Sunday, October 19, 2014
Blog #7
"I discover how much I didn't know I knew. Writing educates me."
This quote particularly stuck out to me. I never really thought about it until I read this, but writing actually plays a vital role on education. The amount of times that I was doing a paper and researched a topic has led me to gain a lot more knowledge. Not to mention, every time I want to sound "smarter" and replace basic words, I go on thesarus.com. From that website, I have very much expanded my vocabulary. Even just writing a text message and looking up the proper way to spell a word has helped my education.
One of the pieces of advice that Murray gave that I found helpful were the two paragraphs on the intro and the closer of a paper. I found this very helpful because I feel like my intro and closers are never as strong/well written as they should be. I think the most important part of the paper is the introduction to grab a reader's attention. Murray says how its important to have ideas talked about from the very beginning of the essay to just give a brief over-view of what the paper will be about. I think that is a good idea. The paper will definitely be more organized and easy to read if it is done that way. I think in my next feature article I can use this advice to help better my introduction and briefly give a little preview of my topic.
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I also feel that writing in itself is a great way to self-educate. Writing is definitely a learning process, and picking up on new vocabulary, writing styles, and dialects can help you learn how to communicate efficiently with others. Like any skill, if you practice writing more, you get better at it. I have found in life that the friends I have who write more tend to be able to express themselves better to peers and be, or at least appear, more educated than most. As you mentioned, giving a brief overview of what lies ahead in a paper is a great way to have your ideas more organized in writing, but leaving out certain points is a great way to surprise your reader and have the paper be more interesting.
ReplyDeleteI can really relate to what you were saying about the intro and closing paragraphs. I find those to be the most difficult to write because they are the readers first impression of your writing and their last. So, it is essential to write them well. I also liked the quote you chose. I often find myself learning as I write, on any topic. I always find myself googling and citing sources to a paper and gaining knowledge. Writing forces you to go out and learn and to expand upon preexisting knowledge.
ReplyDeleteAmanda, I too have always had trouble with writing when it came to constructing captivating introductions to get the reader interested. When I saw that the author was going to discuss introductions and some tips I knew there would be some great advice in there. The author states some helpful advice when he writes, "The beginning of the essay should contain-or strongly imply- a central tension (contradiction, irony, surprise, or problem)" By implementing this "central tension" technique the reader is sure to be more interested and captivated then reading an introduction without the use of this. I suggest you give this a try next time to test it out; I know I will.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that writing is a way to educate. I always find myself realizing how much more I know after I wrote a paper than I thought I did before. It's a great way to expand your knowledge even if we dread it sometimes. Also, I struggle as well with writing leads and closings. That's a very important part of a paper because it's what grabs the readers attention and what leaves them with a last impression so it's important that we keep practicing them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about writing playing an important role in education. I find myself knowing a subject more thoroughly if I write a paper on it. I've always thought that you truly understand a subject when you're able to teach others about it. I also agree that writing motivates people to expand their knowledge and vocabulary. I sometimes use a thesaurus when I can't find the right word to say in a paper.
ReplyDeleteI think the introduction is important too because it sets the tone for the rest of the paper. If the introduction is boring, the reader will lose interest in reading what follows. I need to practice writing introductions that grabs the reader's attention for future drafts.