1) How is “Reading Like a Writer” similar to and/or different from the way(s) you read for other classes?
“Reading Like a Writer” is similar to how I read for other classes in the way that it requires me to read actively, with a pencil or pen in hand, annotating and marking up the page with whatever comes to my mind. It is different, though, through the questions that I must ask myself, and what I must be thinking about, when I read. For example, when I read for other classes, I read to analyze the text, looking more towards reading for deeper meaning, and do not usually questioning the author’s techniques or writing. In “Reading Like a Writer,” I am forced to turn away from reading for a deeper analysis and forced to question the writing itself. In published texts, I generally assume that the author is “right” and do not question their techniques, but in RLW I am forced to do so, as well as ask myself many questions while reading that I am not used to doing.
2) What kinds of choices do you make as a writer that readers might identify in your written work?
I enjoy writing descriptively, taking the time to describe the smell, sound, feel, appearance of, and everything I can about what I am writing about.
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?
I really enjoyed the beginning of the essay with the story, how it pulls the reader into the text with such a clear, specific description of the story, and then ties it back to “Reading Like a Writer”. I would like to try incorporating some of my desire to do creative writing into my analytic pieces more, like the author of this essay does.
4) What are some of the different ways that you can learn about the context of a text before you begin reading it?
Context is the purpose of the essay and the intended audience. Some different ways to learn about the context of an article or essay before reading it are to look at what you have been studying in class, or researching the author a little. For example, anything you read in an English class most likely is directly related to the specific subject area that you have been discussing and studying in class. By thinking about that and then looking at the article, it becomes easier to get a general idea of what the writing is going to be about, and who it is aimed at. If this is not possible, researching the author and finding simple facts such as when the piece was written can be hints into what the writing is about.
Hi Sara. Full credit on your first post. I especially appreciate your comment that you usually presume that a published author is "right". I understand what you mean here, and I am pleased to see you are willing to question such a presumption. Often, writing is not about being right but more about exchanging ideas and challenging them.
ReplyDeleteProfessor Hill-
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to clarify what I wrote about presuming that the author is right. I did not mean that I assume that the author's opinions or ideas are correct, as I understand and actually enjoy the part of reading and writing where a person can disagree with the author's opinion. I was referring more to the structure of sentences, and the style in which the author is writing. I assume that the structure of their sentence, for example, is the best and "correct" way to write it because he/she is a published author. This article shows, though, that the writer could in fact be wrong about what structure or style works best in his/her paper.
-Sara Ach