Tag Archive for: course-nocourse

As writers we have all come across difficulties in how we write. One thing that always makes writing difficult for me is the specific set of rules I have to follow. There are times where if I am passionate about what I’m writing about I’ll get lost in getting my point across that I’ll be careless about the specific principles I have to follow. In the essay Ten Ways to Think about Writing; Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Students the first thing the writer points out is “A thousand rules and three principles” which goes on to explain most of the unspoken basic rules of writing that so many people forget about. After reading the first se3ction of the essay I’ve come to realize that in previous essays I’ve written I have made the mistakes the writer speaks about. One specific example is that I have started my sentences with “but” and “and” by the time I catch my mistake my essay is already submitted. Just recently in one of my previous blog posts I started one of my sentences with “but” and I didn’t realize I did until one of my friends commented on my mistake. Since most of the basic rules are so simple those are the rules we forget the most. The only thing I can do is pay extra attention to the small mistakes because most of the time a small mistake can make a big difference.

One of the things I have difficulty with as a writer is getting my point across to the specific audience I’m targeting my words towards to Reid writes in her essay in the section “Pink Houses & Choruses: Keeping Your Reader with You” about targeting your audience. I admit there are times when my writing has been too casual when it’s meant to be professional. Usually, when this happens I always go back to fix my writing. Personally I feel like I always have to go back and revise my writing because most of the time when I write I need to be focused on what I want write about and usually if I’m not focused in my writing I make mistakes that need to be fixed. I think before writing a good technique is to find the audience your writing is directed at that way there’s no mistake in the format of your writing.

Trying to get your argument across is difficult, not only because it needs to be concise but also because there’s a limit to what you can say. Reid writes about shortening our arguments to make our arguments stronger. Nobody would be interested in reading an essay that drags on and never gets their point across. When I write and I’m trying to present an argument I provide too much background about the argument instead of presenting a strong argument which makes the evidence to be longer than necessary. Usually because of this I have to make sure my argument is strong and concise.

Assuming is something that can ruin your writing. Reid expresses that assuming your readers understand your writing with no explanation is a mistake so many writers make. As a writer it’s wrong to assume that the reader knows exactly what you’re talking about without an explanation on where you’re coming from. Since you usually introduce your topic in the introduction, most readers understand where you’re coming from and how a particular topic relates to you. The same goes when presenting an argument or an idea not everyone will understand with just the argument alone there needs to evidence and a concise reasoning for using a particular argument. It’s better to over explain as long as you don’t repeat yourself than to leave your readers confused on what you’re trying to say.

Something that helps you to improve your writing is using revision. Reid specifically comments on how revising your writing can improve the way you write not only in that specific moment but in your future writings. Son not only do you fix your mistakes on your writings but in the long run you’re improving on your writing skills because you learn from your mistakes and it’s less likely you make the same mistake twice. One difficulty I have with this is that I forgot to revise my essays sometimes and I know it can really help me if I do revise but when the moment comes to submit my work I forgot to revise my writing for any mistakes. Using all the techniques that Reid mentioned I feel will really help me improve my writing.

Work Cited

Reid, E. Shelley. “Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Students.” Ed. Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky. Vol. 2. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor P, 2011. 3-23. Writing Spaces. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.

I think we (as writers) can all agree that writing isn’t easy. In fact, it’s much easier to get lost in our thoughts let alone writing them. The most crucial part of writing is learning how to write, which in most cases only comes with practice. Imagine attending a class that teaches you all of these different tricks and concepts to be a better writer, but the only way to fully grasp those concepts, is in putting them into proper practice. Otherwise, they will remain concepts and theoretical ideas with no substance in your mind. By substance, I mean experiences in writing to revert back to when you get stuck. It’s easy to get stuck as a writer when there are simply no rules to writing. Admittedly, I am braking one of what I like to call “Throwback rules” that the majority of middle schoolers have all been taught to use. Things like don’t use “I” and definitely don’t use “You”. Well, my friends in order to not get stuck due to all the “Don’ts” you learned as a kid to help you write something made a little more sense back then can be thrown out the window now. What I’ve learned as a writer, is that sometimes you’ve got to break the rules in order to be creative in thought and not just grab but keep your readers attention. See, without practice in this area, there would be no direct connections being made to conceptualize these abstract thoughts in your mind and write them down in a clear meaningful way to where the reader can connect with your ultimate message on paper by simply reading it one time. Because, let’s be honest, most of us don’t have the attention span to be committed to it enough to read it once, let alone twice. Therefore, in order to keep your audience’s attention and help your message get across to the reader, you use metaphors; or what I like to call, putting a bunch of random words together and eventually having them make sense in the end. In order to do this, you must first let go of old structure, be creative in repetition, use collective thought, know your audience, and finally balance your own writing between abstract thought and rationality.

A huge part of writing, is letting go of structure. And what I’m saying by “structure” I mean the basic rules of writing or the “Don’ts” where “…writing seems more like a chore than a living process that connects people and moves the world forward” (E. Shelley Reid, 4). Sometimes when all you’re used to is structure, it may seem like there are a thousand rules to writing, when in reality there are only three main principles that I like to call the three P’s: Passion, Picture, and Purpose. What I took out of Shelley Reid’s, Ten Ways to Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Student when reading these direct principles, was that it’s easier to write about something you can be passionate about in order to paint a picture for the intended purpose you’re trying to portray to your audience.

