Final

Ben Weinhart

Prof. Benander

English 1001

4/17/18

Write First, Ask Questions Later

For my personal Theory of Writing, I think that it is better to describe my process that I took through this semester; through each of the paths that I went down, to why I was going the way that I did. This way, I can show you instead of tell you what my personal writing style is. I think it’s much more interesting this way and depicts my writing style in a much better light than what it would if I were to just spit out some hypothetical scenarios. Specifically, I will be going through the overarching assignment for English 1001 of picking a topic and going through various sub-assignments to get to a final goal. A dive into my head if it were.

For me, choosing what to write was both quite simple yet a very hard task to do. I originally wanted to write about something that is very close to me at the moment. That item is Cryptocurrency. This is the easy part. The hard part is deciding what exactly to write on in such a broad topic. At first, I wanted to do research about this because I was specifically interested in Ethereum’s upcoming Proof of Stake protocol upgrade codenamed Casper, where the network would go from being supported by hardware to being supported by itself. I hadn’t really had much knowledge of Proof of Stake systems before writing this, and I still have quite a bit to learn, but I think that I learned quite a lot about it.

As I continued my research, and when I was drafting the research report, I finally realized that the overarching question that I should be answering is one that is much simpler than delving quite deep into the surface of cryptocurrency. I found out through surveys and talking to others that I should really be informing my audience rather than creating something that likely very few people are able and willing to understand. When I found this out, I began to craft and shape my report to more reflect an audience that is newer to the scene than a lot of people that I usually converse with. This in itself promised a challenge. I had to go back to my beginnings when I was first learning about cryptocurrency, and then I had to change it to reflect what happened in the 7 years since I first heard of it.

So off I set to create an informative research report to try and give people a better idea of what this thing is and why is there so much media attention about it. Then comes the question, the whole overarching reason for why I am creating what I am doing. The question is, why should we continue to rely on a system that has many flaws when there are alternatives that can do the same things with much greater efficiency? This finally brought me to the theme and why I was writing this; to give people a greater understanding of the different options that exist, from there, they can decide for themselves what is the best path to take after getting a little bit of information. I even gave resources for them to learn more if they want to get more serious about getting started in their cryptocurrency lives. This is the whole goal of the topic, to get people to think. To think about how it might affect them, others around them, or the world as a whole, and what they are going to do about it. Are they going to sit around and watch? Or are they going to take part? The decision is left to the reader because they have many freedoms in this society, one of them being the freedom to choose what is right for them.

After writing the research report, I then had to complete something that I have had close to no experience dealing with in the past. I had to create something that turned the important pieces of that information that I just fed my reader, into something that a more average person might be able to pick up and perhaps enjoy in passing. What I decided on doing was quite simple, yet effective in the information that it presents and in the efficiency of the presentation. What I decided on was doing a narrated powerpoint video. It’s quite simple to make and quite simple to absorb. All of the information is laid out in a very predictable manner without many surprises so as not to confuse the viewer.

Of course, this same method can also cause someone to click off just a few seconds into the opening lines. That’s alright with me, I am really only interested in capturing the attention of those who are willing to listen. Those who want to expand their breadth of knowledge into the great unknown in order to cast their line and pull up something useful. While the video itself might be rather short, I give the viewer resources just like in the research report of where they can go afterwards to further expand their understanding on the subject. This effectively creates a situation where the reader is pulled into the video, which only shows up as a few minutes, but can very well have them investing hours of time into their own research to come to their own conclusion on the matter. This is the goal of my video. Not to entertain, but to expand upon.

As for what I decided to put in the video, that was actually somewhat simple to do but also yet again difficult to achieve. The simple part is that I already know what I am writing my script on, the hard part is cutting it down to be short enough and informative enough to convince someone to go further on. I also added a few things and left some things out. For example, I added in sections on the various exchanges of where to buy cryptocurrencies, and the various ways that you can store those cryptocurrencies you just bought. This Information might not be the greatest to put inside of a research report, but fantastic for a short video to get the reader engaged with enough information that they can go about their google-fu themselves with little to no outside assistance helping them along their journey apart from myself.

As such, the tone that I used while speaking to the reader was quite mellow, going back and listening to the video that I created gives me a sense that I probably could have put a bit more excitement into my voice as I am quite passionate about what I am talking about. I do think that the way that I went about displaying my position on the matter and how that would educate others is quite well executed though. In such a mellow tone, certain things can be achieved that might not come across as the greatest if an over-the-top style was used. I am able to display my information in a much more professional manner to better my credibility on the subject.

This actually sets me apart from a lot of the other people talking about this subject as they often have quite outlandish personalities in their videos, which often times comes off as ignorant or close-minded. By doing so, I am able to create a sense of personality between myself and the viewer.

In conclusion, my writing style is one that is quite fluid. I take things in as they come and put them out in the same manner. This causes me to very rarely have revisions on something that I have written which is a blessing and a curse in its own right. Often my first draft is only a handful of small edits from my final draft. If I had to describe my writing style in just a few words, I would say that it’s fluid yet efficient in what I have to say. I can often bounce around from topic to topic, which I am trying to work on, but what I do say is usually important to what I am trying to show through my writing. I believe this to be the most effective way to capture the attention of a reader.

My theory of writing can also be applied to other writing situations in other places as well, such as writing inside and outside of classrooms. This can help create a better overall understanding for both myself and for the professor. Also, it creates better works of writing to be shared throughout the class in peer reviews, group projects, ect. All in all, this is a very effective tool to do what I am doing.