Things about Which I am Unsatisfied with Donald Murray

1. It occurs to me, now, as I sit here with Newkirk/Miller's book The Essential Don Murray open on the table next to me that this may be one of the things with which I am unsatisfied with Don Murray. Does he teach us how to work with texts--with other people's words? I don't know. My gut says, no. But I have no evidence upon which to base that claim and this will need to become one of the things I look for in my survey of the book. I'm thinking of the way a Donald Murray book is different from, say, Ways of Reading..and this gets to a larger point about which I feel some frustration, which is the extent to which Murray prepares us for academic writing of the kind I do now. What I am doing now, working through different texts, drawing out words, quotes, working with other people's words is such a critical part of my process of writing academically. And so the question is--to what extent does Don prepare me for this work? Teach me this work? Something to look into...