This paper describes and analyzes an intensive semester-long writing exercise used in a graduate landscape architecture and planning course. Writing as a discovery technique, not merely as a communication tool, is promoted. In a course titled Landscape Planning and Design in Rural Environments, students choose and refine a topic, prepare multiple drafts, receive and give peer review, complete a final manuscript, and submit their work for publication to a self-selected audience. This technique has been evaluated positively by students and has improved students' research and writing. Several student papers have been published. This technique can be applied in a broad range of courses in planning and design.
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