“How to Read Like a Writer”
I really enjoyed reading this text. It made me really think
how writing and reading go hand in hand as well as teaching the reader about
different styles and formats. When I write a paper I generally sit down and
write my thoughts in sequence and then go back and edit, putting different
words or sentences together differently. This reading however made me realize
that there are so many questions I should be asking myself before I even begin
my paper. I should always consider the word-by-word and sentence-by-sentence
process, “all writing consists of a series of choices”. All of the different
choices that the author makes allows for their writing style and techniques to
shine through. It is important for the reader to think about why the author
made those choices, what their overall goal was and how it could have changed
if they chose to word it a different way. Another thing I gathered from “How to
Read Like a Writer” is that words, sentences, pages, and books are all meant to
be re-read! It can be more powerful for the reader if they choose to do so.
Lastly I gathered that the reader should always ask questions! Nothing is
spelled out so crystal clear that there aren’t some questions that can be
formed, you should always explore the text and create an ever-ending list of
questions.
They Say, I say, Chapter 11
Reading this text made me conceder how I interact with my
classmates in a class discussion, do I disregard what the person before me said
or do I choose to engage and connect with the person before me? I feel like I
could go both ways. I really do try to listen to what the person had to say
before I speak out in class and acknowledge what they said and try to relate
what I have to say to what they were just mentioning. On the other hand I might
have a counter opinion and choose to not touch on what the person before me
discussed, it’s like I almost disregarding what the person before me had to
say. I believe we are all guilty in wanting to say what is on our mind and
wanting to set ourselves apart and speak our own voice. From now on I will take
the advice from the reading and try to connect with what the person before me
just said.
They Say, I say Chapter 9
I have always been taught to cater my academic writing to my
professor and to sound “smart” by using big words and sophisticated sentences.
This reading made me realize that I don’t always have to do this, it is okay
for to express myself in my academic papers and I can use day-to-day language
and have that be accepted. This reading said that informal writing is okay! Informal
writing allows for the reader to better connect with you and better understand
your position. I will definitely take the advice from this chapter and try to
express myself more in my academic writing. J
J J J That means I can try
to make my writing more fun!
Hi Lyric,
ReplyDeleteI also felt the same way regarding the readings of They Say, I Say chapter 11. It really makes you think alot of how you interact during those class discussions and how to improve that. It's easy to just speak out and I feel like most of all tend to not really get into what the other person has said, I didn't even really think about that so thank you for mentioning that so now also I can learn from it and see how to improve that! :) It's also nice to read that on chapter 9 you were able to look at yourself and realize that there is another way of writing. Honestly I wish that I would be able to using big words and sophisticated sentences in English. Hopefully you will be able to learn from it and like you said, make your writing more fun! Good luck!