“They’ll turn us into writing robots”, a student contends against the use templates influencing the structure of their essays. (10) In the book “They Say/ I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein insist that the use of their relevant templates provide tools that will enhance the readers writing skills. These templates provide an exemplary format that one can use when writing an essay. Graff and Birkenstein suggests that, “Instead of focusing solely on abstract principles of writing, then, this book offers model templates that help you put those principles directly into practice.” (2) In other words, Graff and Birkenstein reason that these templates are designed to provide beneficial formulas that …show more content…
This grants more creative freedom for the writer, while also instilling the different template methods through practice. In spite of the logical advantages that the templates give the writer, some people are still skeptical of this type of method. Many believe that these templates are a juvenile form that inhabits creativity. One student even proclaims, “I’m in college now, this is third-grade-level stuff.” (10) Regardless of these students claims that templates are too simplistic and less imaginative, Graff and Birkensteins’ idea that one must learn through template forms in order to enhance their skills in the future should be endorsed. According to Graff and Birkenstein, “Even the most avant-garde, cutting-edge artist (like improvisational jazz musicians) need to master the basic forms that their work improvises on, departs from, and goes beyond, or else their work will come across as uneducated child’s play.” (11) Graff and Birkensteins’ point here is contradictory to the students’ assertion that templates are unoriginal and for the young children. In fact, this idea emphasizes the complete oppose. It exhorts that without first learning the template, the results of their work will be childish instead of advanced. Also, Graff and Birkenstein implies that without learning the basics, one will not have the skill set which permits further creative freedom and/or the ability of improvisation in the
As I was reading Melissa Duffy’s “Inspiration, and Craig Vetter’s “Bonehead Writing,” I found myself connecting with Vetter’s paper more than Duffy’s. I found that the presentation in “Bonehead Writing” to capture my attention, and that Vetter’s feelings about writing was similar to my opinion on writing. Through his wording and humor, I think Craig Vetter wrote the best essay. I find that the wording and presentation of an article or essay influences my opinion of the writer, and it affects how I receive the idea they are trying to present to me. Craig Vetter uses a blunt approach to convey his idea that writing is nearly impossible to teach, and describes writing as “A blood sport, a walk in the garden of agony every time out.”
In her essay "Does Texting Affect Writing?", Michaela Cullington presents her argument that texting does not impact formal writing written by students. She discusses the concerns presented by many people about how texting language can transfer into writing, but through the use of personal experiences and credible sources she discusses how this is not true. Her use of multiple different studies and situations help boost her argument and allow the reader to truly see how students actually do formal writing. She presents a strong argument as to why those who believe students don't have the control and knowledge to write formally, instead of with text speak, are wrong.
Throughout Northrop Frye’s essay “The Singing School” Frye expresses his thoughts on how literature is not uniquely inspired, despite the different genres. Instead, Frye believes that, “a writer’s desire to write can only have come from previous experiences of literature”, and “he’ll start by imitating whatever he’s read, which usually means what people around him are writing” (14), this quotation explains that there is a pedigree to writing in which leads to conventions,which is a “typical and socially accepted way of writing” (14). Likewise, Frye constantly states that “literature can derive its form only from itself” (14), and are the the “typical ways in which stories get told” ( ). One of the three major conventions that Frye describes
The article by Donald Murray entitled, “The Maker’s Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts” provides readers a better understanding of the writing process and argues that writers learn to write, by writing and rewriting. Murray also contends that writers must learn to be their own best enemy. Well, I believe I have this trait covered! I will confess, that I purposely saved this course for last, due to the number of years between my last structured learning experience and returning to school to complete a BSN degree.
Anne Lamott 's essay, “Shitty First Drafts” explains to its readers that all writers, even the best, can have “shitty first drafts.” The essay presents the proper writing process from the first draft to the final piece of work. Her essay is intended to encourage writers who are in need of direction when it comes to writing and to teach inexperienced writers ways to become more successful in writing. Anne Lamott uses her personal experiences to build credibility, figurative language to engage the reader and provides the reader with logical steps for the writing process. To build credibility on her processes success, Lamott uses her own personal experiences.
