A theory of writing is the sum of one’s knowledge of one’s knowledge, and how it affects the way we write. When asked what my theory of writing was, I was left bewildered. What was the reason I wrote anything? Why is knowledge of writing helpful to me? Prior to Freshman Composition with Professor Conroy, my only motivation and reason for writing was for the grade. After the course, I was knowledgeable of the rhetorical elements and able to apply them to any piece of writing I had created: rhetorical situation, audience, purpose, tone author, medium, stance, genre, and language. By using what I learned before, in addition to my knowledge gained from the class, I formulated my theory of writing.
After extended periods of high levels of concentration and thought, it was difficult finding a theme encompassing all of my writing pieces. As I said before, my writing was done only for the sake of passing classes. So as far as I could tell, my writing was the culmination of all my past teachers’ wants for their assignments opposed to my own. However, there was something that remained common among all my writing pieces – the way I communicate my thoughts in writing.
There are many methods of communication, ranging from a face-to-face conversation to sending encrypted messages via code. Two factors that every method of communication has is a source and a receiver. The source is the speaker, who encodes a message and sends it to the receiver. The receiver then decodes it and interprets the message. However, in many cases, the message may be interpreted in a different way than the speaker intended. Take a word as simple as “wow”. Despite being only three letters long, this word can have a multitude of meanings depending on the context. For example, wow can be used in a sarcastic manner or a serious manner. Writing is a form that allows us to clearly indicate our thoughts and express them so that the reader understands our words the way they were meant to be interpreted. If written with proper diction, any emotion, idea, question, etc can be expressed through writing. Doing so creates the most credible, informative, and emotional writing pieces.
One element that goes hand in hand with my theory is the author’s purpose. When writing about a topic I was interested in and convicted in defending, I felt more pride in what I had written. One example supporting my theory is from an assignment I had in 9th grade. I currently have little interest in politics, but at the time I had zero interest in politics. It was at this time the Donald Trump campaign was in full effect, and my assignment was a persuasive speech embodying Trump, in addition to persuading others into voting for him. I had no interest in the political climate, and even less interest in embodying someone who is considered a public enemy. It was extremely evident in my writing that I wasn’t interested in the slightest.
“I’ll build a wall to keep the Mexicans out! Barack Obama was a shitty president, and I’ll fix the mistakes he made, I’ll Make America Great Again! The rich favor me, therefore I am the majority!”
Reflecting on the assignment, I completely missed the main point. I had no passion for the topic, so I simply reciprocated what I heard, not create original ideas for the assignment. This was clearly done for the sake of getting a passing grade, and I displayed little effort. Donald Trump is a character who isn’t afraid to say it as it is. But because of my dread to play the role, I completely missed that point, and implemented my own image. Regardless of the final result, I was more proud of my performance than I would’ve been had I been honest with my role. I made the class laugh by expressing an image, and the outcome was a Donald Trump of my own interpretation. This is what made this piece my own.
“Walking into the Bernie Wohl Center, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The center itself was quite small, so I was unsure as to whether I was even at the right place. The sound of Google Maps stating “You have arrived at your destination.” in addition to the elderly woman entering the center reassured me that I was at the correct venue, despite being right behind what looked like an elementary school. After entering the building, I promptly displayed my ticket and entered the hall to the right. To my surprise, the auditorium was relatively undersized, at least to my expectations. I would soon learn that almost all of my expectations would turn out to be the complete opposite.“
Above is an excerpt from a concert report for my Music 101 class. The assignment was to write a comprehensive review of a chamber concert that we attended. Is it possible to tell that I was underwhelmed when I arrived at the venue? This was done through my unique tone, language, and stance based on my first impression. My purpose as an author was to provide my audience with a twist of sorts, so I could grab their attention, while also keeping my honest thoughts.
“Once the performers arrived and everything was in place, there was one key component I was astonished to not see – a conductor. Who would it be to indicate the meter and tempo of the performers? Despite the lack of a conductor, the duo of the first piece played in a very consonant manner. While each instrument played their own melody that at times, didn’t match the others, the resulting sound was still consonance to my ears.“
At this point, I made it clear to my audience of my change in demeanor. After witnessing the ensemble and hearing a portion of their performance, I went from being underwhelmed to pleasantly surprised. I also included my own commentary on the event. Because of the way I wrote, my thoughts and emotions are conveyed in my writing, making it unique to myself. I provide as many details on how I was feeling and my questions as to not leave any interpretation up to the audience.The genre of this piece is a review, so it makes sense that the opinions are mine and mine alone.
Let’s look at a piece where I can’t clearly express my own thoughts and ideas:
“If I told you that you could make $500,000 playing video games, would you believe me? According to a multitude of sources, pro gamer Tyler Blevins, more popularly known as Ninja makes just this much, if not more playing a video game…The first aspect I’d like to talk about is the social benefit of playing video games. In today’s day and age, there is an amazing ability that people use that many don’t even stop to consider. Would anyone like to guess what that is? Its the internet.”
This is an excerpt from my final speech in my Speech 110 class. While speaking, my goal is to persuade and inform others of the appeal of video games. At times, this included reciprocating facts, but my own analysis of facts that I would communicate to my audience. This is what allowed me to express myself in this piece. While the information is provided, it is also up to the audience’s interpretation as to what it means. However, in my persuasive speech, I give what the audience should interpret the information as in my own analysis. This creates a more convincing argument, since my tone isn’t another article’s tone. By speaking from my thoughts, I’m able to create a casual tone that my speech class audience would be appeal more to. This is what allowed me to clearly express my own thoughts and opinions, and provide an interpretation of my words for the audience.
After my Freshman Composition class, I feel I’ve learned a lot that helped me improve my writing skills. Reading articles such as ‘Shitty First Drafts’ has allowed me to understand that the first draft doesn’t even to be related to the final in the slightest. Brainstorming through free writes have become an essential and helpful step in preparing drafts. It also helped narrow my topics down from broad ideas to a single defined idea that could be argued. During my Inquiry Based Essay, my initial idea was related to the World Health Organization’s decision to classify video games disorder as a disease, but I had no specific question in mind. Brainstorming, creating a draft, followed by peer reviews were great for constructive criticism and building upon what I had from multiple points of view, while also maintaining my own writing style and expressing the thoughts I intended on conveying. Utilizing rhetorical elements allowed me to gauge all the key factors from the start which made the process of writing much easier than writing aimlessly. By understanding my purpose and audience, I can express the ideas I want to in a way that caters best towards my audience. This creates the most concise, yet effective writing as I know exactly how to appeal to my audience. This sets the path for all the other rhetorical elements, such as tone, language, genre, and medium. Writing is a form that allows us to clearly indicate our thoughts and express them so that the reader understands our words the way they were meant to be interpreted through the correct use of rhetorical elements.
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