When I was asked about what my theory of writing was, I wasn’t too sure how to answer it. I had never been asked that question so I started to think. If you were to ask me in January I would have had no clue what a theory of writing was but now I have a clear vision of what I believe mine is. I believe that writing should include a u d i e n c e, g e n r e, and r h e t o r i c a l s i t u a t i o n. I say these three terms because I find them evident in any form of writing.
The reason for writing is to effectively reach your audience and if you can’t do this then there is no point in writing. With identifying your audience, it guides the way you write. You will need to also make your writing appropriate for the audience, in the language you use and the way you structure your sentences. “There are things such as demographics, gender, ethnicity, and even intelligence to keep in mind when writing.” (Biggs) For example in my research paper about the Psychology of Single Parent, my target audience was the age group from around 20’s to 50’s. Once that was established I kept that in mind as I wrote. Because my audience was an older, more mature crowd I decided to use some clinical words and more complex idea and thoughts. This put my paper on a direct path. As you keep the audience in mind the next logical step is genres.
Genre is the form of writing you are going to use to reach your audience. As an author your goal is to get your ideas out and understood. Like I said in our first major assignment “Certain genres appeal more to certain audiences, for example your grandparents wouldn’t want to watch a gory horror film but our generation really enjoys them.” The genre in which you write is crucial. With the three genres composition I choose to work in was internet, article and photo journal. Picking these three things was based off my audience, the age group of 20’s to 30’s. I wanted to do something that would be most relatable; the internet is something that has become the mainstream for information and the photo journal worked because most people don’t want to read a lengthy article. When picking a genre remember audience and choose one that seems most applicable to them.
Once you have the more technical things out of the way, the next thing I think about is the rhetorical situation. There is always some inspiration or purpose for your writing. I used this example, “Each reader probably can recall a specific time and place when there was opportunity to speak on some urgent matter, and after the opportunity was gone he created in private thought the speech he should have uttered earlier in the situation.” (Bitzer 2) Sometimes you could think you are just free writing but the rhetorical situation is the expression of your feelings or ideas. This took me a while to grasp the concept but once I did it made my paper that much better. It gave it a direction and I was surprised as to how each paper got easier to compose. These three things have become the things I lean on when I’m planning to write. Instead of the paper being daunting, it flows once you have these three things identified.
A u d i e n c e, g e n r e and r h e t o r i c a l s i t u a t i o n make one cohesive paper. You can’t have one of these without the other or you will have an incomplete paper, which is probably why I struggled on my first paper in this class. I had no plan for my writing but now I know exactly where to start, a recipe that will never fail. By developing my theory of writing I have also developed a respect for writing. I am very sequential so having steps to begin writing helped my papers not be word on an paper but writing has become an expression of my thoughts, something I have come to enjoy.
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