What is Writing?
I define writing as a form of communication via a variety of genres. My key terms for writing are a situation, communication, discourse, genre, rhetoric, and audience. These terms are all very different terms that mean very different things, but they are connected as well as with writing. To me, these terms are all related to each other as well as writing. Separately they have different definitions then when they are together. For example, the situation separately means a circumstance someone finds oneself in, but when connected to a writing situation is the communication in written form or what motivates a piece of writing. The way one communicates depends on the audience and also the choice of genre used is based on the audience. Genre is defined as“typified rhetorical action in response to a recurrent situation or situation-type” (Downs and Wardle p. 18). Communication is described as a form of exchanging or providing information. Discourse is a written or spoken form of communication or debate. Rhetoric is written or spoken language designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect on the audience. The audience is the readers, listeners, or writers that are observing. It is present that these key terms all connect or contain each other in their definitions. I learned that all of them depend on each other. These terms were learned via readings assigned to us as well as activities and projects we completed in the class.
The Idea of Writing
My idea of writing at the beginning of WRD 103 has changed along the lines of what writing is. At the beginning of WRD 103, I assumed writing was just a way to communicate and nothing more. Which writing is indeed a form of communication, but there is so much more. Even though I am a writer who does not like to follow the usual ‘rules’ of writing, I assumed writing was only good when it was grammatically correct and in the correct format. WRD 103 has taught me that it is not necessarily true, in most cases writing is only good based on the content provided in it and the way it is communicated to its audience. Each bit of writing I have had to complete in this class has changed my perception of writing. I have never had to write about the topics I have while in this class. Rhetoric, genres, discourse communities, and audience were never discussed to me before in an English class. Our first project was about rhetorical analysis and I learned about rhetorical analysis as I completed that project. Our second and third project involved observing and interviewing a discourse community and writing about genres as well as audiences. Those two projects introduced me to the ideas of discourse communities, genres, and audiences. They especially gave me insight into the importance of genres and audiences.
The Texts
Keith Grant-Davie’s “Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents” and the first project we completed taught me about rhetorical situations and rhetoric. James Gee’s “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics” taught me about discourse and what it is in and outside of communities. Chapter three from Writing about Writing, pages 270–273, taught me about genres and examples of genres. Overall, the readings from the book were very informative and good at explaining the information we went over in class. Hearing about the perspectives of writing scholars about writing and related terms were very helpful. Downs and Wardle did an excellent job of collecting writings from writing scholars. Project two and three both furthered help me understand discourse, discourse communities, and genres. These projects contributed the most to my theory of writing, but a lot of the in-class activities helped me as well. They answered any questions I had about any of the information we were learning in class or finalized the ideas of the information we were being taught. This entire class contributed to my theory of writing as well as changed my theory of writing from what it was originally.
Revision
I’ve chosen to revise my theory of writing in order to better account for my actual writing practices. I think my writing practices aren’t that far off from my theory of writing, even though my updated theory of writing has taught me a lot about writing and the process of writing. I don’t think this new theory of writing has affected my writing practices, though my writing has improved since being in this class. My theory of writing is very much linked to my writing practices nowadays. This class has helped me connect my theory of writing and my writing practices. Before I did not have a solid theory of writing so my writing practices have changed a little bit because of that. Now that I have a solid theory of writing, my writing has been affected by it. My theory of writing has given me more insight into writing and what writing is all about, which has improved my writing skills. I have more of an understanding of content and key terms that relate to writing and therefore can apply them to my future writing and my writing skills.
In The Real World
Outside the classroom, I am able to apply this theory of writing to my everyday life. Since I am a writer, I write a lot day to day so this has helped my daily life to life. Leaving this classroom with this knowledge has greatly helped me in my other classes I am currently in as well as the ones I will take in the future. This theory has prepared me in approaching new writing tasks and genres that are outside of the classroom. I am able to recognize certain types of writing as different genres as well as recognize terms that will come up in my other classes when I have to write. In the future, I can understand discourse and discourse communities and recognize them when I come across them. Since writing is such a big part of our world, everything learned in this class can be applied no matter what field you’re going into.
