We have looked at writing from many perspectives this term, and now I'd like you to revisit and update your definition of what good writing is. Clearly, there may be components of your definition that remain the same, but I'd also like you to adjust your definition to account for what you have learned about writing studies scholarship in this course.
This is your last chance to demonstrate you ability to think critically, so be sure to make this last action count.
Ever since the first week of this semester started, my idea of what good writing is has been constantly changing for the better. In some cases, my idea of good writing has stayed the same. I still believe that good writing is something that keeps the audience captivated while they are reading it. Having emotion and interesting details in your writing also helps the flow of things throughout the work. On the other hand, my idea of what good writing is has also taken a turn for the best. I now know how to think rhetorically when I am reading or writing something. Whenever I read something nowadays, I think who is the rhetor or the speaker/writer. It is important to know who the rhetor is so you can understand from which point of view they are speaking in. I also now think about who the exact audience is that will be reading this work or even my own work. It is important to keep in mind who the audience is so that you can make sure that they are able to understand the information within the paper they are reading. Knowing the audience is as important as the exigence, the main purpose of writing something. Recently, I have always been keeping in mind the main purpose of why I am writing or reading something. The last thing would that I now understand what constraints are in writing. Constraints are outside forces that can help or hinder a situation. As of recently, I can now think of things that are helping the situation I am reading about or even encumbering it. In conclusion, my idea has of has changed and remained the same in some ways. The things I have learned in this class will definitely help me for the rest of my years at University of Central Florida and for the years after.
ReplyDeleteIt’s amazing how much your perspective can be changed in a short period of six weeks. The first time I wrote about what I thought good writing was, I focused on the idea of being able to transport a reader to a different world and being very detail-oriented. As we read more articles in the textbook and had our class discussions, I realized that good writing is also taking certain points, ideas, or opinions and giving them a new meaning. It’s not just about explaining them, but analyzing them and viewing them in more profound ways. Good writing is thinking of rhetorical situations and writing about rhetors, exigence, audience, and constraints. For example, if you’re writing an essay on why bullying should be stopped, writing some background knowledge on who is asking the question, talking more in depth about what the problem with bullying is, referring to the audience who is going to read the essay, and considering some examples of factors that may influence the reader’s opinion—in a positive or negative way—can really aid the writer in composing a phenomenal piece of writing. Good writing, in my opinion, isn't just about transporting the reader anymore; it’s about demonstrating ideas far beyond what the topic is about. It’s about going more in depth and enabling the reader to see the topic through a new set of lenses.
ReplyDeleteWhat is good writing? What each individual perceives as good writing will vastly differentiate in opinion, but like the saying goes, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” The standards and expectations for college-level good writing is significantly higher than that of what are expected of you in high school. In high school you generally are asked to summarize and briefly analyze the topic at hand where as in college you are tasked to delve into the subject manner, both rhetorically and analytically, to discover the deeper meaning behind the subject manner. To evolve from a successful high school to college level good writer can be a very daunting task for many, but with enough practice and dedication, you can make the transition a minor task.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I feel that good writing is something that vastly intrigues the audience and makes them eager to read more and more into the story. Good writing at the college level is writing that touches on all rhetorical concepts such as audience, rhetor, exigence, constraints, etc. Throughout this semester I have been able to work on many concepts of my writing style including flow of the paper, synthesis of ideas, and structural organization of the writing pieces. I briefly touched on these concepts during my time in high school but during my time in college, these points were continuously reinforced into our memory for us to incorporate into our writing. With an ever-expanding plethora of strategies to utilize in my writing it has expanded my overall knowledge as a writer and allowed me to construct good writing. There have been times during this summer semester where I felt as if I would never be able to successful make the transition of good writing from high school to college, but the more I have learned and used in my writing, the more successful I have continuously become.
In conclusion, this COMP class has taught me many concepts that I never knew even existed in writing and now I continuously use them throughout all of my writings. My ability to execute my writing style given the increasing amount of constraints that are associated with college while still including all of the characteristics of rhetorical and analytical writing have enabled me to continue to practice good writing. What I have learned during this class will not only benefit me now but it will continue to benefit me throughout the rest of my time in college and in all of my future endeavors in life. The one thing that I have learned in this class that has stuck out among the rest is that, no matter where you go in the world the way that people write is based on their culture, that doesn’t mean that there is one set way of doing things or one way is better than another, so it is up to us to continuously incorporate new ideas into our writing styles to make us more proficient at good writing.
