Allyn and Bacon Blog

Chapter One- Thinking Rhetorically About Good Writing

One thing that I found interesting was on page six when it talks about the three major concepts to good writing. The first concept is "Good writing can vary from closed to open forms of prose." The second concept is "Good writers pose questions about their subject matter," and the third concept reads, “Good writers write for a purpose to an audience within a genre." I picked this part because in all of education, this is the first time I have seen these concepts before. I have heard about asking questions while you’re writing but the other two I was completely unfamiliar with and didn't really understand them.

Another thing I found interesting about this chapter is the chart on page 16 and 17. I am a visual learner so I definitely liked seeing the questions generated for the writing in front of me. When I was reading the paragraphs before the charts I was a little confused about what the writer was talking about. However, once I saw the chart I easily understood the concept. There are also many other charts which helped me understand the other concepts mentioned in the chapter.

Chapter Two- Thinking Rhetorically About Your Subject Matter

On page 29 I saw the heading "Professors value "wallowing in complexity."" I was taught this concept by my English teacher in High School. In High School this concept was not my favorite, probably because it was drilled into my head for almost the whole year. She really taught us to go into high level thinking and push ourselves to think outside of our comfort zone. Even though it wasn’t my favorite topic in school it made me a better writer and I’m glad I know what the book is talking about, it makes me feel like it wasn’t a complete waste of time learning it in school.

From page 32 to 38, I liked reading about all of the different ways to focus your writing. Sometimes a get frustrated writing because I don’t know how to start a paper or focus all of my thoughts. These strategies were different ways to help me focus my ideas and use creative ways to write. All of them are stress-free and somewhat fun to do, like the idea mapping or the believing and doubting game. I would consider using these different strategies to start and focus my own writing.