I actually love this post, and this is not a diss: This isn't how we did it (oh yes, I am just about that old). You'd handwrite the thing first, do a clean final draft, THEN type it up. Mistakes on the typescript would be whited out with Tippex (or other brand). But... - ThreadSky

katherineschof8.bsky.social • 1 day ago

I actually love this post, and this is not a diss:

This isn't how we did it (oh yes, I am just about that old).

You'd handwrite the thing first, do a clean final draft, THEN type it up. Mistakes on the typescript would be whited out with Tippex (or other brand).

But...

Reposted from Erin A. McCarthy

Do you ever think about how difficult it would be to compose academic writing on a typewriter? You'd really want to get it right the first (or maybe the second) time. Then again, maybe it would stop you (me) from moving little phrases around over and over.

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girlhermes.bsky.social•21 hours ago

Ha, I remember in the 90s my mum would have her hand-written essays spread out all over the living room floor, where she'd cut the paragraphs out and tape them back together.

simonwheeler.bsky.social•1 day ago

The words cut and paste don’t come from nowhere! 😅

jckspk.bsky.social•1 day ago

And, hand drawn view foils for the overhead projector…

katherineschof8.bsky.social•1 day ago

I still have my overhead projector slides from my first lecturing position. Cambridge, 2003/04.

jckspk.bsky.social•1 day ago

Historical no doubt 😉

katherineschof8.bsky.social•1 day ago

We still have a thing LIKE an overhead projector that you can put a sheet of paper under and draw on it and it appears on the lecture theatre screen

jckspk.bsky.social•1 day ago

I started with Engineering Maths (1972-5), so no elegant paragraphs were required. Luckily, as my writing tasks developed the technology kept pace. Nevertheless, the best tools, in my experience, are still the A5 hard back notebook and the study whiteboard. Philosophy essentials I would say.

robertsmartino.bsky.social•21 hours ago

I remember my UG Diss- typing out each individual biblio entry, cutting them out, and arranging them all alphabetically on the dining table, all before typing them again! And, yes, gallons of Tipp-Ex.

aliped.bsky.social•21 hours ago

I’m even older - my UG dissertation was totally written by hand and I still have my draft copy with real cut and pasted paragraphs- yes with scissors and sellotape. Unless you knew a friendly copy typist , it cost money to have it typed out.

thomaswpenny.bsky.social•1 day ago

When I did journalism training at Sheffield College there was a room full of computers, but they made us write on typewriters to make sure we thought before we wrote.
I also had a history professor in the US who bemoaned the introduction of computers because everyone wrote longer essays.

katherineschof8.bsky.social•1 day ago

Did you learn shorthand? My secondary school made us all, boys and girls, learn to type but only the (mostly girls) taking "business studies" learned shorthand.

thomaswpenny.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yes! (Teeline, which is less subtle than Pitman but works when you're taking notes at a train crash in sub-zero temperatures... I tested this...)
I still use it and don't know how anyone can do general news or political reporting without it.

kate-skiba.bsky.social•1 day ago

Do you have any suggestions on where one could learn short hand? My granny said she would teach me but it turns out she doesn’t remember how to do it since she’s been retired for over 20 years.

thomaswpenny.bsky.social•1 day ago

There are some helpful links here, including in-person and online training and a recommended book.
The book would get you started and tutoring or training might be helpful for building speed and learning blends and short form outlines.
Have fun!
https://www.nctj.com/qualifications-courses/shorthand/

kate-skiba.bsky.social•1 day ago

Oh no it looks more involved that granny led me to believe! I’m already learning two new languages! Idk if my brain can hold a fourth language!

katherineschof8.bsky.social•1 day ago

It DID force you to think hard about what you were writing and how you were crafting it in the first place, because even small edits were so costly.

This was in an academic context, which is a pretty slow business. I suspect there were people in other professions who typed first (and last) drafts.

erinannmcc.bsky.social•1 day ago

I actually hadn’t realized this! I like to do a lot of early drafts and editing longhand, so this might have worked for me. Maybe it would have been better!

katherineschof8.bsky.social•1 day ago

I still write longhand when I want no distractions, and I genuinely think I write better and with better structure that way.

katherineschof8.bsky.social•1 day ago

AND...

In the generation previous to mine, academics (nearly all men) had secretaries (or wives) who typed up their manuscripts. 66-yr-old scientist husband says they got dedicated personal word processors in London/Oxford about 1985. Before that, secretaries typed PhD theses and scientific papers.

planecrazy.bsky.social•1 day ago

I had to take touch typing Freshman year of high school. Most useful class ever. I remember no more than 3 mistakes allowed per page or students got it back to re-do. As a bad speller I remember changing word choice for spelling w/o spell check. Handwrite original, type final draft. Yup.

kate-skiba.bsky.social•1 day ago

Oh man I still change word choice for spelling issues. Recently taught a kiddo you could do that and blew their mind.

gpsforthebrain.bsky.social•1 day ago

Oh yes. My mother used to reminisce about the many hours spent typing up my father’s PhD thesis and other works.

katherineschof8.bsky.social•1 day ago

Old school male academic book acknowledgements are virtually a meme: "I would like to thank my wife who did all the research and typed up the manuscript"...

jckspk.bsky.social•1 day ago

1986 Self typed MSc …..

katherineschof8.bsky.social•1 day ago

That's lovely

salosborn.bsky.social•1 day ago

I wrote first drafts by hand for a long time after it was easy to do otherwise - in fact I had to grapple with working through ideas on screen rather than writing them down. They seem to be different mental processes.

andrewayton.bsky.social•1 day ago

This is how I remember it. It may explain why I continue to think and scribble so much now before…

deanbooth.bsky.social•1 day ago

My dissertation required changes, and since it cost $1 a page to have it typed, my replacement text was always the same length as the text replaced.

twoandseven.bsky.social•1 day ago

I was lucky and had an IBM 8088 PC during college. Night before a term paper was due (I was a slacker) the monitor died. I panicked. Then I wrote the thing by using the DOS command 'copy con' to send characters directly from the keyboard to the printer. Def didn't want to mess up.

Got an A.

katherineschof8.bsky.social•1 day ago

That's very cool!

twoandseven.bsky.social•1 day ago

Heh, thanks! It also taught me to be less of a slacker. Writing a paper one keystroke at a time was painful: hit a key - check printer, for hours. Getting to the end of a page was anxious.

jwcraig97.bsky.social•1 day ago

Then add extra points for technical difficulty…carbon paper!

joncg.bsky.social•1 day ago

Ah, yes. The days when scissors were a vital part of editing!

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