I cannot deny that my perception of good writing has drastically changed over the course of six weeks in Comp I, although, in many ways it has also remained similar to my original definition. Everything that I mentioned in my first response still holds true; good writing is something that will bring out emotion and consumes the reader, causing one to think further past the information at hand and that good writing is very subjective due to the fact that not everyone processes information in the same way. The new information about writing that I’ve learned through this course only amplifies and builds upon my view of what good writing really is.
ReplyDeleteMany of the readings assigned from class have truly opened my eyes to a new side of writing that I was previously unaware of; the one that has really stuck with me throughout the course was that of rhetorical situations and the ability to think rhetorically when writing. These ideals were presented through the writings of Keith Grant-Davie, a college professor who outlined the constituents of a rhetorical situation and the importance behind each. Through using each constituent of a situation – the exigence (discourse created by the rhetor) identifying the audience (who the rhetor is addressing), realizing the constraints (factors limiting the response to the exigence), and making clear who the rhetor is (one creating discourse)– one can delve into a deeper underlying meaning rather than the superficial layer of written text. On a personal level, this new, analytical way of thinking has greatly improved the ways in which I compose papers; my sense of whether my writing was “good” or effective in framing and conveying a point has definitely changed for the better after this class.
So what is my current opinion of good writing? Well most importantly the writing must hold the readers attention and consume them with emotion and personal connections. But I now believe that “good writing” goes deeper than just this; it must allow the reader to think rhetorically into the text and form alternate meanings and reasoning that might not be directly stated. The only problem with this question is that my opinion – a semi college educated one – will obviously differ from those who have not been presented with this material on rhetorical situations, or whatever it may be; they might consider “good writing” simply as a piece of writing that they find enjoyable, no other strong’s attached. Thus bringing me back to my original definition of “good writing”, that it is very subjective in that not every views or processes information in the same way.
Reflecting back to the beginning of the term, my perception on what good writing is has changed. Looking back to what I put in the first discussion board I saw that I do hold the same ideas until now, I still think that good writing is classified by creating a message and clearly delivering it to the audience, and I also consider that good writing should create an image and let the reader vicariously experience the same situation that the characters are in. As my time in the class progressed it has really opened my mind to other aspects that classify good writing. The readings have helped me expand my views because it introduced the idea of rhetorical situations; it embraces all of the concepts of exigence, rhetor, constraints, and audience. I have learned that when you think all of these factors it makes it easier to analyze which is what good writing is all about. I have learned that writing is not only about summarizing a topic and talking about it, it includes analyzing your argument and including supporting details to deliver your point that you are making. Having these new ideas about good writing has really had an influence on the way I write as well because I consider all of the four concepts in order for my essay to be clear and appeal to the reader. I have really learned new things that have benefited my writing and plan to incorporate them in future papers.
ReplyDeleteMy perception of what I consider good writing has altered quite a bit since the beginning of this summer. I used to think good writing was work that had a lot of detail and sensory words. I still think this to be true, but I have developed a new view on writing. Writing that has depth is what I would consider good writing. Anyone can tell a story, but the reason for the story or the meaning that we can pull out of it is the more challenging part. There should always be a story behind the story, in my opinion. It is very easy to add in adjectives in order to make a writing more descriptive, but if the writer develops an overall point, I consider them to be a good writer. Good writing should evoke emotion in the reader and make them feel like they are actively involved in what is being told. A five paragraph essay is not what I would consider good writing. I like to see a writer step out of the boundaries that they were taught, and develop their own personal style, unique to only themselves.
ReplyDeleteThis course taught me how to analyze a reading and see beyond the words on the page. As I read a piece, I now look for this. I look to see if the reader considered their audience, the exigence, the constraints. These are all of the things that I think a good writer should be incorporating in their writing process. If the writer can catch my attention and really make me intrigued into what they are trying to say, I think they have done their job well.
