Reed K: RLW Response

Reading like a Writer is very different from reading in my last class because I had to analyze the content. Analyze not how words are put down on a paper but what they mean. For example, we read articles on Lady Gaga and Superman and we had to read to find the authors point, thesis, and define his argument. RLW is more like reading to see how the argument is laid out. How and where the fence is built not which side of it you are on.

Choices I make as a writer that readers may notice is tone. I create tone by word choice and by using “a disgusting display of power” rather than “a misunderstanding of his role in office,” will be taken entirely different by a reader. It establishes personal bias and or motives by allowing subjective words to sway the readers mind to the writers. Subjectivity is something that readers notice.

The introduction paragraph, personal anecdote, was a very good move on the writer’s part. It really pulled me into the piece, and to apply last writing class, established perfect ethos. Everything he said was believable because of his experience reading word by word and by bringing us there it really pulls us in emotionally and logically. I’d use it in a case where a personal anecdote would be helpful…for example I wouldn’t use it in a serious essay. Something more casual than grave or formal.

A couple different ways I can learn about the text before reading it is looking for the authors purpose for spending hours on this article, whether he/she wants us to hop a fence or become enlightened in a news topic. Also knowing the target audience is huge because a paper that may not make sense to an American may make perfect sense to a Brit. Target audience helps understand the underlying purpose of the essay and where the author is going.