Repetition makes everything subtly re-addressed so that the writer’s message sticks in your mind, like that chorus from that one song you keep hearing on the radio. Now this is easier said than done when in my case, there’s more than one point to address. However, if the picture is painted clear enough, the ultimate purpose of the paper will have at least gotten through to the reader. It’s hard not to feel like you’re constantly repeating yourself when rewriting the same message over and over again, but in different ways. For example, I could say that the sky is clear and the reader would get the picture in a relatively boring and broad manner; or I could say the sky is clear as day, the sun is shining brightly on my face, and there are no clouds in sight. Description is an important key factor in using repetition. In fact, in most cases they go hand in hand. In my experiences with writing, description tends to make repetition seem less repetitive and more easily connected. Description helps paint the picture in making connections to each point being made by giving it more meaning. In short, description (if used correctly) equals definition.

It’s easy to get off subject, especially when rushing into the main topic. Shelley Reid explained what I took as, the importance of having collective thought. She liked to call it, the higher and lower brain (Reid 18-19). This is the area that I am most unfamiliar with, which is why it intrigued me so much. Reid addressed how using the higher brain for as long as possible before the lower brain kicks in is the best way to go. In order to do so one must simply “…read the gosh darn question” and answer it in a simplified version so that you’re points are clearly stated for yourself before going into depth right away and getting off track with your lower brain (Reid 19-20). Reading about this helped me to fully understand the purpose behind this paper by taking away the lessons I learned from reading the material provided, and writing in a way that helps me to make the proper connections towards that piece in establishing direct guidelines from other resources to use in the way I present my own writing using collective thought in order to provoke collective action.

It’s easy to be relatable if you know who you’re trying to relate to. Audience is sometimes more complicated than simple. For example, when Reid explains how although there may be a general audience you are addressing, there are also secondary audiences that may come into play (10). What helped me the most was by reading that, “It also helps to imagine a very specific primary audience (a person or small group or publication), so that instead of staring at the screen thinking vague “some people” thoughts, you can quickly come up with just the right words and information to match that audience’s needs…” (Reid 10). By doing this, it helps the reader to not simply glance over your information but feel directly immersed in the writer’s thoughts.

Reid used a very simple way to explain how to balance writing overall using cherries and jello. However, I’d like to get straight to the point and say that writing consists of two key aspects: abstract thought and rationality. Both of which, when put together can create a more realistic perspective in which the writing becomes less of a theory and more of a reality; because it is more “relatable” to the audience it is addressing. By “it” I mean the three P’s: Passion, Picture, and Purpose. These phrases are more difficult to follow when all your told as a kid is what to write and how exactly to write it, making writing difficult instead of easy. Therefore, there is no right or wrong way of writing; there is just a simpler way of understanding.

Works Cited
Thomas, Ryan. “Demystifying a Common Misconception About Writing.” ASCD Edge.
N.p., n.d. Web.
Reid, E. Shelley. “Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College
Writing Students.” Ed. Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky. Vol. 2. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor P, 2011. 3-23. Writing Spaces. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.

As college students, we are constantly bombarded with advice on how to approach our writing and our academics, but perhaps the best advice does not come through worksheets and grammar quizzes, but through simple and understandable metaphors such as those presented in Reid’s “Ten Ways to Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for the College Student.”

“Show and Telepaths”

While we are writing, it is easy to assume that our readers have the same knowledge as we do. What may seem to be common knowledge to one person could be completely foreign to another. This is an important factor to remember particularly when composing research pieces, in which it is crucial to specifically explain your thought process for your results to be valid.

“Pink Houses and Choruses: Keeping Your Reader With You”

As much as I personally detest excessive repetition, repetition in moderation is quite necessary in writing. This isn’t to say that the same words and phrases should be reiterated over and over again within the same paper, but rather, stresses the importance of the thesis of the paper. Finding creative ways to advise your reader of what is to come not only improves the reader’s ability to understand your writing, but also acts as an assist in keeping your writing on track yourself. It is easy to find ourselves wandering from our thesis and addressing different topics as we write, only to return to the beginning of our paper to find that we have strayed far from what we wanted to address.

“Wash and Wear Paragraphs”

I often find myself revising my own papers and finding some paragraphs that have extended over a page in length, while others consist of only two or three simple sentences. As is addressed in the article, some variation in paragraph length is an effective means of creating a layer of interest in our writing, but it is also important to remember to keep the paragraphs a reasonable length. Particularly in papers that are already quite lengthy, extremely paragraphs may seem “rambly” and may cause readers to lose interest.

Example of an annotated text

“Hey Hey Hey and the Textbook Conspiracy: Annotating Your Reading”

It is so easy to look at an article or textbook or novel and want to just skim through and gather what appears on the surface to be the “important parts” of the writing. I am very guilty of this, especially with shorter articles with strict deadlines. I have personally found that when I have a hard copy of a text and actively highlight and write notes in the margins as I read, I achieve a much greater level of understanding than I possibly could have by skimming the surface of the text.

“Rules vs. Rhetoric”

As useful as all of this advice and all of these rules seem to be, it is up to us as writers to make the calls when it comes to our writing. It is crucial for us to be able to own our writing as ours, and not the product of what somebody else is dictating us to compose.

Works Cited

Reid, E. Shelley. “Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Students.” Ed. Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky. Vol. 2. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor P, 2011. 3-23. Writing Spaces. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.

Last weekend, I went to Torrey Pine State Natural Reserve (TPSNR) to collect cones for my common garden experiment. I was able to collect enough seeds from 20 trees that are feasible for my experiment. It was a very different environment than being out on the island, because there were a lot of people and the shrubs were over grown, above 6 feet.

Last week, I officially planted 800 Torrey pine seeds. I will be watering the seeds manually, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I am excited to see how the results will turn out!!!