Summary Of To Read Like A Writer

Writing, and literacy in general, is one of the founding cornerstones of modern society. It is difficult to find any sort of occupation that doesn’t require at least some basic writing skills. From business managers to lawyers to doctors, despite their notoriously bad handwriting, all require intimate knowledge of writing skills. Yet, teaching critical writing skills is not the cure-all to solving the problems that the public education system faces in producing students better prepared to tackle the challenges of the world as Peg Tyre portrays it as in The Writing Revolution. Critical writing skills, despite its current underemphasis in the classroom, should not be the only focus of the public school system’s curriculum as Peg Tyre suggests in The Writing Revolution, because critical writing skills do not prepare students adequately enough for the standards of the real world which require more technical skills, critical writing skills only teaches a small subset of underlying critical thinking skills, and critical writing skills education, as presented by Peg Tyre, is formulaically based which can result in long-term inability to further student’s critical writing skills despite initial success.

In chapter fourteen of Thomas Foster’s novel, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, when telling of Christ in our literature, he makes the all-composing assertion that we live in an overwhelming Christian culture. The common man or woman may not know all there is to understand in Christianity, but our media and minds are affected by it considerably and basic knowledge of its core is known by the majority. The figures of Jesus in literature are abstract and in no way have to be exact to Jesus in gender, morality, or actions. No literary character or real character can be as divine or perfect as Jesus was in the Bible, making it impossible to completely replicate him. Imagination is the largest

To read like a writer means knowing in advanced type of writing will be assigned. This is beneficial, Bunn argues, because when reading like a writer, knowing the style assigned, allows one to look for specific techniques in writing that they could adopt in their own work. To understand how piece was written, or to look back on his architect analogy, it is important to ask questions, assessing what “construction” techniques were effective in building a text. Before reading, one should ask himself who the audience is and the author's purpose in writing. While reading the texts itself, Bunn recommends looking at the style of language used and the effectiveness of evidence as well as the parts that don’t work or are confusing. While reading like a writer and asking these questions, Bunn encourages students to look for whether aspects are appropriate and effective as well as the positive or negative effect they have on readers. Bunn, in recognizing that every word choice made in a text has a certain effect, encourages readers to look critically at that effect in order to decide what strategies work should be adopted in their own

It’s hard to imagine that just ten short months ago I was sitting in a classroom building a spaghetti tower with no idea what a rhetorical analysis essay was or what the word anaphora meant. Now, just a couple of months later, I have read and analyzed six different novels, learned to write an argument, synthesis, and rhetorical analysis essay, expanded my lexicon of literary terms, and sat through a three hour AP exam. This class has not only given me the skills to master the AP exam, but it has also given me knowledge to succeed in future English courses and in life. Through this course, I have experienced unparalleled growth in my reading comprehension and writing abilities.

Mike Bunn’s article, “How To Read Like a Writer”, simply does what the name implies: it is trying to encourage readers, students for the most part, to ‘read like a writer’. Bunn briefly reveals how he came acquainted with ‘reading like a writer’, and then goes on to explain to his audience how to ‘read like a writer’ themselves. From the opening sentence, to the closing statement, Bunn is encouraging students to analyze how a certain texts were written and why they were written that way. Bunn claims that by using this way of reading, you not only understand the text better, but you also become a better writer as you learn and develop the skills you analyze. Bunn is hoping that, after reading his article and adopting his methods, students will

reading the works of other authors is vital to the growth of a writer. This allows the writer to

“The Novice as Expert: Writing the Freshman Year” reflected my writing experience while I transitioned from elementary writer to a critical writer. Sommers and Saltz write, “freshmen need to see themselves as novice in a world that demands ‘something more and deeper’ from their writing than high school” (Sommers and Saltz 134). This line highlights the hardship that most students face when trying to write successfully. My earlier written works were much weaker than my current pieces because I often wrote for the sake of passing the class. While developing my writing, I focused on the new ideas that were introduced rather than limiting my argument to familiar techniques and ideas. Because of my new attitude towards writing, I began to demand

In the article “Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively,” Kantz explained to students as they write, how to use current texts to build a new original one. She argues that many undergraduate students cannot perform this idea correctly, because as they write they never had the opportunity to get taught to examine and synthesize a piece of writing correctly. Students need to understand how to view facts as claims, or view writing as a serial of creative ideas and drafts that drive to a final distinctive piece of work. In this article Kantz described how students think as they are writing, she used personal experiences, introduces “rhetorical situation,” and used

The blinds on the windows are shut, it feels like a prison cell as I sit under the spotlight. The darkness outside makes me feel somber and alone. I stare at the glowing screen and think to myself, “It’s just me and this paper.” In December of my junior year in high school, I was assigned a persuasive essay on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter; it was my first academic essay of the year. My previous experiences with academic writing were both stressful and unfulfilling; when the essay topic was announced, I felt only resentment and anger, I remembered my past tribulations. With my mother’s help, this essay was different; after I submitted it to the teacher, I possessed a new perspective on academic writing. From my experience, I learned that strong writing skills are vital to communication, critical thinking, and life outside of the classroom.

"Like most – maybe all – writers, I learned to write by writing and, by example, by reading books” - Francine Prose, Reading Like A Writer.

When it comes to critical thinking, reading and writing are two factors that deal with the critical thinking process. A few key aspects of critical reading and writing are identifying the tone in ones writing, how to throughly read and annotate a text, and the revision process. In the essay, “The Maker’s Eye”, Donald Murray explains how the attitude of a writer, listening to what readers have to say and how to edit your own writing makes your work better when critically thinking in college. These aspects of critical thinking, reading and writing make will keep the reader interested and make the writing easier to translate when read.

The St. Martin Handbook describes rhetorical situations. Which can be used to make good decisions to become a good writer. The author encourages

In the last three parts of this paper, I described how my own literacy history has affected my pedagogy as a future teacher. As I looked closer at the different theories of rhetoric, I believe that I fall between the expressivists/new romantics and the cognitivists, as I explained in part two. I believe that when writers are able to become comfortable forming their own opinions in their writing in a writer-centric environment, they will be more likely to succeed in doing so with writing that has an intended audience. I believe this line of thinking or pedagogical approach will work best for developing writers, as it focuses less on the technical side of writing and more on the content- or being able to realize their own

With this in mind, I still have the goal of using writing to effectively make an impact in the work that I want to do in the future. By reading Mike Bunn’s “How to Read Like a Writer” and the other given materials about rhetorical situations, I now understand that I am reading to learn about writing and the perspectives of the authors. I am putting forth material that is tailored to a specific genre, purpose, and audience. These are basic strategies that have helped me contextualize my actions and purpose while at Northeastern

In my freshman year of highschool, I can without a doubt say that I have been pushed beyond my limits when it comes to writing. Not only have all of my previous English teachers ensured me of literary success, but I’ve always been rewarded in numerous ways for my writing prowess. So, it may seem odd for me to say that I very much enjoy this test of my abilities, and I greatly appreciate this opportunity to push myself to become even better. I’ve always been both physically and mentally bored with the numerous amount of teachers who have attempted to reel me into their lesson plans. Their desperate searches were in vain, for I never truly felt a tug on my mind until I stepped into Mr. Thoma’s class. The material isn’t exactly hard to grasp, but it forces your mind into a plane of insightfulness;