The Writing Process

CB: Can you reconstruct the stages of your writing as it developed?

See one of Alexandra's rough drafts.

AS: I write stream of consciousness and then I go back and revise. I usually write about five full drafts of the paper, but even after that there is always something more that can be changed. I have my outline available when I write, but the writing is mostly stream of consciousness.

CB: Do you start writing only after all of the research is finished, or do you write as you do the research?

See one of Alexandra's idea files.

AS: Yes. As I do the research, a really good idea will just pop into my head and the wording will be just right, so I'll go to the computer and type it in. I save ideas on a special disk as I work, and return to them later. I work on the paper a piece at a time. I might focus on the summary or project description at first, look through my files to see if the paragraph I wrote two weeks ago had the right wording, and then lift it out if it fits. This all happens before the writing stage. During the writing I'll do about five drafts total.

CB: Did you find that you needed to do more research after you started writing?

AS: Yes, about the mycorrhiza. I had to learn more about mycorrhiza, so I had to do a new literature search. I may have mentioned mycorrhiza only a couple of times in the paper, but there were lots of questions I had to answer about them: Can I actually find out what kinds of mycorrhiza are in these orchids? How do you do that? Do you stain them? Is it reasonable? Could you do it? This makes the task bigger.

CB: What role did your professors play in revising your proposal?

AS: I got a lot of help from my professors. The way they set up this project made it really easy to do. They would write extensive comments on all of work we turned in. When I would get those comments I would come right home and work on it, fix it, and give it right back to them so they can look at it again. They were very nice about giving me more feedback. I refined it quite a bit with their help. They really helped make the project into what it became. The work was rough before I came into the class, and the way they set up the stages of doing the assignment just meshed with the way I was able to work.

CB: What do you think you want to achieve in the long run with this research?

AS: Well, I would like to become a botanist. I would like to help people to notice plants and see them for the miracles that they are. We couldn't live here without them. They have developed myriad ways of adapting and surviving, and they're just fascinating. I would like to share that.

See one of Alexandra's rough drafts.

See one of Alexandra's idea files.

See one of Alexandra's annotated bibliographies.

See Alexandra's final draft.