Aaron Reger
Ivan Wolfe
ENG 101
28 August 2015 Journal 1
The book They Say I Say looks at writing as more of a conversation on paper between you the writer and whoever is reading the text. In the first few pages of the book it is said that writing should be compared to something that you are passionate about, driving is used as an example. If you are able to become fully involved in what you are writing you will be able to convey your message with greater success. Just as with driving your writing should become like second nature. You should not have to think about writing to your reader, but rather you will automatically write in this style because it has become second nature.
This chapter of the textbook by E. Shelley Reid’s Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing addresses writing students. Reid uses expository and descriptive types of writing in her text. She describes and explains about the ten different important things when it comes to writing. One example in her chapter is where she explains how to write by the rules, describes the steps on how to be a successful writer and why some people struggle with writing essays or paragraphs sometimes. The writer quoted, “Write about what you know about so that you can show not just tell in order to adapt to your audience’s needs and accomplish your goals. Unless you do a good job showing what you mean, your audience will not understand your message.” (4) She also stated in one of her steps that sometimes the audience or readers of an essay or writing cannot exactly understand what the writer is trying to tell them. She tells her audience to
Everyone knows what writing is to one extent or another, but we all have different definitions of how it should be done and varying degrees of seriousness about the art. We all have a process of writing, but each is unique to ourselves and our own experiences. Annie Dillard and Stephen King are two well known authors who have published many pieces, two of which describe how they view the writing process and let their readers get a peek of what goes on through their minds when they write. These two pieces are Dillard’s The Writing Life and King’s “What Writing Is.”
Writing is different for everybody. After reading the first part of On Writing Well by William Zinsser my perspective toward writing changed; starting off by the fact that he admitted that “writing is indeed hard” (12). This author, with humorous stories and anecdotes, explained several principles that help one understand how to write efficiently. First of all, be yourself! Zinsser emphasizes the fact that you should be true to yourself and your writing in order to engage a reader in your piece. Other essential principles are: Be precise and avoid clutter. He claims that “the secret to good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components” (7). As I read, I noticed how important engaging a reader becomes to an author but Zinsser reminded me how my writing was made to “please myself first” and then an audience (25). The last but not least rules to follow are: to “avoid clichés” (Zinsser, 35) and “separate usage from confusing jargon” (Zinsser, 45). It is important to maintain your reader active by expressing clear thoughts and avoiding typical sayings that only make a literary piece
It is essential to understand that classes taken in grade school do not give students a full understanding of each subject. With the topic of writing, there will always be a new lesson to learn, an aspect to improve, or a differing way to explain. Author Craig Vetter states in Bonehead Writing, “This is your enemy: a perfectly empty sheet of paper. Nothing will ever happen here except what you make happen.” Each story, essay, or response comes from a writer’s experiences. With each attempt at a new piece comes an underlying story of emotions the writer is facing. Each person’s writing is unique and the ideas people have are related to their past experiences and what they believe to be familiar with when deciding which writing style to use. As a high school student, I have learned many things about writing that helped me become the improved writer I am today, but the most essential advice I have received is practice makes perfect. Although there is no actual perfect way of writing, I have discovered that each essay I write, my writing improves. It is easier to spot mistakes, find areas to improve, and ponder elevated word choice to use.
Writing is similar to the construction of a building. The structural beams of the building must be put into place to support the underlying information. Carr is able to provide support for his article by connecting his ideas together
Many people have a habit of writing differently and it can be good or bad. In the essay “The Importance of Writing Badly,” Bruce Ballenger encourages students to write spontaneously without any rules or “error-free sentences.” He believes that there are no wrong way to express how a person feel. It may not be the correct way to write it but it still allows a person to write continuously. Ballenger allows students to write badly because he is more interested in encouraged thinking.
Every writer and reader has their own opinion and perspective on things. In “Exploring Language” chapter 2, all the authors had a great point and advice about how to be a successful writer. The one with the most useful information for improving my own writing was a professor at the University of California-Davis, Anne Lamott’s essay because I can totally relate to the subject. It has been always a struggle for me to write any of my college paper, but Lamott eased my fear of writing. She states “It is a matter of persistence and faith and hard work.
