This thesis proposes a novel way to theorize genre, understand students' writing practices, and encourage more robust writing processes. I propose a method of categorizing texts according to temporal duration and use the resulting methodology as a lens to better understand student composing processes. I use temporal duration theory to analyze the composing processes of 53 BYU students over the course of two years. The results of my analysis suggest that a student's writing process correlates with the duration of a text's rhetorical influence. This is manifest in two ways: (1) as students write with a purpose of creating, promoting, or sharing an identity with the audience; and (2) as students write with the belief that the text will be useful to them at some future date. In both these circumstances, it isn't only that students have particular goals related to the audience and purpose—goals which drive process. Rather, it is also that students see how the influences and purposes of texts might endure, and their belief in duration motivates writers to engage in robust writing process activities. Genre temporal duration theory offers opportunities for future research about writing process, student engagement, and writing pedagogy.