Ed Nagelhout, PhD

These tenets form the core of my philsophy of writing. All of my professional work acknowledges, addresses, and adheres to these tenets.

1. Writing is always the results of complex interactions among writer(s), readers, texts, and contexts.
2. Writing is purposeful.
3. Writing is the expression of critical thought.
4. Writing is reflective.
5. Writing is not simply an end product, nor merely an artifact.
6. Writing is a complex array of choices.
7. Writing is cognitive process.
8. Writing is developmental.
9. Writing works toward publication.
10. Writing is the production of an effective text, whatever that text might be.
11. Writing evolves through stages of initial motivation, discovery/exploration/analysis, planning, drafting, revising, and editing.
12. Writing is recursive, rarely linear.

13. Writing moves back and forth among stages of production.
14. Writing includes a wide range of strategies for achieving success.
15. Writing elicits and uses feedback in process, not as an end result.
16. Writing is multi-stage/multi-level revision.
17. Writing is higher-order concerns, including purpose, organization, development, and coherence.
18. Writing is lower-order concerns, including editing and proofreading.
19. Writing benefits from analytical heuristics that map rhetorical situations.
20. Writing both benefits from and serves as strategy for invention, discovery, and exploration.
21. Writing both benefits from and serves as strategy for planning textual activity.
22. Writing both benefits from and serves as strategy for conducting, and using results of various kinds of research, including primary and secondary research.
23. Writing exhibits control of effective processes.
24. Writing is social practice.
25. Writing is context-specific.

26. Writing is context-dependent.
27. Writing is sensitive to the needs and expectations of readers.
28. Writing assesses the needs and expectations of readers.
29. Writing is the conventions of specific discourse communities.
30. Writing is the understanding of discourse conventions.
31. Writing is appropriate textual arrangements.
32. Writing is appropriate arguments.
33. Writing is appropriate evidence or support.
34. Writing is appropriate stylistic conventions.
35. Writing participates in a larger ongoing discourse.
36. Writing contributes to a larger ongoing discourse.
37. Writing as activity is never wholly understood.
38. Writing is never automatic.
39. Writing requires regular use and practice.
40. Writing atrophies from disuse.
41. Writing is never so simple as a lone individual composing alone.
42. Writing is the core literate practice.