Alexander Fredrickson- RLW In-Class 1

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

When you are reading for other classes, you read “for content or to better understand the ideas in the writing”, however when you are attempting to “read like a writer”, you “carefully examine the things you read, looking at the writerly techniques in the text in order to decide if you might want to adopt similar (or the same) techniques in your writing.” In its simplest form, reading like a writer causes you to analyze the effectiveness of the writer’s diction, syntax, ethos, pathos, logos, and other rhetorical devices.

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

If readers were to analyze my writing, they would find a conscious choice of tone, diction, and sentence structure that corresponds to the tastes of my intended audience. When I write, I always keep my intended audience in mind as well as the mindset that they will most likely be in when they begin to read my piece. By doing this, I can play off of the emotions and preconceived notions that the reader most likely will already have in order to strengthen the ethos, pathos, and logos of my writing.

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?

Personally, I am very much interested in the particular way that the author is constantly thinking about his/her target audience. The idea of focusing on certain passages and analyzing the rhetoric within in order to consider the techniques used by the author is not something that I typically consider while reading a piece. I could definitely consider my audience more in my writing as well as the rhetorical strategies used by THIS author (his interesting use of ethos, pathos, and logos) more when I write.

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

There is many a technique that one can use in order to determine the exact context of a piece before they begin to read it. The reader should ask themselves what the intended audience is, what genre the piece falls in to, as well as the purpose of the piece. This will help the reader (you) to better understand the structural techniques use in the piece allowing you to better understand the overall message of the piece.

How to Read Like a Writer

1. "Reading Like a Writer” is quite different than from reading in other classes. Reading you might do in other classes usually is performed in order for you to absorb information from the writing. It is meant to be a way to merely read the writing in order to get a better understanding of the content or ideas in the writing. However, when you do Read Like a Writer, you are involving a method of trying to figure out how the piece of writing was actually put together by the author by analyzing his or her techniques that they may use in their writing. Then you need to question why the author used those techniques in the writing. From questioning why the author used a particular structure in the writing, to why the author used certain words in the writing. Finally you need to look at the most important choices the author may make in their writing, and look to see what different ways the author could have gone with the writing and how it could affect the readers.

2. Readers might identify to the choices that I make as a writer. I might use the choices in my writing that would be based on the audience to whom I am writing to. This would affect the tone, sentence structure, and style that I would use in my writing.

3. I did like the technique that Bunn used when he wanted to ask the two questions about knowing the purpose of the piece of writing as well as knowing who the intended audience is for this piece of writing while reading. Asking these questions while reading my articles, did help me when we had to decipher the author’s rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos in my readings in order to make a persuasive argument in their favor last quarter. This is a technique I also hope to use in our upcoming papers when we do have to research and find appropriate articles for our topic.

4. If you want to better understand a piece of writing, it is essential in order to learn about the specific context of the text. At first before even reading the actual writing itself, you can learn a lot about the text from the title. The title can help you define the tone of the piece as well as the author’s intended audience. It would be also quite helpful to look up the author and research his personal history and preferred genre in order to get a sense of the context of the piece of writing.

Alison Benedetti, In-Class RLW

1) "Reading Like a Writer" is very different from the readings I typically do in school. Since I am a science major, the only purpose of reading our class material is for information, without concern as to strategies that the author uses or reasons why one paragraph is in front of another. Science textbooks have no purpose, other than data and information, so learning how to read like a writer was something that I never learned how to do well. Being able to read like a writer is definitely something I would like to improve in.

2) I try to follow the basic writing structure of introduction-body-conclusion papers. This can be easily identified in my written work because I tend not to branch away from this structure at all. I also try to be somewhat humorous in my writing, because I have the fear of boring my readers. I still have yet to identify whether or not this is a beneficial tactic to incorporate in my writing. If I am writing an argumentative paper, I always like to establish the main argument early and often, another characteristic that can be easily defined in my work.

3) As a writer, putting myself in the reader’s shoes (something I’ve never really done before) would probably be beneficial to the overall outcome of my work. Thinking ahead, before the writing production process, considering the targeted audience and building the contextual and rhetorical strategies around the basis of that particular audience would also be something that would better my writing. I would be able to do this by further investigating my topic and arranging the text in the way that would most appeal to the audience.

4) Being able to identify the author’s purpose for writing, as well as their intended audience are two ways to easily learn about the text before reading it. Knowing the historical context or basic background of a piece of writing would also help improve the understanding of the text before it is read.