Intro In chapter five of Laura Aull’s book, Developing Writers in Higher Education, Aull goes over her study of the presence of generality, certainty, and hedges and boosters in undergraduate students writing. Throughout this chapter she follows along several lines of inquiry (henceforth known as LOI) related to the topics, for the purpose of this paper I will only be writing about one, the use of generalization. Introducing the LOI
In They Say/ I say, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein informs the audience of the basic moves in academic writing through text, illustrations, and templates. Their main model in this book is they say/I say template, in which it helps writers to develop their arguments by paying attention to what others are saying, and engaging with a response. The authors goal is to demystify academic writing, and return it to its social and conversational roots. The authors want the writers to engage in the ideas of others. These concepts from this book, will help make a stronger, supportive argument.
In this short passage by William Zinsser, Zinsser used compare and contrast to inform the readers about his personal opinions of being a writer. Due to different understandings and opinions on how to be a good writer, Zinsser decided to use compare and contrast in order to present a clean and detailed differences to the reader about how different people’s writing style can vary. By doing this, it would be extremely helpful for the readers to distinguish the differences of each writing style, see the benefits and disadvantages, and ultimately gather enough information to decide which style fits them the best. At the panel with Dr. Brock, Zinsser gave the audience a broader view of different writing styles and how they contribute differently.
Everyone’s An Author with Readings by Andrea Lunsford, Michal Brody, Lisa Ede, Beverly J. Moss, Carole Clark Papper, and Keith Walters; is about how everyday writing is very closely related to academic writing. This book discusses The Need for Rhetoric and Writing, Genres of Writing, The Role of Argument, Research, Style, and includes Readings. The text also bridges the gap between Facebook and academic writing, showing how some tactics students use in social media may also be used in their academic
The piece of writing which I felt was unsuccessful for me was the Rhetorical Analysis of an article relating to a topic from our course book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. This piece of writing was difficult for me to organize my ideas around. The article that I decided to use for my rhetorical analysis highlighted mass incarceration among African American and the effect of civil liberties being are taken away from these individuals. I had a lot of repetition because many of the examples I used demonstrated more than one type of appeal. I found myself repeating what the purpose of the example was and how it demonstrated proper use of ethos, pathos, and logos.
“What is going on in these pictures in my mind?” (Didion 2). Joan Didion’s “Why I Write” provides an explanation to her perspective om writing and why she writes. Later on, she states that she writes as a way to discover the meaning behind what she is seeing. During this past semester as we wrote about dance, a heavy focus was on description and interpretation rather than contextualization and evaluation.
Student’s name Professor’s Name Course Date Successful use of Rhetorical Strategies Introduction Ken Robinson delivers a TED talk on “schools kill creativity” filmed in February 2006. The talk aims to challenge the education system and the fact that it has little emphasis on the creativity of individuals. Robinson notes that children should not only be made to pursue their studies but also follow their passions and their interests which lie in their talents.
My writing from the 2017 to 2018 school year displays my improvement in several facets of writing. Since the beginning of the year, I was strong in picking relevant textual evidence. My textual evidence always supported my claim since they were relevant to the topic, even though my analyses were not always accurate and explanatory. Nonetheless, I had many areas of writing to improve on. During the year, I had trouble with making claims debatable and specific and explaining the “why” and “how” when analyzing quotations.
In contrast to that, various examples have legitimized the use of first-person pronouns in English academic writing. Also, second person pronouns remarkably demonstrate the presence of informality in any given piece of academic writing. The second person pronouns create much of a conversation than the unintended academic writing (Biber et al. 32).this is ideally because it evokes interactional skills. In some cases, writers may use the second person pronoun with a semantic reference that is wider, concerning people in general.
Author E.M. Forster once said, “How do I know what I think until I see what I say?”(Forster). Academic writing has the ability to reveal the students inscribed thoughts and opinions in ways that may surprise even them. The better get at writing analytically, the easier it is for them to apply those skills to other aspects of their life. People who write in journals often find it a useful form of exploring self-awareness (Ribeiro 2015). By writing down student ideas and perspectives in essays, even in non-academic disciplines, they hone their own expression skills, identify patterns, observed events and consider possible solutions.