The Composing Processes of an Engineer

Jack Selzer studied Kenneth E. Nelson.  With Selzer's findings, it is evident that he extensively and carefully observed his subject.  Throughout this reading I found a few interesting facts about Nelson's writing process.  "Nelson spends up to 80% of his time inventing and arranging!" (The Composing Process of an Engineer, pg. 180).  Through the study of Slezer's subject, he found that Nelson takes the time to know his readers, heavily involves himself in the research he does and re-uses other information from his previous writings.  When doing writings, Nelson doesn't have a typical outline, he uses concepts and ideas without numbers and spends little time drafting and even less time with revisions.  

Selzer, took the time to analyze his subject and shows how much time and effort he invested in this project.  In his conclusion and discussion Selzer states, "he invents content in detail, arranges material carefully, rarely arranges or draft before his inventing and global planning, rarely does he invent or revise while he writes, rarely does revision include anything but final editing" (The Composing... pg. 184-85).  This article carefully shows that Selzer carefully observed Nelson extensively.