Learning to Read Like a Writer. In-class 1 Kelley Murray

1. Reading like a writer calls for one to pay more attention to the author and his/her choices in the development of the text rather than focusing on the information given in the text. This style differs the way I read in other classes because I am looking at the creation of the text and analyzing it rather than what is discussed.

2. I choose to connect with my readers through my use of diction, tone, and voice. I think that choosing an audience is as important as choosing a topic. Although I do not like to "exclude" potential readers, I think that the best way to connect with a reader is through targeting the appropriate audience for the topic.

3. The author of “Reading Like a Writer” effectively employed the use of the rhetorical devices. I like to use ethos, logos, and pathos in my writings, too. Depending on the context of my writing, I focus on using emotional, logical, and/or credible appeals to better connect with my audience.

4. In order to gain a better understanding of a text, it is very beneficial to understand the context surrounding it. Questioning the author’s purpose and identifying the writing’s intended audience can be helpful in the comprehension of a text. Looking at the text’s genre and background information are also ways of learning about the context before actually reading the text.

Olivia Anton in-class 3/24

Discussion on how to write like a scholar:
1. "Reading like a Writer" suggests that you take more time in evaluating the context of the text rather than summarizing the main points, which is what I am accomustomed to in my other classes. I am a science major and relay more on main points rather than constructional beauty of the sentences. In fiction and other pleasure books, I look at the main ideas unless the reading is older and the language grips my attention. In books like Jane Eyre I look at the specific qualities of the characters and their purpose in the writing.

2. I look to use personal stories and quotes to try and grip the reader at the beginning. I also use rhetorical strategies to express my main points and convince the reader.

3. I liked the way the writer expressed himself in the article incorporating his students' suggestions into his writing and his formal writing that expressed the complexity of the subject.

4. The context of a text can be gathered before the reader begins through the title; through this you can determine the main point and genre. To gather more information about the writer's style looking at past work and the history of the writer would develop the writer into a more personal character that the reader could relate to. The reviews would also be a way to look at how other people have felt about the text.

3/23 in class assignment 1 RWL

1. 1.Reading like a writer is different from the way I read for other classes, because in other classes I am purely reading for information. I am not going through my readings and analyzing words and phrases the author used. I am also not asking myself questions throughout my reading. I am simply reading for information.

2. 2. The biggest choices that you can make as writer is that the readers take notice of is your word choice. Your word choice sets the stage for which audience your targeting as well as the tone of your paper.

3. 3. I like the idea of constantly questioning what audience the author is targeting and what the purpose of this piece is. I also like the idea of highlighting certain passages and then examining the techniques the author tried using. During my next assigned reading I could use these strategies to avoid confusion and get a better understanding of the reading.

4. 4.To know information about a paper before you actually read it, you can examine the genre that it was written for, and the audience it was intended for. Another clue that will tell you about the reading is the purpose of the article.

Chris Martin In-Class 1

1. Q: How is "Reading like a Writer" similar and/or different from the way(s) you read for other classes?
One of the major differences between reading like a writer and the way I’ve read previously is the importance of rereading material. In other classes I used the skim method often to locate a central point or idea. A definite other difference is the specific label of genre, in other classes, we were somewhat allowed to drift between different types of writing. Some similarities RLW carries with the way I’ve read before relates to editing papers or reading comprehension sections on tests. Those methods as well as RLW involve rereading and perusing for central arguments in a body of work. And though I haven’t done it so often, the analysis of the paper mimics RLW.

2. Q: What kinds of choices do you make as a writer that readers might identify in your written work?
Personally, my use of amplified voice and word choice coins my writings. I use those techniques to identify my point, as well as distinguish myself as a writer. Another aspect of my writings is the use of basic quantitative textual based research. I feel as though this bolsters my paper, and exemplifies that I know the numbers surrounding the topic. And finally, a reader may notice my attempts to connect the ideas mentioned in the beginning of the paper to the end.

3. Q: 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?
A definite idea I’d use in my writing is the increased focus on audience. The idea behind it is being knowledgeable of whom you are speaking to, and to know at what level is best to convey your point. I believe this is exceptionally useful when giving speeches or presentations. Instead of speaking above or below an audience’s level, this technique allows you to include or involve every audience member.

4. Q: What are some of the different things that you can learn about the context of a text before you begin reading it?
There are many techniques that are useful before you actually read an article to provide context to how it was written. You could ask yourself about the intended audience, the genre, or the purpose of the paper to gain clues as to the context of the paper. These questions help to shed light onto what how the paper was actually constructed, therefore allowing you to understand it even better.