A Life of Process and Progress: The Influence of Writer Donald M. Murray

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to explain how one individual, Donald (Don) Murray (1924-2006), developed and spread an academic culture known as the “writing process movement.” The writing process approach encouraged writers to be conscious of their own successful methods of planning and creating a piece. Murray encouraged newspapers to adopt his techniques and many newspapers invited him to hold workshops with reporters as a writing coach, particularly in long terms with The Boston Globe and The Providence Journal-Bulletin With his pronouncement to “teach writing as a process, not a product” in 1972, Murray enacted an approach to writing shared by like-minded scholars that would become termed the “writing process movement.”1 Though references to “writing process” as a terminology for composition study dates back to 1919 or earlier, Murray’s phrase was a standard reference and invocation for composition scholars and the thinkers and practitioners of journalism of his time. This study incorporates over two dozen interviews and analysis of a variety of texts, including trade books and textbooks, magazine and newspaper articles. In addition to works that reference Murray or speak to his profession and pedagogy, the thesis will also present portions of Murray’s own writing in his daybook journals, articles, and books.