Draft

Theory of Writing

Morgan McIntosh

University of Cincinnati Blue Ash

8 April 2018

Introduction

To be a good writer is to be a good communicator. The ability to effectively convey thoughts and ideas through writing is an invaluable skill that will be used throughout the duration of a person’s career and life. During this course, English 1001, we have learned how to be successful in writing through a progression of projects that have built upon one another. Beginning with evaluating sources and working through an annotated bibliography, a research report and finally a genre recasting assignment. After completing these assignments, I have discovered that my writing is heavily shaped by planning, audience, purpose, and reflection.

How do you decide what to write?

Deciding what to write depends on each individual writer. Most choose to write about personal topics of interest that they want to learn more about. While others write about topics that they are already highly familiar with and wish to educate others on. The content of a piece is based on the research and personal opinions and beliefs of the author, as well as the intended audience. In this course, I chose to research and report on a topic that interests me. This topic was used in all of the writing assignments, including, the annotated bibliography, research report, and genre recast.

I wrote about climate change and it’s varying and abundant causes and effects. Climate change interests me because it is a common spark of conversation in political debates and public discussions. I felt as though everyone had heard about climate change but very few people were adequately educated on the issue. Because I had previously learned how to differentiate between credible and non-credible sources, I was able to compile useful information that I could use to develop an informed opinion on the topic. Using this opinion, I was able to determine the information I wanted to include in my writing, based on the type of people I was writing for.

How do you decide why you are writing it?

Every writer has a specific purpose for writing his/her piece. Though many factors contribute to this, including the context of the topic and the audience for which the author is writing, the overall purpose for writing is a defining aspect of what is being said in the piece.

It is important to determine your purpose prior to beginning to write, possibly even before researching. However, I believe that researching a topic, especially if one does not know a great deal about that topic, can help a writer decide why they are writing about it in the first place. This being said, I often struggle to decide my own purpose for writing; to educate, to motivate, to ridicule, etc. For example, I did not decide on my purpose for discussing climate change until after I had done the annotated bibliography and thoroughly reviewed the information that I had collected. After doing so, I decided I wanted my report to be an informative, motivational piece, urging readers to make a change and improve the increasingly poor state of the Earth’s environment.

How do you decide format and language?

When writing, language depends on audience and audience is based on purpose. For instance, a highly scientific essay would not be directed toward an audience of young children. This concept was important when developing the research report and the genre recasting assignment. The audience for these two pieces were very different because of the separate purposes for each piece.

For the essay, I directed my work toward scientists, doctors, and adults researching the topic of climate change. In this writing, I used scientific language, and advanced terms that these types of people would understand and relate to. My purpose was to educate and offer possible solutions for the issue.

This contrasts with the video I made during the genre recasting process. For this assignment, my purpose was to educate and motivate children. A younger audience required simple words, and for me to speak in an upbeat voice using interesting graphics and music to keep their attention.

When I write, most aspects of my writing are based on the intended audience. It drives the purpose, content, and language. Most decisions regarding thoughts, opinions, potential solutions, etc. are made based on who will most likely be reading the paper. I often include a viewpoint that opposes my own in order to accommodate all possible readers.

Process

As previously stated, the writing process is structured much like the work in this course,. Each element builds off of the one that came before it. First, you gather information, then develop an outline for your writing, add quotes and supporting details, write a draft, edit until final, and lastly, reflect.

When gathering information, it is important to take into consideration the credibility of each source. You must also be sure to cite all information correctly. Researching is perhaps the most time consuming part of the writing process. After doing so, using the information I have gathered, I organize the facts with my own personal thoughts to create an outline and guide for the piece. When all the preparatory work is complete, I finally begin to write. I use the first draft as a way to simply get everything on the paper. I then revise and edit it so that the writing becomes cohesive. Finally, when the writing is completely finished, it is important to reflect upon the work. Determine which parts were good, where there is room for improvement, and how this piece is different or similar to pieces I have written in the past.

Conclusion

Writing about a topic requires you to fully research and understand it from all points of view. Being given this new perspective may not change how you feel about that topic, however, it might offer you greater insight into others’ mindsets. Writing allows you to process your thoughts and ideas, and make them organized and meaningful . The process writing is an important part of any piece. It is used to transition information into complete ideas and allows you to determine the defining principles within the writing. Although everyone has a different preference on the process in which to write, there is a writing process for everyone. .