I can speak from personal experience about the benefits of this writing method. For my entire college career I have always written the basic draft of essays. Than I type them up and edit them. By the time this process is done, I have produced a great essay. This actually takes less time than if I were to type it alone. This is because I am more active and engaged when I am writing versus when I am typing. When typing, you are distracted and unfocused, and spend a lot of time just sitting there.
Writing words on paper and typing them on a screen are two entirely different processes. There is a slew of new research that is exploring these differences, the results of which are astounding. One of the main findings is that you pay more attention and focus more when you write. That is because the process of writing on paper is more involved. When you write, you are processing more senses, and also dealing with the information for a longer period of time. According to an article in the journal Advances in Haptics, “These kinds of feedback are stronger than those we receive when touching and typing on a keyboard and strengthens the learning mechanism. It also takes more mental effort and time to write by hand and so this is thought to also help imprint memories.”
Many of us choose to type our essays because we have this illusion that it saves time, when it is beginning to seem like it doesn’t. Typing may allow you to put more words down, but it does not help you write any faster. A study conducted at the University of Washington found that “Children consistently did better writing with a pen when they wrote essays. They wrote more and they wrote faster.”
These are just two of the studies proving that the differences between reading and writing have huge effects on the creative process. If we as students are more aware of these differences, we can find ways to use both of them. By using both of these we can produce better quality essays and in shorter time.
Instead of only typing an essay, the first draft should be written. Now this doesn’t mean you write out your entire essay. Rather, you write out an outline or an annotated draft. Than you type that out and add more material such as filled in notes and quotes from sources. By the time you have it typed out, you will have a strong draft. This draft will combine aspects of writing as well as typing, seeking to minimize the negatives of both.
If you are having writers block on an essay, turn the computer off and try writing a few sentences. You will be surprised by how engaging putting words on paper is. In no time at all, you will have a page written that you can than type up, and the writers block is gone.