Good writing to me is when a writer is able to affect a specific audience, in the way they had intended. For example, if someone writes about an issue inside our government, and wants to change how the government functions; a good piece of writing for this topic would be able to convince people to agree with the writers side, through use of language on why the change would help. There are many different ways of writing, and there are different audiences for different genres. A good piece of writing to one type of audience can seem terrible to another, simply because of the topic. However, a good piece of writing, fits appropriately for the given topic. The readers personal value and interest of the topic has impact on how the writing is perceived. I would perceive a chick flick book such as the "Fifty Shades of Grey" to be a bad writing; the reason for this is because I do not like the topic brought up in this book. However it was good writing to alot of good people though because it had major sales. This book was affective for the specific type of audience it was targeting. What I find to be good writing is something that is able to bring up new ideas, that I can apply in my everyday life, or add to my knowledge of life's different aspects that is very clear with its sentences. Good writing is able to target a specific a target audience and communicate to them in an effective way. From the last time I did this response I focused alot on how an essay with good writing sounds. However, I kind of disagree with my previous statement, because good writing does not always employ the same style of writing. Different types of writing are more or less effective depending on the topic of the piece. A piece of writing might not use huge words, or use lots of metaphors. In some cases though, avoiding this type of writing, and by applying a different style of writing, might make the writing more affective in capturing its intended audience. By understanding the logic behind the style of writing for specific genre used and understanding the type of audience the writing is intended for is important to evaluating what good writing is. Good writing should be judged based off how affective the writing is for the topic, and how affective the writing is for the intended audience.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of this course I thought I had a grasp on what good writing was, little did I know there was so much more to learn. Although I may have been correct on some of my points, there are parts to writing that I never knew about. This course changed the way I think about writing and literacy in general.
ReplyDeleteA large portion of this class that helped establish my view on writing was thinking rhetorically. I had never heard of this before and now I am always thinking about this when writing or reading. Thinking rhetorically makes you analyze the piece, rather than just thinking generally about it. Reading a work of writing rhetorically will bring out many more underlying points that you may have never discovered by just generally thinking.
As a writer, thinking rhetorically helps you to develop good writing. It makes you think about your exigence and audience. I feel that these are the two most important things to keep in mind when writing. Good writing reaches a specific audience in a way that will get your point across. In my original definition of good writing I did include that good writing drew the reader in and made them want more, which is true, but now I realize that it also must be understandable to the reader and leave them with a main point.
This course has also taught me that good writing is not limited by constructs. There is no structure or specific length to a piece of good writing. Good writing does not have to use big, challenging words or mind-grabbing introductions. Everybody writes differently, if they are from the same country or not. As I see it, good writing is in the eye of the beholder.
Sometimes I feel that good writing has no specific definition. If a writer makes a piece and it is appreciated by an individual that individual may argue that it is good writing, but somebody else may believe that it is absolutely terrible. It is just like anything else, people will have different opinions. Not everybody likes one certain thing, there will always be those who disagree or think differently.
To me personally, good writing has to have an exigence that is made easy for the audience to understand. The writer's thoughts, feelings, and visuals should be able to be understood by the reader. Most of the time, a writer and a reader are not going to get the same thing out of a piece. The reader may get one thing out of it, while the writer may be trying to convey another. This leads me to believe that good writing is so precise that the reader could not possibly get lost and leaves the reader's brain engrained with the writer's exigence.
It's easier to recognize good writing then to identify what actually makes something good writing. That is one of the things I now have a better understanding of. We read a piece of writing and know that the author is being creative, but we never ask how. By rhetorically analyzing the authors work we are able to get more from the reading. Asking who the intended audience is and than who the actual audience turned out to be. What is the point the author is trying to get across, and how his sentence structure and use vocabulary allows him to achieve this.
ReplyDeleteWith many of the videos and the readings that we analyzed for class I've also grown to appreciate reading and writing much more. Hearing how Famous authors still struggle in similar ways as we do with our writing makes me see them less as Super Writing Machines, and more and regular people with genius moments. Not in anyway am I trying to discredit these talented writers, however I appreciate their writing more knowing that it's not always as easy as they make it seem for themselves.
Good writing is writing that provokes thought, followed by understanding. In every book I have read I have been able to find examples of good writing; those moments you just stop and think "man, I know where you are coming from." When an author is able to put into writing thoughts that I was never able to explain I feel a sort of connection to the author and the passage.
What I have learn this term is that someone does not have to stay attached to the conventional way of writing for a text to be consider good writing. Good writing is teaching yourself to think in different ways when writing a text. For example one must be able to think rhetorically. This mean that the writhing must consider the rhetors, exigence, audience, and constraints. Think rhetorically is important but for something to be consider a good writing, the writer must be flexible. They must be able get out of their comfort zone to write the best piece of writing that they can. Also good writing must had concrete example within the writing so the reader could find a way to relate to the writing. The writing must be fluent. This means that the writing must transition from one topic to another smoothly.
