The focus of this chapter is to assist graduate students in developing scholarly dispositions and habits of mind, such as persistence and metacognition, to consistently move forward with writing projects. The chapter opens with a brief overview of how the brain processes information to provide a foundation to the chapter. I then look at the cognitive demands of the writing process, examine key findings gleaned from the review of the literature concerning the cognitive demands of writing, discuss the role of faculty in developing students’ writing skills and dispositions, and present strategies that reduce a writer’s cognitive load. The supplemental readings section of this chapter provides further resources.
Baddeley and others, through a series of studies published in the last half century, have described how the brain processes information (e.g., Baddeley, 1986, 2007, 2012; Baddeley & Hitch, 1974). Their work makes clear that learning is a complex process, during which the brain draws on two main types of memory – short-term and long-term. We use short-term memory, also referred to as working memory, for conscious actions and activities; it is the only type of memory that can be actively monitored and influenced (Kirschner, 2002). Although limited in duration, working memory allows us to reason and guides our decisions and behavior. However, we can only address about seven items of information at a time in working memory (e.g., Miller, 1956). Thus, working memory is very easily overloaded. This is especially possible when an individual is engaged in the major processes of writing such as organizing thoughts and making decisions as to what information should be included, translating ideas into sentences, and reflecting upon and revising drafts (Flower & Hayes, 1981). As they engage in these activities, novice writers may need assistance in developing dispositions such as persistence, time management, motivation, and confidence (Reid, 2017).
In contrast, long-term memory allows us to recall information for a much longer period. Sweller et al. (1998) noted that long-term memory relies on schemas to help categorize ideas. Because of schemas, long-term memory can include declarative memory or small, discrete pieces of information such as facts and events, as well as procedural memory or complex sets of tasks, interactions, and processes (Inglis, 2014). In fact, long-term memory is essential to the development of reasoning skills. Information that starts out in short-term memory can become scaffolded to long-term memory through schemas and other effective learning activities (Sweller et al., 1998).
An individual develops complex schemas by organizing and combining low level schemas (Sweller et al., 1998) which increases the learner’s ability to categorize and classify information, thus reducing cognitive load. Complex schemas have “two functions: the storage and organization of information in long-term memory and a reduction of working memory load” (Sweller et al., 1998, p. 256). Schema construction can also lead to automation of skills, which frees up one’s working memory. For example, a well-developed schema about inductive writing requires examining specific examples and then making a generalization based on that information.