Writing in Social Worlds: An Argument for Researching Composing Processes

Abstract

Empirical research on composing processes is virtually absent in our field. What do contemporary writers actually do when 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.