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If you want to get people to seem dumber than they are, try asking them a hard question and then saying, ‘Now think carefully.’

Peter Elbow, “Teaching Two Kinds of Thinking by Teaching Writing”

First- and Second-Order Thinking

In his essay, “Teaching Two Kinds of Thinking by Teaching Writing,” Peter Elbow identifies two ways of thinking that are necessary for any successful writing. These thought processes he terms “First-Order Thinking” and “Second-Order Thinking.” The former he describes as “intuitive and creative,” and “exploratory but uncensored.” While thinking in this manner, people feel freer to explore tangents, eschew pre-conceived notions that may blind them to new possibilities and draw seemingly unrelated parallels which may turn out to be incredibly relevant. Second-order thinking, on the other hand, “is a way to check our thinking, to be more aware, to steer instead of being steered.”

To Think or Not to Think?

In regard to writing, first-order thinking can act as a form of brain storming. Elbow writes, “What’s more common is that the exploratory zigzagging leads finally to a click.” Thus, when struggling with how to begin, or how to continue a paper this type of thinking may be more helpful. Yet, if first-order thinking is a way of generating ideas, second-order thinking is a way of criticizing and refining these ideas. As such, this manner of thinking applies more to organizing and revising an essay.

How to Think

Ironically, many writers find first-order thinking more difficult. Urges to plan, control and censor, as well as a fear that the work created will lead to nothing hinder these writers’ creativity, leading them to shift prematurely from first- to second-order thinking. However, given that this exploratory writing precedes a more critical rewriting, these fears play no productive role at this time.
Instead of bogging themself down with these critical constraints, the writer ought to force words to leave their pen, almost as if documenting their own “stream of consciousness.” As Elbow writes, “Words call up words, ideas call up more ideas. A momentum of language and thinking develops and one learns to nurture it by keeping the pen moving.”

Second-order thinking involves the writer determining the main argument of their paper, the assumptions that argument relies on, and how that argument can be or has been reinforced. Of this exercise – which he calls the “X-ray” or “skeleton” method – Elbow writes, “Instead of being a canned exercise with artificial ingredients, it is an exercise in assessing and strengthening one’s own or someone else’s live discourse.”