Chapter 1 The Demands of College Writing

Why Take A Writing Course? Writing skills will transfer into your other college courses Introduction courses focus on generalized styles Advanced courses will introduce you to your fields specialized ways of writing Writing makes you a better reader, thinker, and you become more persuasive and clear Writing skills are essential for most professional careers Writing gives you time to think about a subject unlike speaking Writing allows you to take apart a subject and reflect on a deeper understanding

Who Are Writers? Writers are people who pose problems and ask questions Writers struggle to work out answers and responses Writers pose two sorts of problems: Subject matter problems Rhetorical problems

Subject Matter Problems Your thesis statement is the main point of your paper. The question behind your thesis statement is the problem you, as a writer, struggle with Experienced writers immerse themselves in subject matter questions in pursuit of answers and solutions Questions and problems are at the heart of good writing and thinking Writers write because they have something new, surprising, or challenging to say in response to a question or problem Readers read because they want to deepen their understanding of a topic

Where Do Problems Come From? Problems can be as simple as not understanding your assignment or parts of your textbook Simple problems are important, but don’t initiate strong college level writing and thinking Open ended questions stimulate the kind of writing most valued at the college level; these questions can have multiple answers and points of view Your own curiosity and opinions about life can lay the ground work for some of the most valuable open ended questions you can think of

Group/Individual Work On page 6 of your text, alone or in a group, read the information under “Finding a Problem.” Complete the task.

Rhetorical Problems What is rhetoric? Rhetoric is the study of how human beings use language and other symbols to influence the attitudes, beliefs, and actions of others In a simpler way, rhetoric is the art of making messages persuasive Thinking rhetorically means to consciously be aware of writing to an audience for a purpose within a genre

What is the Purpose? The purpose of writing is to bring something new or contestable to your reader. See examples on the bottom of page 8 Your purpose can also have a rhetorical aim This helps you clarify your relationship to your audience and identify typical ways that a piece of writing might be structured and developed Express, explore, inform, analyze/synthesize, persuade, reflect. See Table 1.2.

Your Audience What you know about your audience will affect most of the choices you make as a writer Who is your audience? Single readers, a select group, or a general audience Strategies for writing to your audience: asking yourself questions How busy are my readers? What are my readers’ motives? What is my relationship with my readers? What do my readers already know? How interested are my readers in my topic? What will my readers’ attitudes be toward my topic?

Genres Genre refers to categories of writing: Personal Academic Pop Culture Civic Writing Professional Literature See Table 1.3

Closed-Form Writing Writing has a structure of points and details in support of an explicit thesis There are unified and coherent paragraphs, topic sentences, transitions, and a forecasting of the whole before the presentation of parts The structure is predictable: Thesis Reasons and evidence to support thesis Closed-form prose is what most college professors expect; it is the most effective form of writing in professional and business settings

Open-Form Writing Narrative or story-like structure Abrupt transitions and various literary techniques The point of the writing slowly emerges through suggestion and language Open-form writing has an artistic appeal

Continuum of Essay Types Closed-Form Top down thesis based prose Delayed-thesis prose Open-Form Theme based narrative Thesis-seeking prose See chart of pgs