Introduction: Non-Extractivist Writing

I don’t know how many times I have heard of students desperate to write a paper and not knowing where to start. They read the assignment, create a thesis statement, then seek out information that supports that thesis statement, writing quickly and under pressure, then rush about trying to cite what they inserted and slap together a works cited page. The authors of those articles cited are not really considered or read deeply for learning. What is needed to confirm a belief is extracted and the authors given brief citation and then dismissed. They receive the grade and the paper is thrown away and forgotten. This is where we first learn that confirmation bias is fine and that it’s ok to extract what we need from others without consideration. This is extractivist writing. This is bias confirming not learning.

Sound familiar?

I always received good marks on my writing. I was lucky. I was privileged. I grew up speaking English and with a middle school English teacher. I have always been curious. I enjoyed the journey of learning. I especially enjoyed learning that challenged what I already believed and thought. In my mind, it wasn’t learning unless it changed me.

But through my 32 years of teaching, I’ve realized that we teach writing wrong. As a matter of fact, we don’t actually teach writing. We teach grammar conventions. We teach parts of speech. We teach punctuation. We teach vocabulary. But we don’t actually teach people how to write, let alone well or on demand. The writing courses I have taken throughout my life were merely a confirmation that I could write. Grades were not based on what I learned or tools I mastered, but how well I wrote already.

We are also not taught how to do research. We are taught how to confirm an existing belief or bias. We are taught to begin with a hypothesis and then seek information that either proves or disproves that hypothesis. This assumes that there are only those two, binary, options. This deductive form of research is quite common. But we are also taught to begin with a particular example or instance, seek out other similar examples or instances and draw larger conclusions from that. Again, this excludes swaths of information in a bias-confirming approach. After we do the research, we are taught to insert quotations or data that backs our findings. Then make sure we include everyone we quote in a works cited page. Most people write the works cited last.

This book takes writing in a completely different direction.  Inspired by Indigenous ways of knowing, 32 years of teaching in higher education, a PhD complete with dissertation, a book, 40 years of speech and debate, and creates a system of research and writing that offers tools to write well on demand, regardless of the topic in a non-extractivist way.

The best teachers don’t lecture but show and take the journey with the student. Each time I teach this course, I write a paper alongside the students, showing my work. The students see, in real-time, how an interest turns into research and then into a paper.  Throughout this book, I will include examples from my own research.

Creative Writing Prompts

Throughout this guide there will be creative writing prompts. If you’ve ever stared at a blank computer screen and thought “I don’t know where to begin” or “I just can’t even start”. Consider this, we warm up our bodies before we exercise. We warm up our voices before we speak or sing. We warm up our cars in winter before we drive. Yet, we expect our minds to work at top efficiency on specific tasks without any warmup. Writing prompts allow our brains to adjust to writing on demand. Consider writing creatively for five minutes before you must write for another purpose. Stop creative writing when the time sounds even if you have other thoughts. Keeping those thoughts primes the mental pump for the next time you write. We tend to write until we are empty and yet, we’d never let our phones die or our cars run out of gas and yet we do this with our minds all the time.

Activities

Note:  If you read my first book, you’ll know I begin with an activity. This activity informs the process. All learning begins with self-reflection and experiential-based learning offers the best way to both do and reflect.