Blog #22

Dear future writer,

Before this English class, I never heard of a “Theory of Writing”. I always took writing as if it was just another writing assignment I had to accomplish to get a grade in the class. I never had a specific audience or genre picked out for those assignments. I only ever thought “Okay my teacher will only be reading this, so just make it seem formal and do as the assignement asks”. As I continued to write, I checked off each checkpoint. I remember just wanting the paper to be finished. I never had to write more than 2 page papers in high school. So, I thought that was the limit of most, until I got to college. I had a very small interest in writing, but nothing whereas I thought I would need to continue it throughout my college years. I didn’t think even a English class would be neccesary for a Business Degree. But, I was wrong. Writing class will always appear in your major, no matter which major you pick.

In English 1001, you find your Theory of Writing. You find that you’re capable of just writing 1-2 pages. You find that writing can be more than just an assigned task to you. Each person in this class has found their true self with finding their own Theory of Writing. They found out what writing means to them and their strongest suits in writing. This class has taught me that there are specific details in writing rather than just words on a paper turning into your Professor. Finding your Theory of Writing comes from what you believe in, what you think when you write, how you process each piece of writing. Personally, my Theory of Writing is a composition of Genre and Audience Without these 2 major components in my writing, my papers would be scattered all over the place. Addressing points not relating to certain topics, and variations of different audiences throughout. “Writing cannot be put into words to describe what it’s all about. There are many ways to present writing. Writing can be emotional, personal experiences, funny, or anything an individual feels that they can be able to write. There’s always a purpose in writing and goals different writers choose to prosper, and that’s the beautiful thing in papers and essays. A writing with a goal or purpose in it, will be able to prosper higher than those who don’t. Pieces of writing should specifically have an audience, genre, and rhetorical situation”.

I was stuck on Major Assignment 1. This was the first big project and I didn’t know where to start. I read the checklist, and saw it had to be a 7-8 page paper. I read that direction about 30x before even beginning my paper. I was so lost and confused on how I was going to be able to manage such a heavy assignment. I went for the first meeting with my Professor and she then explained to me. I needed to pick a specific audience. I needed to find the reason for writing this paper. I needed a genre. Again, I didn’t know all that stuff was even important in writing. I didn’t think any of that would matter. But, it did. I sat down thinking. I thought of all the possible combinations of genres, and who I would want to write to. Who would want to read my writing and who would possibly be able to relate back to my writing. “Audience and Genre are so important in a writing piece. We now know more about each of these components we can put them into our writing without confusing the reader. Each factor is important to have in your writing because it explains the overflow of your writing and can allow the reader to fully understand the point of view as if they were the writer. Audience is important to acknowledge because you want to have a goal in mind to achieve so the reader can understand. Genre is when you pick a point of view of what you’re writing and present it all on paper. Rhetorical Situation is a group stimulated process where you”. This was a piece taken from Major Assignment 1 that was my ending statement. I believed after reading all the articles about each component that why both genre and audience are key factors to individuals writings.

My Theory of Writing can be applied to other circumstances rather than just writing. Anything you do creates an audience. Even if it’s just you, you are your own audience. For instance, if you are out buying clothes the audience would be either whoever you’re shopping with or the worker in the store asking you if you need assistance with anything. People never have taken this perspective before and turned it into reality. Nobody thinks about an audience with any small thing they do. Genres can vary a bit different from and audience. In a way, most people tend to do things accordingly to what they want to do. What they need to do. This specific genre would be their wants and needs. “This lets the reader understand the depth level of why the writer is writing the way they are or why they’re writing a certain piece”. I also wrote this in my Assignment 1. This is a perfect example about why people do certain things they do. This genre aspect puts vision into those who have no idea why they do certain things, but can imply a genre to that difficult scenario.

I plan to use these key components and relate them to my daily life and future papers. These are very important to know and to continue to study and grow from. Everything has a reason behind it and these will continue to recur in daily life in and out of the classroom. As my major in Business/ Real Estate, I will for sure have to pick a specific purpose and audience for each house. I will have to make sure the right family (audience) fits the perfect house that will meet their standards/ needs (genre).

Sincerely,

Julia Galloway