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Stephen P. Witte. Pre-Text and Composing.

Witte, Stephen P. "Pre-Text and Composing." CCC 38.4 (1987): 397-425.

Abstract:

Witte argues that the writer's pre-text, or mental construction of "text" prior to transcription, is such an important composing phenomenon that there must be more theoretical and empirical research in writing on it, specifically think-aloud protocols. From his own research on college freshmen's pre-texts, he makes four observations about pre-text: pre-text directly affects the direction of the written text; pre-text can be stored in the writer's memory and used in the text; revising pre-text uses the same strategies as revising written text; and pre-text is not a rigid step in the composing process but a necessary link between translating ideas to written text.

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Works Citing

Listed below are links to articles that reference Stephen P. Witte. Pre-Text and Composing.

» Linda Flower. Cognition, Context, and Theory Building. from CCC Online

Works Cited
Beach, Richard. "Self-Evaluation Strategies of Extensive Revisers and Non-Revisers." CCC 27 (1976): 160-64.
Beaugrande, Robert de. Text Production: Toward a Science of Composition. Advances in Discourse Processes, Vol. 11. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1984.
Bracewell, Robert J., Carl H. Frederiksen, and Janet D. Frederiksen. "Cognitive Processes in Composing and Comprehending Discourse." Educational Psychologist 17 (1982): 146-64.
Bridwell, Lillian S. "Revising Strategies in Twelfth-Grade Students' Transactional Writing." Research in the Teaching of English 14 (1980): 197-222.
Britton, James, et al. The Development of Writing Abilities (11-18). Schools Research Council Studies. London: Macmillan Education, 1975.
Cooper, Charles R., et al. "Studying the Writing Abilities of a University Freshman Class: Strategies from a Case Study." New Directions in Writing Research. Ed. R. Beach and L. S. Bridwell. New York: Guilford, 1984. 19-52.
Ericsson, K. Anders, and Herbert A. Simon. "Verbal Reports as Data." Psychological Review 97 (1980): 215-51.
---. Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1984.
Faigley, Lester L., et al. Assessing Writers' Knowledge and Processes of Composing. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1985.
Faigley, Lester, and Stephen P. Witte. "Analyzing Revision." CCC 32 (1981): 400-14.
---. "Measuring the Effects of Revisions on Text Structure." New Directions in Composition Research. Ed. R. Beach and 1. S. Bridwell. New York: Guilford, 1984. 95-108.
Flower, Linda, and John R. Hayes. "A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing." CCC 32 (1981): 365-87.
---. "Images, Plans, and Prose: The Representation of Meaning in Writing." Written Communication 1 (1984): 120-60.
Flower, Linda, et al. "Detection, Diagnosis, and the Strategies of Revision." CCC 37 (1986): 16-55.
Gorrell, Robert M. "How to Make Mulligan Stew: Process and Product Again." CCC 34 (1983): 272-77.
Halliday, M. A. K. Explorations in the Functions of Language. London: Edward Arnold, 1973.
---. Language as Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning. Baltimore, MD: University Park Press, 1978.
Halliday, M. A. K., and Ruqaiya Hasan. Cohesion in English. London: Longman, 1976.
Hayes, John R., and Linda Flower. "Identifying the Organization of Writing Processes." Cognitive Processes in Writing. Ed. 1. Gregg and E. Steinberg. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1980. 3-30.
---. "Uncovering Cognitive Processes in Writing: An Introduction to Protocol Analysis." Research in Writing: Principles and Methods. Ed. P. Mosenthal, L. Tamor, and S. Walmsley. New York: Longman, 1983. 207-20.
Irmscher, William F. "Finding a Comfortable Identity." CCC 38 (1987): 81-87.
Murray, Donald M. "Internal Revision: A Process of Discovery." Research on Composing: Points of Departure. Ed. C. R. Cooper and L. Odell. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1978. 85-103.
Nold, Ellen W. "Revising." Writing: Process, Development, and Communication. Ed. C. H. Frederiksen and J. F. Dominic. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1981. 67-79.
Nystrand, Martin. The Structure of Written Communication: Studies in Reciprocity Between Writers and Readers. New York: Academic Press, 1986.
Odell, Lee. "Written Products and the Writing Processes." The Writer's Mind: Writing as a Mode of Thinking. Ed. J. N. Hayes et al. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1983. 53-65.
Rohman, D. Gordon. "Pre-Writing: The Stage of Discovery in the Writing Process." CCC 16 (1965): 106-12.
Scardamalia, Marlene, and Carl Bereiter. "Research on Written Composition." Handbook of Research on Teaching. 3rd ed. Ed. M. C. Wittrock. New York: Macmillan, 1986. 778-803.
Sommers, Nancy I. "Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers." CCC 31 (1980): 378-88.
Swarts, Heidi, Linda S. Flower, and John R. Hayes. "Designing Protocol Studies of the Writing Process: An Introduction." New Directions in Composition Research. Ed. R. Beach and L. S. Bridwell. New York: Guilford, 1984.53-71.
Witte, Stephen P. "Revising, Composition Theory, and Research Design." The Acquisition of Written Language: Response and Revision. Ed. S. W. Freedman. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1985. 250-84.
---. "Writing Tasks and Composing Processes." Annual Convention of the Conference on College Composition and Communication. New Orleans, LA, 1986.
Witte, Stephen P., and Roger D. Cherry, "Writing Processes and Written Products in Composition Research." Studying Writing: Linguistic Approaches. Ed. C. R. Cooper and S. Greenbaum. Written Communication Annual: An International Survey of Research and Theory, Vol. 1. Beverly Hills, CA and London: Sage, 1986. 112-53.
Witte, Stephen P., et al. An Evaluation of DCCCD's "The Write Course." Austin, TX: ITS for the Center for Telecommunications and the Annenberg/CPB Foundation, 1985.
Witte, Stephen P., et al. Holistic Evaluation of Writing: Issues in Theory and Practice. New York: Guilford, forthcoming.
Witte, Stephen P., and Lester L. Faigley. "Coherence, Cohesion, and Writing Quality." CCC 32 (1981): 189-204.
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