THINKING ON PAPER --- REFINE, EXPRESS, AND ACTUALLY GENERATE IDEAS
BY UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESSES OF THE MIND by V. A. Howard and J. H. Barton, 1986
    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (p7-8)

    INTRODUCTION (p13-16)

      [1] In brief --- The first goal of writing is to understand!

      Thinking in writing is a form of understanding --- a way of forming "first thoughts." Communicating in writing is mostly a matter of "re-shaping" your thoughts on paper.

      In brief, from first thoughts to the last word in writing, articulation precedes communication!

      Don't separate thinking from writing!

      Your conceptions of the activity of writing, of the purposes it serves, and of how to do it better are substantially altered by this difference in perspective.

      [2] How to use this book --- This is both a reference and a guide book to writing improvement, combining what with how to write! It presupposes that you would like to write more efficiently and better than you now do.

      Accordingly, the book is divided into two parts, "writing for thinking" and "thinking for writing."

    PART 1 --- WRITING FOR THINKING (p17-62)

      1) Writing is thinking (p19-27)

      2) From first to last draft (p28-41)

        [1] Generating ideas

        Keep the following "leading questions" in mind:

          (1) What do I want my readers to know"

          (2) What do I want m readers to feel?

          (3) What do I wat my readers to do?

        Focusing on the domains of knowledge, feeling, and action, these three questions also form a bridge between the content of your thinking and a potential audience.

        [2] Composing ideas

        Root the following questions in our mind:

          (1) What am I saying here?

          (2) What is my point?

          (3) What is my problem?

          (4) What is my solution?

          (5) What shall I call this chunk of words?

      3) The essay --- a framework for thinking in writing (p42-62)

        [1] The function of formats (p42-45)

        [2] The basic structure of the essay (p46-48)

        [3] Formulating the thesis (p48-50)

        [4] Writing the introduction (p51-59)

        [5] Writing the body (p54-59)

          Three rules for the ordering of arguments: (p56)

            (1) Make the necessary concessions to the opposition as soon as possible

            (2) Devote at least one paragraph to every major PRO argument in your full thesis statement

            (3) Save your best argument for the last

        Writing the "body" of the essay can be desribed as elaboration, illustration, and argumentation! (p58)

        [6] Making connections (p59-60)

        [7] Writing the conclusion (p60-62)

    PART 2 --- THINKING FOR WRITING (p63-135)

      4) Making sense --- reasoning for discovery (p65-84)

        [1] Introduction (p65-66)

        [2] How do we make sense? (p66-68)

          (1) By asserting or querying what you think about an issue

          (2) By challenging your own thinking and questioning your own version of the matter and your information, beliefs, and attitudes about it

          (3) By challenging other people's versions, including their beliefs, explanations, attitudes, and what you can magine about the way they think about the issue

          (4) By responding to your own and others' opinions in a series of queries and replies

        Whether you do this silently, aloud, or in writing, and whether you go through all four phases, reasoning itself tends to proceed in this way. Often these phases will overlap or be repeated.

        When you struggle with a difficult problem, the typical result is a series of statements of pro and con --- leading to a conclusion. Normally, this is how you can assess facts and events, try to explain them, make plans, concoct plausible alternatives, note the evidence for or against our views, probe the opinions of others, and take account of possible objections.

        Other names, besides "reasoning," for this kind of mental activity are "critical thinking" and "rational inquiry." We prefer "reasoning for discovery" to describe this mental activity. However, whatever the name, it is still thinking directed toward the assessment and evaluation of things (analysis), and it can be done well or badly.

        [3] Reasoning as probing (p70)

        [4] Plausibility (p71-72)

        [5] Reasoning by questioning (p72-80)

        [6] Induction and deduction (p80-84)

      5) Writing sense --- reasoning for presentation (p85-96)

        Three sorts of questions motivate inquiry and advocacy in any form

        [1] Factual questions --- What are the facts?

        [2] Interpretative questions --- Why are they as they are?

        [3] Evaluative questions --- Are the "facts" good or bad?

      6) A user's guide to grammar and punctuation (p97-135)

     APPENDIX A --- Deductive and inductive reasoning (p137-144)

      [1] The nature of deduction and induction (p137-141)

      [2] the bases of deduction and induction (p141-144)

    APPENDIX B --- Annotated suggestions for further reading on punctuation and grammar (p145-146)

    LIST OF REFERENCES (p147-149)

    INDEX (p151-156)

    ABOUT THE AUTHORS (p157)
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