Writing to Learn

“The essence of writing is rewriting.”

“Meaning is remarkably elusive. After a lifetime of writing I still revise every sentence many times and still worry that I haven’t caught every ambiguity; I don’t want anyone to have to read a sentence of mine twice to find out what it means.”

“Writing and learning and thinking are the same process.”

“Writing organizes and clarifies our thoughts.”

“Whatever we write – a memo, a letter, a note to the baby-sitter – all of us know this moment of finding out what we really want to say by trying in writing to say it. This was the aspect of ‘writing across the curriculum’ that excited me most of all. It was an idea based on two principles: learning to write and writing to learn.”

“Writing is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly – about any subject at all.”

“Far too many Americans are prevented from doing useful work because they never learned to express themselves. Contrary to general belief, writing isn’t something that only ‘writers’ do; writing is a basic skill for getting through life.”

William Zinsser