As a format, blogging has matured over the last couple of decades into a writing style unto itself. Regardless of whether you know anything about literature or creative writing, you should be able to spot the characteristics of blog writing right away: Conversational, passionate, provoking, highly personal and open-ended. Blogs are closer to the original essais of Michel de Montaigne, the father of the modern essay, before that art form was possessed and transmuted into the rhetorical framework we all learn in high school these days.
Remember that the strength of the blog format is its intimate, personal tone and delivery. People don't go to blogs to read an impersonal, "just the facts, ma'am" type of news article. They're going to a blog for the personality, the exhortation and the conviction. There's no place in a blog for hedging, passive constructions or mealy-mouthed equivocations. A blog is an exploration of your own thoughts and feelings on a given subject. As Flannery O'Connor once wrote: "I don't know so well what I think until I see what I say." That's why you...
I am more knowledgeable about invention, arrangement, style, and delivery, all in which create a masterful piece of text. A few examples, I have learned to organize and construct my thoughts and ideas clearer. I have been taught to use stronger transitions and focus more on the delivery and content of the body element of essays. Further, the instructions and advice I have received throughout this term have influenced my understanding of the purpose of writing. My outlook on writing has been modified by shifting my perception of writing from, writing to prove I am a good writer by perceiving it as using “fluffy” or BIG words to impress my audience. I grew to understanding that good writing’s purpose is to engage the writer by mind-striking ideas and arguments, which therefore will prove and title me as a “good writer”.
“Style” strives to explain how writers can improve clarity, cohesion, usage, and elegance to become a more effective writer. This book is not meant to be read once, for the full potential can not be achieved unless it is absorbed several times. Packed from cover to cover with real life examples ranging from the worst imaginable to greatly improved, Williams provides a detailed explanation of how to transform any writers work. Charts, graphs, and diagrams may add some confusion but can be helpful for individuals who depend upon visual aids.
While there are people who love to read and write, there are others that do not. When a student is required to read a book for a class and that student does not enjoy reading, there are very few things they would rather do less. And when that book’s topic is about learning how to write that is the worst of it. When I was assigned to read Writing with Style by John R. Trimble, my immediate thought was that this book and assignment was going to be a struggle to get through. To my pleasant surprise, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Writing with Style provides the reader with a wide range of writing tips while being written in a fun, conversational style. This book provides easy to find writing tools that can be understood by people of varying
A good writer knows exactly what they want to accomplish and how they want to do it, and makes this abundantly clear for the audience. Different types of writing accomplish this in different ways, so this is also closely tied to genre. For example, an academic essay states the purpose by having a thesis statement which is usually at about the same place in every essay, the end of the introduction. In my analysis essay my thesis statement was “The most important aspects of composing an effective online source are communication with the audience, achieving a clear purpose, and two of the three appeals, logos and ethos.” This single sentence clearly states exactly what the purpose of writing the essay is by listing every topic that will be addressed in the essay. My blog posts though, stated their purpose a lot more concisely, and usually right in the first sentence of the post. My second post does this by saying “Before you can actually start editing your project, you need to make sure your the most important parts of your setup are configured to get the best experience with Premiere Pro as possible.” This states its purpose just as clearly as the thesis statement does, but does not list every single topic. This is an instance where genre helps to determine how the purpose is stated. A blog post needs a different style from an analysis essay, and these topic sentences clearly show that when they state their
There are various ways writers can evaluate their techniques applied in writing. The genre of writing about writing can be approached in various ways – from a process paper to sharing personal experience. The elements that go into this specific genre include answers to the five most important questions who, what, where, and why they write. Anne Lamott, Junot Diaz, Kent Haruf, and Susan Sontag discuss these ideas in their individual investigations. These authors create different experiences for the reader, but these same themes emerge: fears of failing, personal feelings toward writing, and most importantly personal insight on the importance of writing and what works and does not work in their writing procedures.
One of the changes I have made in my blog was to change the rhetorical choices of headings from one of three blogs to the experiences I had since I was suggested to included more details with the benefits I have gained after leaving home. Thus, instead of writing the advantages, I felt that it was easier to alter the headings to stories and describing what I have learned from the them in order to make the blog more persuading. Furthermore, I have contained details of comparing before and after in each experiences.
