Kelly Terry In-Class 1

Kelly Terry

Discussion

1. How is “Reading Like a Writer” similar to and/or different from the way(s) you read for other classes?

2. What kinds of choices do you make as a writer that readers might identify in your written work?

3. Is there anything you notice in this essay that you might like to try in your own writing? What is that technique or strategy? When do you plan to try using it?

4.What are some of the different ways that you can learn about the context of a text before you begin reading it?

1. “Reading Like a Writer” is different to the instructions for reading for other classes because it instructs you to look at techniques and choices that the author uses and decide if you would want to use those techniques in your own writing. The purpose of reading is more focused on how to better your own writing by analyzing choices made by the author instead of being focused on the actual information being addressed. It’s similar to the “normal” kind of reading because it involves analyzing the author’s work, but the difference is what the reader is analyzing. As you read like a writer, you analyze the techniques used and the way that the author wrote the piece and if those techniques would be useful in your own writing and in normal reading you’re analyzing the information being conveyed by the author.

2. As a writer, I make conscious decisions relating to the way that I write papers. I often make the decision in analytical writing to write my paper in a very organized and laid out fashion. I often will begin my papers with a general introductory paragraph, which incorporates a personal interest to the audience and gets their attention for the rest of the paper where I go into more detail and into the factual information. I then in the conclusion paragraph refer back to the topic addressed in my introduction paragraph to bring the paper full circle. I also often make a decision to write in a very casual manner opposed to a more formal and serious tone.

3. A strategy I noticed that the author used was he often would write single sentence paragraphs to make a point of give more emphasize to that sentence (ex/ “I came to realize that all writing consists of a series of choices.”). I would attempt to use this strategy in more casual pieces of writing, such an editorial or a creative writing piece. He also uses a writing technique of being very casual in his writing and often using first person and addressing the reader personally (ex/ Think about what effect presenting this personal information might have on readers. Does it make it feel like a real person, some “ordinary guy,” is talking to you?). I would definitely use this type of writing in an editorial piece, when I’m trying to convince the reader of something and I can use my own personal opinions and can address the reader personally.

4. Before reading, it is helpful to look up some contextual factors about the piece of work, such as the author’s purpose for the piece of writing and who the intended audience is for that piece of writing. This can be done by researching the author, the time period that the writer wrote the piece of writing, the location/country that the author lived in at that time, and other factors such as historical issues or social issues going on at that time. You could research any of these things in the internet or in other works done by that author.