ENC 1101-B3 & B4: Writing for Discovery
Chapter 5
Written by Andrea00 on October 20, 2003 - 21:35
Throughout this semester, I have seen major improvements in my writing. I think it all came clear when I began to think about one important element: Rhetorical Sensitivity. It was an important topic that I became interested in when deciding ways to improve my writing. Ede made some interesting comments about how to learn to be consensus about your audience. Some of the questions that she suggested asking yourself when writing, were “Why are you writing? What do you hope your writing will accomplish? Are you trying to change the readers mind…and so on” (Ede, 146). I thought these questions were very helpful. They helped form the structure my paper, and gave me an idea on what direction to head in.

I thought it was relative the way she used “freedom” (Ede, 148) when describing the restrictions and specificity of the context you are trying to write. I think that the amount of freedom that you have when writing really determines how the paper will be structured. The more freedom, the easier it is to convey yourself through the work.
I know that if I had a liberal topic where anything goes, I will find it easy to give my paper good “voice.”
Ede pointed out another area of discussion in which I was always contemplative about. She stated that by looking at examples of work that may relate to the topic, one can benefit in many ways. Looking at models or previous work was found to be extremely helpful. Ede pointed out that this is a great idea if you are stuck on a topic and cant find a way to being the basis of the paper.
I think that she pointed out many key points when looking at the audience of your work. It is extremely important to understand who you are writing to and what kind of voice you wish to convey.
Reading Assignments
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It's All About the Audience
Posted by lms03n on October 21, 2003 - 15:35.
"I think that she pointed out many key points when looking at the audience of your work. It is extremely important to understand who you are writing to and what kind of voice you wish to convey."

I strongly agree your point expressed above. When writing in our journals, we can have a goofy, sarcastic voice because the writing is rather informal. It is not a crucial grade, and students are simply interacting with each other and reading the experiences of their fellow peers. On the other hand, when creating research papers and graded analytical writings, we must write with intelligence. Content is extremely important, and the structure must be organized and formal.
Freedom
Posted by rah03c on October 21, 2003 - 13:10.
i could not agree more. the more fredom i have when writing the more comfotable i feel about the paper. For example the paper i just wrote was about my day as a dog, this was one of the easiest papers i ever had to write. I didn't feel straped down, or foced to write under spacific guidelines. I was allowed to take the essay and ware i wanted and that made it easy to write.
La voz is muy importante
Posted by tmtollerton on October 21, 2003 - 13:06.
Voice is very important. It gives the reader some kind of advantage when they undestand the tone and mood that is set by the author. Different tones are caused by different situations.
Ede's suggestion about looking at other authors, writing about the same topic was something that I had never thought of either. It sounds good enough, but who do you want to write like? Yourself or others? Just a thought!
Taylor Tollerton
Writing Without Boundaries
Posted by Roxie84 on October 21, 2003 - 11:29.
“The more freedom, the easier it is to convey yourself through the work.”

I find this to be true, too, but it’s not like I am being restricted when I have to write about a topic assigned to me. I guess it depends on how you approach a writing challenge. The possibilities are endless even when you have to write about a certain subject. We were given a topic to write for our Exploratory A and B drafts, but HOW and WHAT we chose to discuss was a freedom that lets our minds as writers wander (in a good way).
 
Wow,dude!
Posted by Andrea00 on October 21, 2003 - 18:20.
I think that you made yourself a good point. It is up to the writer to be able to be as liberal as possible. I like how you stated that choosing what "to discuss was a freedom that lets our minds as writers wander". I agree with you totally....nicely stated.
Got Ede?
Posted by Jason on October 21, 2003 - 10:36.
I do agree with what you are saying about Ede’s points. I always keep the questions of “who am I writing for” and “what message/voice do I want to convey” in the back of my mind. Even before I read Ede, this was a natural process for me, but now that Ede clarifies it even more, it is harder to forget. “Freedom” as you pointed out is one of the most important parts about writing. I have learned that when I let go in my free writes, they tend to come out much stronger then when I focus too much on being perfect.
Land of the free
Posted by papa smurf on October 21, 2003 - 10:17.
Sure thing, when you are writing a research paper -- you typically don't have the freedom to describe whimsical settings, with sarcastic tones, no it has to be more straight forward.

However, freedoms are used in context. The freedom to express a view or opinion can be used in almost any paper - its just exactly how you expess it that determinds the acceptablity of the peice.
 
Re: Land of the free
Posted by cel4145 on October 21, 2003 - 10:23.
"The freedom to express a view or opinion can be used in almost any paper - its just exactly how you expess it that determinds the acceptablity of the peice." Not always. Depends on the rhetorical situation. For example, you are writing for your teacher. You might feel like expressing a certain viewpoint in an assignment, but you do not because you know it might threaten your grade. Or you are working for a business and it is your job to write advertising copy for a product you don't like.
The more freedom
Posted by cel4145 on October 21, 2003 - 01:26.
"The more freedom, the easier it is to convey yourself through the work."

Interesting point. Freedom is not necessarily easier. After all, a standard resume, a lab report, a summary of a reading--all may be easy to write (assuming that the writer is familiar with the subject matter) since they follow specific forms and have obvious expectations. But a lot of freedom in a rhetorical situation leaves much decision making to the writer.

But I agree that freedom could allow the writer more opportunity to convey who they are in writing. For example, a research paper assignment can be a pretty constricting writing project in that it doesn't offer as much opportunity for a writer's voice to enter as in a letter to an editor.

However, can anyone think of rhetorical situations where the writer does not have much freedom, yet can convey more of herself?