What is good writing? Well good writing can mean different thing to many different people. In class my group defined good writing as having a clear issue, not having grammatical errors, and having enticing rhetoric that makes someone want to read it. I believe though that we missed a key part in our definition. Just like Morrow said in his paper, good writing has to have feeling, distinctiveness, and oomph! Without these things and others like it the writing might be academically correct, but it holds no substance that will make a reader actually enjoy reading what you have written.
I like what Morrow says here, “Personally, I think good writing doesn’t have to be educated or well supported or even grammatically correct. It does have to be interesting enough that other people want to read it.” That I think is a more important than some of the things that my group said in class on this topic. I know over the years I have had some very boring papers, and excerpts that I had to read for English classes, and actually reading most of those was worst than torture. That was because the writhing didn’t have and soul or feeling put into it and that really made it painful to try and read it without falling into a coma.
Having a clear issue or topic was one thing my group said made good writing. Hall I think takes the same approach but he also put another good point across. Good writing doesn’t have to be all fancy with big words that you just learned the mean of in it. Actually being clear and getting the RIGHT point across to your readers is a huge deal. If you try and sound fancy but all you do is confuse your readers then you’re not doing anyone any good. Keeping it simple can be a big part in communicating the right message to your readers, which is key to good writing
I really liked this one moodle post. it was our first introduction into thinking outside of the conventional writing box. This analyst of the two different writers showed me the differences of two ways of approaching writing and showed me that there isn't one correct way to write something.
2. O'Connor
I think that Patricia O’Conner and Morrow are the most similar in their writings. One thing they both do in their articles is that they number it out. Numbering it out helps people’s minds keep on track and not wander off. They are also alike because they don’t really fluff up their work very much. Most of it is straight down to the point and then the examples are provided. O’Connor also relates a lot to Vonnegut though. He also list out his information but he and O’Connor share similar ideas. O’Connor says “stop when you’ve said it”, while Vonnegut goes “Don’t ramble though.” Both of these writers think that you should be clear as possible and entertain the reader.
I think O’Connor and Hall are the most different. Hall speaking in very sophisticated speech in order to get his colleagues to become better writers, while O’Connor is speaking in very clear terms and focuse on laying down some ground rules for what writers should do.
This writing was about how the different writers we've been reading related to each other. i think that the assignment showed me that a lot of well educated people can agree on some parts and disagree on others. This only continued to show me that there isn't one right way to write and you must feel that your writing is correct yourself.
3. Response to Last Lecture
Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture” was such a tremendous emotional and inspirational speech that only a few very talented people could ever perform one that tops his. Many of his quotes and sayings hit some of the biggest and most overriding statements about Life. “Experience is what you get, when you didn’t get what you wanted,” that quote right there plays a big part in my life now that I look at it. Lots of things like money and open opportunities limited the amount of things I’ve been able to experience, but I never let these things stop me because if I wasn’t able to do one thing, I found something different I wanted to do more. These experiences also go with one of Randy’s other quotes, “Brick walls are there for a reason, they let us prove how badly we want things.” This is a message that can be seen almost on a everyday basis. In today’s time if someone can’t get what they want quick and easy, they usually give up on it, diets for example. Many people make a resolution to lose weight every year, but ironically most people gain weight. Randy worked through lots of brick walls in his life and I believe he is an example of working hard to get what you want.
Once again this assignment helped me to understand that writing can come in all shapes. I really don't think that i gave this assignment enough effort when i did it though because looking over it it seems really hastily done, which is sad. I actually learned quite a bit from this man, not only about life but also some writing techniques too! i really wish i would of done a better job on this piece because I've used some of the quotes and lessons the Randy talked about in other assignments in school.
4. SFD
I kind of agree with Lamott, I believe that if you go ahead and get you first ideas down on the paper you can then start working. Later on after you have your ideas on paper you can go ahead and elaborate on what you think is good and delete what you think is bad. I also believe that you don’t always have to put your shitty first draft down. A lot of times, like in college, a person doesn’t have time to write many copies and drafts of a paper. In these cases sometimes people just have to spend the extra time to do it right the first time. For example, when I did my senior paper in high school, we spent every other day writing or correcting it, but my chemistry paper I was doing at the same time I didn’t have but a week to write. I was preoccupied doing my senior paper and getting that perfect, that when I wrote my chemistry paper it had to be right. I just simply didn’t have time to write and edit two papers at the same time. Although, one thing I find interesting is the fact that I find myself doing this all the time…
“Left to its own devices, my mind spends much of its time having conversations with people who aren't there. I walk along defending myself to people, or exchanging repartee with them, or rationalizing my behavior, or seducing them with gossip, or pretending I'm on their TV talk show or whatever. I speed or run an aging yellow light or don't come to a full stop, and one nanosecond later am explaining to imaginary cops exactly why I had to do what I did, or insisting that I did not in fact do it.(Lamott)”I guess this is one reason why I find it hard to write good first drafts, because there’s too much going on in my head.
This assignment was kind of a trip, the quote that i included in here describes me perfectly! The piece we had to read for this one did make a lot of sense to me and i could point out all the good points and all the arguments against them if given enough time. i feel like i did put a lot of effort into writing this because i had a very good counterpoint from my personal experiences.
5.Ballenger
When i think of a Research paper i think about finding fact after fact on the internet and in books and putting them together to make a plain boring paper about something. Ballenger had a very different way to approach a research paper. He intertwined personal stories and facts, to make an interesting story instead of just plain, boring research. He uses this collaboration of both fact and experiences to make a research paper a more personal and interesting. It's almost like the personal side added to his ethos in the paper because he can relate his subject back to himself. This is a very different way of thinking than what i was taught because I was told that you're supposed to separate yourself from the paper to make it more academic. This way i believe actually make a better paper than the way i was taught.
I did not like my response to this too much. At the same time i had to do this assignment i had another big assignment for engineering and i feel like i kind of blew this assignment off. i didn't pay to good of attention when i read his essay which caused for my response to this to be a little vague-ish. i should of taken my time and done a good job on this assignment.
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