Abstract

Preparing a written outline during prewriting and composing a rough rather than a polished first draft are cognitive strategies that may lessen a writer's work load. The present laboratory and field research examined whether these strategies enhance writing performance. In an experiment, I manipulated the use of these strategies by college students in a letter writing task. The students' writing process, efficiency, and quality were examined. The results showed that preparing a written outline, compared with not doing so, increased the time spent translating ideas into text, improved the quality of letters, and failed to enhance overall efficiency. The use of rough versus polished drafts affected when the students reviewed their work, as expected, but had no influence on quality or efficiency. A survey of science and engineering faculty revealed that the frequency of using written outlines correlated positively with writing productivity, whereas use of polished drafts was uncorrelated with productivity.