Theory of Writing

Abdullah Al Iman
English 110
Professor Shamecca Harris

Theory Of Writing
(Personal Essay)

Throughout my time in this class , I have realized that my view on writing has changed. It wasn’t just one aspect my view on writing that has changed but writing as a whole. All the way from why I write to how I write to all the elements of a great writing piece. Before this semester , I never really focused on these aspects of my writing pieces. I usually just saw the directions and just followed it without thinking too deeply on it. I have dove into the rhetorical terms prior to this class but never in depth like how I did during this semester. I never even heard the term”Theory of Writing” let alone knew what my own theory of writing was. However , as I was assigned these essays I was able to develop my own theory of writing.

The phrase “Theory of Writing” is definitely subjective to each individual and for me having your own “Theory of Writing” in your mind before you write anything is what seperates a good writer from a great writer. What my foundation was on writing before this semester was that it was a form of making sense/getting a point across as well as a form of communication. This was very basic and vague as I look back on it. What I had learned about rhetorical analysis and terms helped me add depth to my theory of writing. Like I had said in my introduction , I have learned about rhetorical terms and elements such as audience , purpose and genre but I have never really thought about why they are important and how it shapes a writing piece to be well done. For example , I have never realized how important genre was to a writing piece even though I knew what genre meant for a writer. Through my perspective , I definitely view genre as the form of your writing. Previously, I always thought that genre was the first aspect you should think of before you begin to write. Now I know that is not the case , I have realized that genre is shaped by the audience and purpose you have in mind. I also never knew that a genre could be as simple as an email or a grocery list. I always thought it had to be as general as possible such as fiction or nonfiction.

As for author and audience , my view on that rhetorical element has also greatly improved and it helped develop my theory of writing. Before, I never really looked into the background of the author since most of my assignments in middle school or high school required me to. So as a result , this class helped realize the importance of an author’s credibility and if the article I am using is reliable for my essay. This also helped me out with the article’s bias view on some things. Since my topic for the majority of this class was gender identity and hate crimes against the LGBTQ community I was bound to come across an article with a completely one sided take on the issue. When I read the article , I was shocked and confused at the POV the author has taken however when I researched the author’s background and credibility I found out that she was a very religious conservative who didn’t have an open mind on gender identity. Now for audience , this is the rhetorical situation that has made me develop my theory of writing the most. Ironically , the composition of two genres assignment made it really clear for me on the power of audience and how it can shape the format(genre) of a writing piece. The difference in demographics that I wanted to address had a heavy influence on the genres I chose. For example , since I wanted to address a younger demographic , one genre I chose was a meme. And for the other genre , which was a PSA, my target audience was government officials which were a much older demographic. As you can see from my composition of two genres assignment:

The images above talk about the same issue however since I knew my audience it affected what type of genre I would choose. A meme was more towards the younger generation because that is what teens see nowadays frequently on social media whereas government officials would most likely respond to a PSA which is more serious , rather than a meme. This goes to show that I have learned the power that audience has and how it affects other rhetorical elements. This has enhanced my theory of writing.

Aside from the basic rhetorical elements that I had some sort of idea on, there was one element that helped me develop my theory of writing. A question that was addressed very early into class was the “So what?” of the author. This question was never asked to me before college and I started to realize how important it is to understand it. The “So what?” of the author is the rhetorical situation. This question is helpful to my theory of writing because it determines if the topic is relevant or not and if it is important enough to indepthly research upon. This also goes hand in hand to why a person writes which goes back to what I said earlier when I stated that a person writes because they want to communicate to the audience of what they feel about a certain topic. This added on to my theory of writing by making me realize that I need to put more emphasis on emotion and tone. That way it will catch the reader’s attention and make them feel as passionate as I feel on the topic. This was apparent in my recent assignments when I dealt with Gender Identity and all of Trump’s laws to reverse anything positive to them. An example of all the things I just said that I could show from my first assignment is “The author wants religious people to be more considerate towards transgenders and even telling them not to have another situation like Brown V. Board of Education. The general genre is a magazine/journal , however it is more specifically an informative magazine journal since it provides in depth info on the court cases dealing with the matter which were Doe V. Boyertown and Brown V. Board of Education. The author felt the need to write this so that other states can fight against the discrimination that has been going on in parts of the United States.” This shows that I have explained the author’s “So What?” (purpose) as well as the specific genre. Previously I would’ve gave a very vague genre and not even think about the rhetorical situation.

Another question asked which also challenged myself into developing a theory of writing is “How do we write?”. This question in my opinion connects with the format as well as the platform of the writing piece. So in my case , the platforms I put my writing pieces on were social media apps such as facebook as well as cuny websites. This then leads to the format of the writing piece. For the social media app , I chose to focus on pathos since emotion was a good way to speak to a younger audience. While for cuny websites , most of my writing pieces were emphasizing logos which dealt with logic such as facts and research/experiments. Going back to the PSA , I knew logos would be the strongest rhetorical appeal because government officials can’t really argue with facts and would have to accept the reality. I have only heard the terms of Ethos,Logos and Pathos before but during this semester I was able to learn the function of each appeal which lead to me improving my theory of writing. The emphasis on Logos , Ethos and Pathos also helped me outside the classroom when dealing with daily conversation and for casual debates. When I know what the other person is like , it helps me figure out which rhetorical appeal I should use.

I have to thank Professor Harris for introducing the rhetorical elements and for asking the questions “Why do we write?” and “How do we write?” to me. Because of this I have developed my theory of writing significantly. If I were to compare my writing assignments of my senior year of school to my 1st semester of college , it would be a huge difference in many aspects of the writing. The way I formulate my stance to how I connect my sources to my evidence. All of that has improved because I was able to find and expand upon my theory of writing. My theory of writing will definitely help me in my major as well as my future.

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