Lamott and Goldberg on the College Writing Process
This essay examines how Anne Lamott's "Shitty First Drafts" and Natalie Goldberg's "Be Specific" offer complementary guidance for college writers navigating the challenges of the writing process. Lamott encourages writers to embrace messy, uncritical first drafts as a necessary step toward refined work, while Goldberg urges specificity of language to develop a distinctive voice. The essay connects these creative-writing insights to broader educational contexts, drawing on Cheryl Dozier's work on literacy coaching and Steve Sherwood's research on learning from writing failures, ultimately arguing that the same foundational skills underpin both academic and creative writing success.
- Introduction: Two Guides to the Writing Process: Overview of Lamott and Goldberg as complementary guides
- Lamott's Case for the Shitty First Draft: Lamott argues for free, uncritical early drafts
- Goldberg's Call for Specificity and Voice: Goldberg urges specific language to build writer's voice
- Dozier: Naming the World as a Literacy Tool: Dozier connects naming to literacy development
- Sherwood: Embracing Failure as a Learning Opportunity: Sherwood reframes writing failure as learning
- Conclusion: A Shared Foundation for All Writing: All four sources share foundational writing principles
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper moves fluidly from two primary creative-writing essays to secondary scholarly sources, showing that the same principles apply across academic and creative contexts.
- Direct quotations are well-chosen and integrated smoothly, with each citation anchored to a specific argument rather than dropped in for decoration.
- The tone is accessible and student-friendly without sacrificing analytical rigor, making the argument feel grounded and genuine.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates synthesis across sources: rather than summarizing each essay in isolation, it weaves Lamott, Goldberg, Dozier, and Sherwood into a single cumulative argument. Each source is introduced to extend or corroborate the previous one, showing how disparate texts can be brought into productive conversation.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens with a joint introduction of both primary texts, then devotes one body paragraph each to Lamott and Goldberg before expanding outward to two supporting scholarly voices (Dozier and Sherwood). The conclusion ties all four sources together under a unified claim about foundational writing skills. This funnel-then-expand structure is characteristic of well-organized undergraduate comparison essays.
Introduction: Two Guides to the Writing Process
Anne Lamott's "Shitty First Drafts" and Natalie Goldberg's "Be Specific" provide complementary advice on the difficulties of the writing process and the need to find one's own unique voice. Although both women were commenting specifically on the creative writing process, their insight can easily be applied to the obstacles often encountered by college students when approaching an essay assignment or other writing-related task. While both essays contain practical information about the various stages of the writing process, it is the humor and compassion they offer to novice writers when articulating their own writing problems that may prove most helpful for college students as they attempt to clearly express themselves.
Works Cited
Dozier, Cheryl L. "Literacy Coaching: Engaging and Learning with Teachers." Issues in Literacy 18 (2008): 11–19. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.
Goldberg, Natalie. "Be Specific." Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2005. Print.
Lamott, Anne. "Shitty First Drafts." Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor Press, 1995. Print.
Sherwood, Steve. "Apprenticed to Failure: Learning from the Students We Can't Help." The Writing Center Journal 17.1 (Fall 1996). Web. 15 Nov. 2011.
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