However, most of the time I will despise writing and try to avoid it as much as possible. The reason I do not like writing is, because I frequently have so much to say and I cannot grasp a way to organize everything. When I write for enjoyment I will mainly write about the thoughts in my head and nonchalantly caring if it makes sense or not. It’s like the difference between a doodle and a drawing. A doodle is just a “whatever” picture. It is just randomly drawn and it won’t matter if the lines are straight or not. In a drawing everything has to be perfect and neat. I enjoy to “doodle” write and just write my thoughts out about anything, I am afraid to publicly say. I’ve been taught to write by having teachers just tell me what they want me to write. The part about me learning to write I kind of have taught myself using some of the knowledge that previous teachers have given me. Not only, but I also, face several challenges as a writer like the lack of creativity and writing descriptively. When I write, I like to just state my point or main idea, but I struggle with describing it in depth and explaining my main idea as specific as possible. Some writers make a drama and explain everything so clearly and their emotions, however I am not that type of
Writing is probably one thing that will be inevitable in our lives. Even after our school years, knowing how to write will be essential in a lot of the careers that we end up pursuing in. Let’s be honest, when we are assigned to write a paper or an essay we either; one, completely “BS” it or two, don’t even complete the assignment because it is something that we struggle greatly in. Instead of trying to get around it, learn to master the skill of writing so that every time we have to write a paper, we don 't have to fear it. We won’t have to sit long tedious hours on the due date, crying with frustration, because we decided to leave what we dread most at last minute. Here, we will be going over and learning about our weakness, strengths, and tips on how improve our writing habits based on our personalities. To have a better understanding of what you are about it read, or to see if this paper will be any help, make sure you know your personality style Inventory. If you are a hybrid of INT/FJ as I am, keep reading on.
Life is a cycle of learning and the dissemination of what we’ve learned. In each day of our lives we learn something new to add to our list of skills and knowledge. When I first entered university, I thought the writing courses were useless and just a waste of time since we all can write. Later, however, I realized how those courses are beneficial in improving our critical thinking and communication skills not only the style of writing.
Writing is a skill that many authors use to show their style or qualities. Writing is such a great experience and it allows you to tell stories, or speak your opinions. It gives you opportunities to speak up and show your worth. There is two important steps for writing, one is to always think positive, and two is always believe in what you have to say. Many people struggle with writing at times and that's because they haven't thought out their ideas all the way or showed their full potential yet. It takes time to become a good writer.
Writing is a skill that is used on a daily basis in different mediums: emails, texts, academic papers, and social media platforms. While some mediums are more formal than others, writing in a proper way is still critical. For some, writing is second nature while others face difficulties constructing the perfect message. Growing up, the concept of writing was much more enjoyable than physically putting pen to paper. I found value in the idea of being able to express myself through my writing, yet when it came to academic papers, I froze. This was due to the fact that my writing was being judged, and that elicited fear which, in turn, made me second guess my writing abilities. While attending community college, I was required to take an
Every day consists of writing, whether it is informal or formal. Writing comes in different forms including, emails, essays, text messages, and even note taking in class. I have gathered materials and assignments in my major to analyze what kind of writing is required and how it should be executed. What I discovered was surprising, but almost every piece of research revealed that writing is not incredibly important in my field of study.
The relationship that I have with writing is complicated and we don’t always get along. Although we tend to make up even when I get frustrated and want to quit. When being assigned a paper I struggle with what to write. My words seem to never come out the way I would like and I’m always having to start over and over again. It starts to get frustrating after a while. Needless to say writing isn’t one of my favorite things to do but it’s apart of our everyday lives like texting, sending emails, posting on Facebook, Twitter, and so on. I personally have only used texting as my main daily form of writing since I graduated high school. So therefore I would like to refresh my memory of what I learned in high school and widen my use of writing while in this writing course.
There are many different forms and styles used in writing. Writing is a form of communication that is used to document and express ideas people have. Through the years as people grow and learn knew ways of writing, writing awareness of a person will evolve into a much higher level of thinking. From the first term paper a person writes in high school to the papers they hand in at the college level, the writing will have matured over the years. The authors of writing develop new and more sophisticated ways in expressing themselves through the words they use in writing. Throughout history writers have found ways in which they can achieve the goals of gaining the readers attention and keep them interested. A good form of