As a student, I have learned many different skills that I will take with me throughout my journey from this course. We have traversed many different types of writing styles, which any college student, or any person for that
In our modern society, we have forgotten the art of writing. When we write, we think to ourselves, the longer the sentence, the more intelligent I will sound. Many may say it is by writing long sentences. But is it all that true? In this piece of writing I would like to focus on an essay written by Verlyn Klinkenborg, Several Short Sentences About Writing. In this essay he explains how and why when we write, we should keep our sentences short. he also explains why students should be assigned essays that are not determinate on other sources as evidence. I will also be comparing this to a piece written by Sarah Manguso, Ongoingness. I will be comparing these two pieces on their writing style, and their essayistic ideas. My belief is that we need
Writing doesn’t come easily to me, which must make me a glutton for punishment. It has taken me years of training, learning to structure an essay and unlearning to begin again. Only since attending HSU am I realizing how exceptional my writing has become. Over the course of two semesters, I have seen my writing expand and grow. While I still adhere to the training I received in high school, I am excited to now take these tools and develop my own unique style in the years to come.
In the January 18th, 2012 New York Times article “The False Ideals of the Web”, Jaron Lanier attempts to take a very difficult issue – one that many view in terms of black or white – and find some middle ground. Unfortunately, what he ends up doing in the article is create an either/or situation, rather than find any middle ground. In the end we are left in the same situation that we started with.
haven't seen, and keep them updated on your day to day life. The Internet has become an important part of our lives, especially social media. I disagree with the idea that you can make real friends on the Internet because it's not safe and it does not provide basic needs that sustain a friendship.
In The Power of Writing by Joel Swerdlow, we are introduced to the definition of the word “writing”, its history, context and evolution over time. Writing is considered to be one of the most important forms of communication we possess. From books, to newspapers, birth certificates, to healthcare records, writing provides us with vital information that can be used endlessly. Swerdlow makes a flawless connection between writing, to one’s personal identity. To his understanding what we express in a piece of paper, is part of our individuality, creativity and part of our imagination. Personally I consider myself an enthusiastic writer, who enjoys writing about my family genealogy, living experiences, plans for the future, poems and religious beliefs. Writing is one of the most important skills I possess, because it lets people understand important aspects of my persona.
During this period my writing seemed to have experienced maturation. I have added transitions, semicolons, sentence variations and even learned a variety of other ways to write. One of the best ways I have learned to write was through “The Vanishing Stories” my literacy essay. Although it was not very far in the semester, I applied everything I knew, new and old, to that essay as to prove what effect writing my first horror story had on me. This essay also manages to clarify the start of my minor writing activities. On the other hand, the essay that reflects me best is “More Than a Parade,” my profile essay; this is because it took on a personal aspect due to its relation to my heritage. All of the descriptions within the essay were from many years of experience to reflect both the enjoyable and significant parts of the festivities. Aside from the opportunity to flourish as a writer, this class also provided me with a chance to understand writing on another
I can remember the first day of school when I walked into Mrs. Mary Doe´s room and I wondered, “What am I going to learn this year?” Well, the answer to that question is a lot of information that will help me in the future, especially, how to make a great essay. This valuable information will take me into high school and beyond. This information is the roots of my writing that has made me greatly improved as a writer. This year I learned what kind of writing I like, how I write efficiently and fluently, and how I changed as a writer.
The use of technology has led more people getting information from blog, which has been criticized by many journalists who doubt the accuracy of the information; and also in this computer age, the use of print dictionaries is fast nose-diving towards oblivion, because every word that is needed is found online. The words are very precise with their examples and one does not need an editor to know what a word means because you can easily look them up online. Students have also learned to understand that they write to the audience and therefore, have to be more creative, persuasive and organizing in their writing in order to get their point across to the audience. It is believed that the previous generation rarely put up a paragraph of their own and most students then, needed an interview before they were able to write something. But with the continuous in class writing in school and online, it has made students become adept in writing.