I am Lucifer DeMorte

Background Information

Suppose that in your very first school class that involved writing, your teacher had told you to go away and think about some particular issue, think it through from various angles, talk it over with family and friends, and, when you have thought it over just as well as you can manage, and have come to what, as far as you can tell, based on logic and the evidence available to you, is as close to the correct answer as you can get, then, and only then, sit down and write a paper explaining what you think, and why you think it, as clearly, correctly, and completely as possible. Suppose that when you've done this for the first time, and turned in your paper, your teacher reviews it, and gives it back to you with hints and suggestions on how to think more logically, on how to better find, understand, and interpret evidence, and how to write and organize your paper so that the average expected reader will be more likely to be able to understand your thoughts and your reasons. Now imagine that every class that involved writing worked this way so that over your school career, you got better and better and better at thinking things through, and at describing your ideas and reasons. I call this "cognitive writing" (If I was in charge of education, this is how it would always be.)

The "RTW" Cycle

In my view, pretty much every paper should be the pure result of a Read - THINK - Write cycle. You read the most relevant information, enough of it to support a substantial paper, think it through from all angles as deeply as you can (the thinking is the most important part), and only then, you write down the most important results of your thinking process as clearly and completely as you can. When your developed thoughts are as clearly and completely expressed as possible, you stop. Your paper is finished.

To this end, some things are NOT allowed in my class. Specifically things that do not represent part of the results of your thinking process are banned. "Introductions" that waste the reader's time with irrelevancies are not allowed. "Conclusions" that merely repeat things you've already said are not allowed. Dictionary definitions are not allowed. Rhetorical questions are not allowed. Uninterpreted quotes from other writers are not allowed. Snide comments are not allowed. Cop-outs are not allowed. Stuff that is added merely to fill up space ("padding") is especially not allowed.


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