In his research, Berkenkotter explores the writing processes involved with decision-making and revision through Donald M. Murray who acts as her lab rat in this study. He broke up his experiment into various parts. Murray first did his work in a setting that was most comfortable for him, and he sent Berkenkotter his notes and drafts. Next, Berkenkotter gave Murray an audience to see if he would write differently. Additionally, he observed Murray in his home for two weeks. Lastly, Berkenkotter was asked to write to a ten-year-old and explain death. Under the time constraint of one hour, he was almost unable to complete this experiment.
From these experiments, Berkenkotter learned that Murray wrote better in familiar settings. Additionally, he learned that Murray wrote better when he was familiar with the topic, and when he was comfortable with his audience. I notice that when I write, I write for my professors, as most students do. I have an idea of what each of my professors wants and I often make choices in my writing based on how my professor will grade. If I were tasked to write to a ten-year-old, I wouldn’t know where to start because I’ve never written for an audience as young as ten years old.
Berkenkotter also studies the way Murray planned. He spent a lot of time planning, but he used two methods. He planned what he would write, and he also planned how he would reach out to his audience by evaluating himself and asking himself questions as if he were his audience. I believe this is a good approach. It is important to know what you’re writing about but if the writer isn’t able to connect with the audience so that they understand, what is the point of writing at all?
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