Mission Statement:
Traditional free writing is a well established and studied exercise that has been proven to be beneficial in many creative and professional settings.
Free writing allows you to eliminate the prejudicial constraints of self-editing and get your ideas down before they are self-sabotaged.
Free Right will reduce the possibility of self-editing and self-consciousness to promote continuous, uninterrupted writing.
It is expected that through our development and testing process, Free Right will be revised and honed into a highly useful tool with multiple, creative applications.
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Team Bios: |
Team Annotated Bibliographies: |
Team Research Reports: |
Click Here to Download the Free Right Prototype Modules
Instructions for Opening the Program:
- Download and unzip the "FreeRightTests.zip" folder
- Double click on "3 Minute Free Right.html"
- The program will open in your web browser like a normal web page
Click Here to Download the Powerpoint Presentation in PDF Format
Description:
Free writing is a means through which practiced and unpracticed writers alike can find and develop his or her written voice. Additionally, free writing is first and foremost an exercise, and not a means for content production. The primary aspect of free writing is writing continuously, and in this regard, the incentivization of writing through a specified time limit may be beneficial. If the user knows that they are only obligated to write for a brief period, then they may feel less indentured to the exercise. Team Free Right will offer multiple time periods (three minutes, 7 minutes, and 15 minutes) during its testing phase to determine what effect a time constraint has on the user. Through the creation of Free Right-the online free writing tool, team Free Right aims to bring forth the writer's unconscious mind onto the page through the inability to see the majority of what is being written, as well as the inability to edit.
Research/Analysis:
The Free Right tool works to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the free writing exercise by insisting upon the practice’s conditions. As previously stated, the primary conditions of free writing are that one writes continuously and without editing. To ensure these conditions are met, Free Right implements certain constraints.
-What is written in Free Right cannot be edited or revised: Proponents of free writing argue that its value lies in its aim to force the user to ignore his or her impulse to edit as he or she writes, which then allows one’s ideas to flow freely without the threat of self-censorship (Elbow). However, while one may still be able ignore the proposed rule and edit anyway during a traditional free writing exercise, Free Right completely eliminates the option of returning to edit one’s previous work. This forces the user to focus entirely on their thoughts and not their properness or grammatical correctness of his or her writing. In addition to not being able to edit one’s written text,
-Free Right only displays two words at a time AND all other text is hidden: Displaying only two words at a time most greatly reduces the amount of self-editing that can take place while also not totally disorienting the user. Similarly, hiding past text decreases both the impulse to go back and edit as well as the self-consciousness towards one’s writing that impulse may create.
-Free Right’s timer feature: Free Right timer— spanning three, seven, and fifteen minutes—keeps the free write constrained to a set time which the user may determine before beginning the exercise. This not only arguably increases the effectiveness of the exercise but also improves the potential for the Free Right tool to be used more routinely.
Testing Procedure:
- Pre-Survey
- 3 minute, 7 minute, and 15 minute timer
- Post-Survey
Closing Thoughts:
Potential Improvements-ability to easily save the text that is produced in order to offer further analysis, true online availability, option to see the timer or not, etc.
If given the ideal amount of time to work on this project- test more people and factor in their gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, language, etc.; have more testing constraints like a beep, different kinds of prompts (video, photo, etc.), more differing periods of time, being able to see more words vs. less words, etc.
Ultimately, we believe Free Right to be an effective free writing tool. Even though it is incomplete in certain aspects, it currently serves as a means through which the user can reap several of the important benefits of free writing. Free Right offers the user freedom from self-censorship and self-consciousness towards his or her writing, creating the ideal circumstances for writers of any skill level to gather their thoughts, develop ideas, and gain confidence and familiarity with their own written voice.
References:
Benson, Buster. "750 Words." About a Little Thing Called 750 Words. N.p., n.d. Web.
Elbow, Peter. "Freewriting." Writing without Teachers. New York: Oxford UP, 1973. N. pag. Buffalostate.edu. Web.
Fontaine, Sheryl. "What does Freewriting Look Like?". Nothing Begins With N: New Investigations of Freewriting. Fontaine et al. Southern Illinois
University Press, 1991. pp. 3-15. Print.
Fox, Deborah and Suhor, Charles. "Limitations Of Free Writing." The English Journal 75.8 (1986): 34-36. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/819077>.
Kent, Daniel. "420 Fables." 420 Fables. N.p., n.d. Web.
Marcus, Stephen. "Any Teacher a Writing Teacher? The Value of Freewriting." Improving College and University Teaching 28.1 (1980): 10-
12. JSTOR. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/27565338>.
Reynolds, Mark. "Freewriting's Origins." The English Journal 73.3 (1984): 81-82. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/817229?origin=JSTOR-pdf>.
Romano, Tom. "The Power of Voice." EBSCO Host. Educational Leadership, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fweb.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu%3A2048%2Fehost%2Fpdfviewer%2Fpdfviewer%3Fsid%3Dd528e34b-6e79-4f3d-a155-3abd5fe14cde%2540sessionmgr112%26vid%3D10%26hid%3D101>.
Skud, Emily. "Written? Kitten!" Written? Kitten! N.p., n.d. Web.