The goal is to train yourself to formulate questions as you read based on whatever you notice in the text. Your own reactions to what you’re reading will help determine the kinds of questions to ask.
This give more purpose to writing. Asking yourself questions makes sure you are writing with the good intentions and not just writing to write. It also gives you the perspective of the reader.
What technique(s) does the au-thor use to begin the text? This is a personal story about his time work-ing in London. What else do you notice as you read over this passage? Is the passage vague or specific about where he worked?
Reading the writer's first paragraph, I was aware that the author wanted to trick us by having us question the passage from the start and I did. I knew that the writer wanted us to think how the message was delivered in the first place and why.
Notice that in these questions I am encouraging you to question whether aspects of the writing are appropriate and effective in addition to deciding whether you liked or disliked them. You want to imagine how other readers might respond to the writing and the techniques you’ve identified
When reading your writing out loud, it's also great to have someone else read it to you, as writing your own works may lead to many interpretations. Making sure that as you read your writing, make someone else understand the same message.
Depending on the subject matter and the intended audience, it may make sense to be more or less formal in terms of language.
Depending on who is it written for, one has to understand how the audiences background. Reading Mary Roach's book, I noticed that Roach had to use more informal language so that the audience can understand, as the audience's aren't scientists.
signaling words (however, therefore, furthermore, despite) indicating the direction of the argument . . . when I read fic-tion or creative nonfiction, I look for how the author inserts dialogue or character sketches within narration or environ-mental observation
When doing the murder assignment from Friday, we learned that you have to know the audience. There is more pathos when reading in an eulogy then reading a coroner's voice. Messing up the genre can impact your audience.
Among the contextual factors you’ll want to consider before you even start reading are:•Do you know the author’s purpose for this piece of writing?•Do you know who the intended audience is for this piece of writing?
The purpose and the audience is a great way to read a writing as you get to understand how the author wanted to get the information out.
can help you recognize important decisions you might face and techniques you might want to use when working on your own writing. Reading this way becomes an opportunity to think and learn about writing.
I know from this class, I will be expected to answer why I wrote my writing. High school students will read their own writing and not understand what they themselves wrote. I have to make sure that I'm confident with the purpose I write.
Author David Jauss makes a similar comparison when he writes that “reading won’t help you much unless you learn to read like a writer. You must look at a book the way a carpenter looks at a house someone else built, examining the details in order to see how it was made”
This is what it means to read like a writer! Having to see how the writer writes by noticing their syntax, mood and diction makes you a better writer as you learn how to to incorporate those ideas.
We read a recipe to learn how to bake lasagna. We read the sports page to see if our school won the game, Facebook to see who has commented on our status update, a history book to learn about the Vietnam War, and the syllabus to see when the next writing assignment is due
These are great examples of how the audience would read these genres differently. Most would struggle how ideas would be delivered but knowing the purpose of the writing shouldn't be forgotten.
What are the advantages and dis-advantages of starting with a quote? What about the advantages and disadvantages of starting with a quote from the President? How would other readers respond to this technique?
I think one has to think about how the reader wants to express themselves. The writer has to think about the purpose of the writing and the audience. It wouldn't be most appropriate to quote an Obama quote to a Republican convention, so there has to be more context.
ou are trying to understand how the piece of writing was put together by the author and what you can learn about writing by reading a par-ticular text. As you read in this way, you think about how the choices the author made
When reading a passage, one has to understand how the phrase was put together. Maybe it was the humor that was explained or maybe it was the fact that the author likes to give out facts by fact only.
carefully examine the things you read, looking at the writerly techniques in the text in order to decide if you might want to adopt similar (or the same) techniques in your writing
Everyone has a different style and it's resonates with different people. If there was only one great writer, we would look upon that writer but having a reference of how your favorite authors is a great way to learn. When I let someone know about my favorite author, I have to tell them why I liked it and what strategies they use.
I never really thought about the important connections between reading and writing, and how reading in a particular way could also make me a better writer.
This quote resonates because one of the important aspects in writing is to connect the writer and reader. It's hard when only the writer is having fun meanwhile the reader isn't. This is why most people that don't read their own works have trouble making it interesting for the reader.
it’s even tougher with shrieks and shouts and gunshots coming from the stage. I had to focus intently on each and every word, often rereading a single sentence sev-eral times. Sometimes I got distracted and had to re-read entire para
There are moments where I have to check myself to see if I'm genuinely reading or just skimming through. I also have to make sure I am reading the whole sentence and not each word by word, it's a better way to read in context. I understand the author's struggle of having to concentrate throughout to understand what the author is trying to convey.