Why Do Some People Sound Deep and Profound When They Write?
How do we ensure students articulate their thoughts well and achieve the success they deserve? In To Write Is to Think, Writer’s Toolbox Founder & CEO Dr Ian Hunter takes you on a compelling journey to uncover the powerful connections between the mind and the pen.
Synthesising research across five decades, Hunter demonstrates how the strength of a person’s writing skills are inextricably linked to their thinking power. Overturning conventional thinking, this paper identifies how the explicit and progressive teaching of writing skills amplify human cognitive power and trigger conceptual breakthroughs.
What’s Inside the Discussion Paper
- Paper examines the connection between writing and thinking.
- The dynamic interaction between the strength (or paucity) of writing skills and a person’s thinking skills is explored.
- Six key roles writing plays in human development are identified, including the links between writing and conceptual breakthroughs.
- Strong writing capabilities are shown as a foundation of knowledge economy. Knowledge absorption, resilience, future adaptability, creativity—all intersect with a person’s writing ability.
- How education systems might respond to maximise the writing/thinking connection are identified, including the need to explicitly train forms of writing that release deeper thinking processes.
- Sentence automaticity is isolated as a means to reduce cognitive load and surface authentic voice, along with the role of alternative paragraph structures for the development of deeper reasoning.
- Research challenges implicit assumption that writing merely reproduces pre-formed thoughts. Writing shown to sharpen, deepen, and amplify human cognitive power. Need for progressive explicit writing instruction throughout schooling career to maximise a student’s reasoning capacities.
"Once again, Dr Ian Hunter and Writer’s Toolbox take the lead on the importance of writing development—this time in relation to thought. To Write is to Think draws on a long tradition in this field and makes it new for the next generation of teachers, children and young people. It’s insightful and practical—a wonderful asset for everyone involved in education."
Prof. Richard Andrews Professor of Language Education University of Edinburgh
Strong writing skills are not just a classroom priority—they are the engine of the knowledge economy. When explicitly taught and nurtured throughout a student’s schooling, writing becomes the key to unlocking deeper thinking, creativity, resilience, and future adaptability. This paper highlights why educators must treat writing instruction as foundational if we’re to prepare students for the complex demands of tomorrow. Unlock insights into how writing and thinking intersect—transform your teaching today
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