ReplyDeleteGood writing has the capabilities to move someone and answer questions beyond what is asked. Good writing could be brief and beautiful, or long and exquisite. It brings an idea to the table and elaborates on that idea. It suggests a point of view that can be seen from both sides of the story. I learned that good writing is developed over time and it isn't easy to accomplish. Through out our class I learned that writing doesn't just touch the surface of an issue or subject, it also analyzes the underlying issues. After analyzing the underlying issues, writing seems to prove arguments to back up the claim which is offered. This is good writing. Writing consisting of constraints, exigence, a ready audience, and a rhetor is considered good writing.
ReplyDeleteI found that during this term there is so much more to writing than what I previously thought existed. In my first blog about good writing I defined good writing as writing that interest the audience and draw out the emotion intended by the writer. However, during this writing class I learned that good writing does not just attract readers, some purposes of writing are to inform and educate. Good writing a can accurately inform readers. I also maintain that good writing can be any length. Good writing can address the issues presented in the writing. Issues presented in good writing eventually round back to a central theme and come together as a whole. I learned from one of my own essays that good writing also does not leave loose ends. Sometimes in writing we also have to change our writing styles with each audience we target. An example of good writing can appeal to each audience and have them relate to the topic presented.
ReplyDeleteGood writing can be defined in many different ways depending on who is asked this question. I believe that writing contains some of the aspects that I explained above.
After taking this class, I have to say that my perspective on writing has changed drastically. I still think that good writing should bring out an emotion in whoever reads it, but I now know that the reason it would bring out such an emotion is because the writer focused on their intended audience and thought carefully about what they were going to write. Good writing isn't as spontaneous and purely emotion based as I believed it to be before. Instead, good writing comes about when someone takes the time to thoroughly plan and organize their work into something that addresses the correct audience, takes care of constraints, and has a purpose for being in existence. I still think that in order for something to be classified as good writing it should surface an emotion from the reader. Whether it is sadness, anger, happiness, or even fear, good writing should make you feel differently. Someone could write a great essay or book with very true and meaningful points, but if that work of writing lacks an emotional connection of some kind with its readers, then it is not as good as it could be and people might not take it as seriously as the author intended. In order for writing to be good, the writer must take into account all the aspects of a rhetorical situation we talked about in class. Good writing doesn't have to be well known or widely recognized either. The very act of classifying something as good writing means that you are expressing an opinion. Opinions differ and not everyone will agree that the writing you like is good. This is the very nature of human beings and we can't all expect to agree with one another. I think good writing comes in a form of art that brings out an emotion from an audience the same way a movie or a theatrical performance would. In order to connect this well with the audience, the writer must first consider all of the rhetorical points we mentioned in class. Good writing is an art that takes practice and persistence to master.
ReplyDeleteBefore this course I couldn’t really describe what good writing is. The way I would describe it before this class is very detailed and explanatory words that made the writer think critically. Of course anyone can write a story but it takes a special kind of person to make people enjoy it while reading it. I think that “good writing” is a piece of literature that is doing what the writer wrote it to do. Meaning that the literature is doing its purpose. If the author wrote the article to stir up an argument and it succeeds then I believe it to be good writing. If a writer writes a love story that is supposed to touch people’s hearts and it does, then I consider it good writing. Also, it all depends on the person reading the literature. It is how the audience perceives the writing. If the people reading like what the writing is saying, then to those people it is good writing. From this course I learned how to dig deeper and analyze more rhetorically. It has taught me to not just look at the text itself but the writer, the time it was written and the purpose it was written. Making me understand what “good writing” is.
