| Traditionally, heuristics have been associated with classical rhetorical invention and modern invention strategies. As an invention strategy, heuristics are commonly thought to aid in the process of “discovering” something to say or “finding” a starting point in writing. When traditional and modern heuristics associated with persuasion, however, are shifted from invention strategy to drafting strategy, they become a pedagogical tool that is useful for beginning college writers and beginning composition teachers. As drafting tool, these “heuristic procedures” tend to blend processes and reduce the scope of the writing act. Heuristic procedures differ from heuristics in general in the way their questions reflect a pattern or set of patterns in writing, which frees writers from “creating” or “reinventing” patterns, while commonly accepted patterns are practiced, internalized, and assimilated by writers. Consequently, assimilating patterns may lead to an attitude of “patterned inquiry” towards composition and thinking in general in student writers. The same patterned inquiry facilitates blending heuristic procedures with the latest writing technology. |
