  41. Knoblauch (1980)
    “Intentionality in the Writing Process: A Case Study.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  42. McCarthy (1985)
    “Self-Efficacy and Writing: A Different View of Self-Evaluation.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  43. McKee (2007)
    Digital Writing Research: Technologies, Methodologies and Ethical Issues
  44. Miller (1982)
    “How Writers Evaluate Their Own Writing.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  45. Murray (1983)
    “Response of a Laboratory Rat—or, Being Protocoled.”
    College Composition and Communication
  46. Nelson (1995)
    Reading Classrooms as Text: Exploring Student Writers' Interpretive Practices
    College Composition and Communication
  47. Nickoson (2012)
    Writing Studies Research in Practice: Methods and Methodologies
  48. Odell (1980)
    “The Process of Writing and the Process of Learning.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  49. Olson (1999)
    Post-Process Theory: Beyond the Writing-Process Paradigm
  50. Penrose (1994)
    “Reading and Writing without Authority.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  51. Perl (1980)
    “Understanding Composing.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  52. Peterson (1985)
    “Repetition and Metaphor in the Early Stages of Composing.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  53. Pianko (1979)
    “Reflection: A Critical Component of the Composing Process.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  54. Pigg (2016)
    Literacy in Practice: Writing in Working, Private, and Public Lives
  55. Porter (2007)
    Digital Writing Research: Technologies, Methodologies and Ethical Issues
  56. Powell (2012)
    Practicing Research in Writing Studies: Reflexive and Ethically Responsible Research
  57. Prior (2004)
    What Writing Does and How It Does It: An Introduction to Analyzing Texts and Textual Practices
  58. Rhodes et al. (2014)
    From the Guest Editors: Reimagining the Social Turn: New Work from the Field
    College English
  59. (1950)
    Editorial Comment
    College Composition and Communication
  60. Rodrigues (1985)
    “Computers and Basic Writers.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  61. Rohman (1965)
    Pre-Writing the Stage of Discovery in the Writing Process
    College Composition and Communication
  62. Rose (1980)
    Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Anal…
    College Composition and Communication
  63. Royster (2012)
    Feminist Rhetorical Practices: New Horizons for Rhetoric, Composition Studies, and Litera…
  64. Rubin (1983)
    Exploration of the Writing Experience: A Way to Improve Composing
    College Composition and Communication
  65. Sanchez (2006)
    The Function of Theory in Composition Studies
  66. Schwartz (1983)
    “Two Journeys through the Writing Process.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  67. Selzer (1983)
    “The Composing Processes of an Engineer.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  68. Shaughnessy (1977)
    “Some Needed Research on Writing.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  69. Skubikowski et al. (1987)
    Word Processing in a Community of Writers
    College Composition and Communication
  70. SMAGORINSKY (1989)
    The Reliability and Validity of Protocol Analysis
    Written Communication
  71. Sommers (1979)
    “The Need for Theory in Composition Research.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  72. Sommers (1980)
    “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  73. Street (1984)
    Literacy in Theory and Practice
  74. Sullivan (1997)
    Opening Spaces: Writing Technologies and Critical Research Practices
  75. Takayoshi (2016)
    Methodological Challenges to Researching Composing Processes in a New Literacy …
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  76. Takayoshi (2015)
    Short-form writing: Studying process in the context of contemporary composing t…
    Computers and Composition
  77. Trimbur et al. (1994)
    Taking the Social Turn: Teaching Writing Post-Process
    College Composition and Communication
  78. Troyka (1980)
    “The Pulse of the Profession.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  79. Witte (1987)
    “Pre-Text and Composing.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  80. Witte (1983)
    Topical Structure and Revision: An Exploratory Study
    College Composition and Communication
  81. Witte (1980)
    Toward a Model for Research in Written Composition
    Research in the Teaching of English
CrossRef global citation count: 11 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related articles

  1. Assessing Writing Oct 2026
    Effects of varying time constraints on quality, linguistic features, and fluency behaviors in L2 writing ↗
    Jongbong Lee; Charlene Polio
    argument assessment empirical research multilingual writers affect and writing
  2. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Mar 2026
    Bridging the Gap: A Comparative Study of Students’ and LSPs’ Perceptions of Translation Internships ↗
    Shuang Liu
    collaborative writing assessment professional writing empirical research book reviews
  3. Assessing Writing Jan 2026
    Assessing the effects of explicit coherence instruction on EFL students’ integrated writing performance ↗
    Xi Li; Mo Chen
    discourse analysis writing pedagogy graduate education teacher development assessment empirical research multilingual writers
  4. Computers and Composition Sep 2025
    When collaborating turns into dishonesty: A data-driven heuristic comparing human and AI collaborators ↗
    John R. Gallagher; Kyle Wagner; Jordan Canzonetta
    collaborative writing empirical research artificial intelligence
  5. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Sep 2025
    Professionalizing Researchers: Mapping and Visualizing Doctoral Engineering Student Identity Development Through User-Experience (UX) Methods ↗
    Jason Tham; Diego A. Polanco-Lahoz; Madison Hanson; Jennifer Cross; Mario Beruvides
    curriculum design graduate education collaborative writing assessment empirical research qualitative research book reviews