How I Became the Kind of Writer I Became: An Experiment in Autoethnography
By Charles Bazerman
Copy edited by Caitlin Kahihikolo. Designed by Mike Palmquist.
In his exploration of his development as one of the most prolific and thoughtful writers in the field of writing studies, Charles Bazerman considers how, like all writers, he has been shaped in distinctive and unique ways by his literate experiences. “Each of our stories is particular,” he writes, calling this book “my experiment in saying what I can from my perspective about my development as a writer.” How I Became the Kind of Writer I Became poses questions about the lifespan development of writing and, in particular, how writing emerges within the “conditions, relations, and needs of life.” Observing that his autoethnography does not offer a norm or an ideal, Bazerman calls attention to the need for more of these kinds of reflections. “We need many such stories from many kinds of writers,” he notes, “reflecting on what opportunities, needs, experiences, and resources came their way and how they iteratively solved the problem of what to write and how to write it, as they saw it.” As the first book in the Lifespan Writing Research book series, Bazerman’s work serves as both a model for reflective inquiry and a call for additional work in this area.
Table of Contents
Open the entire book: In PDF Format 
In ePub Format 
Part One. Writing From Where I Was
Chapter 1. Contexts for This Writer’s Journey
Chapter 2. Starting Down a Path: Earliest Dispositions, Interactions, and Education
Chapter 3. Writing in Secondary School: Learning to Confront the World through Writing
Chapter 4. Family Troubles and Academic Identity
Chapter 5. Political Awareness and Political Passions
Part Two. Writing to Find Myself
Chapter 6. Telluride House: Are We Home Yet?
Chapter 7. First-Year Composition: Setting Terms for College Writing
Chapter 8. Writing in Non-Literature Courses
Chapter 9. Writing in Literature Courses Through the Third Year: Learning Close Textual Analysis
Chapter 10. University Crises and the Search for Meaning: Where Do I Belong?
Chapter 12. Playing Out the Vision: Other Writing About Literature in the Senior Year
Chapter 13. Graduate School, Take One: Imagination and Discipline
Part Three. Finding Writing as a Way to Be
Chapter 14. Into the World: The Social Value of Writing
Chapter 15. Finishing Graduate School
Chapter 16. Teacher of College Writing: A Meaningful Commitment
Chapter 17. First Steps in Academic Publishing: Bringing My Writing into the Published World
Part Four. Learning the Writing Scholar Trade
Chapter 18. Becoming a Writing Researcher: The Classroom as Design Inquiry
Chapter 19. Science Studies as Writing Studies
Chapter 20. Studying the Changing Genres of Science and Figuring Out How to Write about It
Chapter 21. Following Rhetorical Innovators: Why Were They Writing That Way?
Chapter 22. Edison: How to Write About Complex Multi-Dimensional Social Projects
Chapter 23. Becoming a Writing Theorist: Keeping Abstractions Tied to the Ground
Chapter 24. Elaborating the Theory: Finding a Point to Stand On
Part Five. Participating in a Field and Its Future
Chapter 26. Administrative Writing: Making Genres, Actions, and Topoi Work in Institutions
Chapter 28. Data Gathering and Methodology in Writing: Fact Production and Use
Chapter 29. Writing and Thinking: Psychiatry, Psychology, and Consciousness
Chapter 30. Writing Across the Lifespan
Chapter 31. Learning to Write Across Borders
Chapter 32. Looking Backward and Writing Forward
Charles Bazerman Publications, Interviews, and Edited Book Series
About the Author
Charles Bazerman is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he served as Chair of the Program in Education for six years He is the author of numerous research articles and books on the social role of writing, academic genres, and textual analysis, as well as textbooks on the teaching of writing.
Publication Information: Bazerman, Charles. (2023). How I Became the Kind of Writer I Became: An Experiment in Autoethnography. The WAC Clearinghouse; University Press of Colorado. https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2023.1886
Web Publication Date: April 10, 2023
Print Publication Date: TBD
ISBN: 978-1-64215-188-6 (PDF) | 978-1-64215-189-3 (ePub) | 978-1-64642-499-3 (pbk)
DOI: 10.37514/LWR-B.2023.1886
Contact Information:
Charles Bazerman: bazerman@education.ucsb.edu
Lifespan Writing Research
Series Editors: Ryan Dippre, University of Maine, and Talinn Phillips, Ohio University
This book is available in whole and in part in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). It will also be available in a low-cost print edition from our publishing partner, the University Press of Colorado.
Copyright © 2023 Charles Bazerman. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License. 308 pages, with notes, illustrations, and bibliographies. This book will also be available in print from University Press of Colorado as well as from any online or brick-and-mortar bookstore. Available in digital format for no charge on this page at the WAC Clearinghouse. You may view this book. You may print personal copies of this book. You may link to this page. You may not reproduce this book on another website.