ReplyDeleteAfter six weeks in this class, some opinions about what is good writing stay the same and others change. When I first wrote what good writing is, the main focus was about being able to grab the reader's attention. I still believe that this is essential for good writing, but there are many other new aspects that I've learned that define good writing. One of the new things that I've learned which I now consider to be a part of good writing is writing in rhetoric by persuading the audience to think in a certain way. Also, asking yourself what are the constraints, exigence, rhetors, and audience while writing your paper can help you tremendously when it comes to effectively delivering your point. This leads to the most important aspect that I've learned in the past six weeks. In my opinion, the most important thing that makes good writing is delivering an overall point. Instead of just grabbing the reader's attention and keeping them interested throughout the paper, your paper should also include points that support your topic that bring things full circle and deliver an overall point in your paper. This main point should be brought about after analyzing your supportive points and connecting them to create a bigger picture. If you do this effectively, it will automatically keep the reader interested. I also learned from this course that good writing is not limited to the constraints that we were taught when we were beginning to write. Writing with a "hook" at the introduction and writing in a five paragraph form is not necessary to become a good writer. Many of the great writers use this and take it a step further, providing much more analysis and elaborating more on their main points. After much feedback from my papers in this class, I support my new opinion on what good writing is.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first began this course, I was asked to describe what I thought was good writing. I answered with writing that can immerse you into the emotion and the environment. I basically answered with what I usually like about the items I read, which I do think are good writings. But from this course I have learned that there are many other things that can be used to describe good writing. One thing about good writing is to be able to reach out to its intended audience. Being able to reach out to the appropriate audience allows for the point to get across and the writing to be fully enjoyed and understood. Good writing is also writing that is able to get its point across without confusing the reader. To able to properly deliver a point is important for readers to understand the material, because if you confuse a reader they are not happy and won’t consider the writing good. One of the major thing that I will pull away from this course about good writing is that it does not always have to be complex. Depending on the writing scenario sometimes simple writing is better fit, thus good writing can consist of complex and simple writing. Everyone has their own opinion of what good writing is, and I would not say they are wrong. Writing has many purposes, and they can be approached a multitude of ways.
ReplyDeleteEven before this class, I feel that I had a pretty good understanding of what good writing is, and I could point out several good books and authors. What this class has helped me to do is verbalize what good writing is. At first I could recognize good writing when I saw it but I would be dumbfounded trying to find a way to explain what about it was good. This class has helped me to think of literature in a whole new way. I now read with intent of seeing the rhetorical situation and the underlying meaning of the piece. This class has given me the ability to verbalize what I was already seeing, I can now explain how this is good writing based on the rhetor, exigence , and other elements of the writing
ReplyDeleteGood writing as I thought even before this class is writing that is captivating and can not only keep the reader interested but can actually make the reader anxious to see what the next page has in store. Good writing has not only meaning but has almost subliminal themes and symbols that help give the writing true meaning. For example in the book the great Gatsby, there is a constant reference to a green light, although the green light is never explicitly expressed, it gives the story an much deeper meaning.
My understanding of good writing has really been furthered by my learning to think rhetorically. This class has taught me that by analyzing things like the rhetor, and the intended audience, we can actually learn more about the writing. Good writing is not only writing that is interesting, good writing is writing that allows for interpretation and has a way of almost immersing the reader and making the reader feel as if they can relate and be a part of the writing.
Up until the beginning of this semester I never gave much thought on what good writing was. I would just read what I had to then write the necessary essays for school. This class has helped me open my mind into wanting to further my writing skills. In the beginning of the semester I said a broad statement on what I thought good writing was. I probably said something like “its when it draws the readers attention to the text”. But now, 6 weeks later, I’ve realized that it’s much more than just that. If you ask me now what good writing is I’d say that good writing is something that gets the point across and having and impact where the message stays in the reader’s mind. It comes from many perspectives and should open your mind to more perspectives. Writing is meant to spread information and to help further humanities love for each other and even show more emotions. Thanks to this course I’ve been able to analyze papers in a different lighting and actually be able to comment on whether it’s well written or not.
ReplyDeleteA good writer is one who can take what he/she has in his mind and simply put it into words. This is not an easy task but it is the good writer that shows the world what is inside his/her mind. It can be an emotions, it can be facts amidst appearances, it can be truths, ideas, it can be anything. What we have in our heads is usually worth saying, but very often we are gripped by the fact that we simply do not know how to say it. Good writing knows how to say what is in our heads. In the past semester I have found that there are many tools and capabilities a writer can possess to further one's writing skill. One can use rhetoric, one can understand their past and relate it to the future and to others, one can see and disregard the constructs or rules that constrict their writing and look for new horizons to express oneself. Writing has no rules. Writing does not need perfect grammar. As long as a point is illustrated, as long as an original thought is manifested, as long as a new thing is brought into the universe- that is good writing.
ReplyDelete... Once again, sorry its late...