January 18th Homework

Response to Allen:
In the article "The Inspired Writer v. The Real Writer", Sarah Allen argues about all the different challenges that both students and writers face dealing with writing. She also points out that becoming a "good writer" does not come that easily and how getting help or advice can actually help you become a better writer. I really enjoyed this writing because I felt like I could connect with it, just because I'm always afraid of getting papers back because of "rejection" or seeing something bad written on the paper, but I feel like getting advice from friends and educators could really help me out.

Repsonse to Question:
My experiences are very similar to Allen's writing because whenever I write a paper or get a paper back, I usually seek advice or help from my peers and teachers on how I can make it better.

Reflection:
I personally really enjoyed reading this article because I've always been really scared about writing and I tend to get really nervous when I'm forced to write a paper, but I feel like with getting reviews from my peers first before my professor, I'll feel more comfortable and hopefully improve my writing skills.

Murray Summary:
In "All Writing is Autobiography", Donald M. Murray argues that writing can be autobiographical and that we've basically been taught wrong by saying we can't use "I" or make our objective writings personal. He gives a lot of examples to prove his point on where different writers actually have some autobiography in their writings and it just proves that all writings are autobiographical. I liked reading this piece, just because he gave many examples to prove his point and I felt like, although it felt like it was more directed towards professors, he was actually opening our eyes to show that we can have a little more fun with our writings now.

WAW GRR (pg. 57)
1. At my old high school, I was always taught to not use "I" in my writings because, as stated on page 56, a research paper isn't supposed to be personal, but rather more focused on the objective. The only time I was able to be more "personal" in my writings was in my Speech class, where we could use personal stories to get our points across.

QD: 1, 3-5 (pg. 66)
1. The construct that Murray is trying to get us to reconsider is that writing can't be "personal".
3. I believe that Murray is coming out more by saying "all writing is autobiographical." (pg. 57) He gives plenty of examples that show the "autobiographical" content within texts to prove his point.
4. Murray uses content that many students may not understand, but other professors may understand. He is trying to direct this more towards professors to prove his point on how they can't tell students that writing can't be "personal".
5. Murray's views kind of did change my views on writing because whenever I've been told to write a paper, I was always told to not use "I" or make it "personal". Now I can see where all writing is autobiographical, so that will change the way I approach papers.

MM:
One way Murray's claims have a positive impact is that young writers, such as students, can have a little bit more fun with writing because they can make it a little more personal instead of all objectively. Another way Murray's claims made a positive impact is actually knowing that we can put a little personal spin in our objective writings, which will make students enjoy writing a little bit more.

Dawkins Summary:
In his article "Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool", John Dawkins argues that you don't have to use the basic punctuation rules for you to explain to your readers the point that you're trying to get to. He also wants us to think about grammar as "rhetorical". He uses the quote "it has to do with the choices that writers make to influence readers." (pg.139)

GRR (pg. 139)
1. My sister's treehouse made a great place for her to play with her friends; it was made of wood scraps and cardboard.
2. My sister's treehouse, which was made of wood scraps and cardboard, made a great place to play with her friends.
3. Wood scraps and cardboard made a great treehouse for my sister and her friends to play in.

QD: 2-3, 5-6
2. The handbook's rules do not provide instructions on how to use commas appropriately and punctuation is different depending on the structure of the sentence.
3. Raising is when a writer uses certain punctuation like "!" to emphasize what they're trying to say. Lowering is when they use other punctuation that doesn't need as much emphasis on it. Whenever I want to emphasize something important, I always do the "raising." 
5. Before reading Dawkin's article, I knew the basic rules about punctuation, but I never really thought of the "raising and lowering" as a way to show emphasis in a sentence. 
6. Whenever I write, I'm usually very cautious on my punctuation. I can't stand not putting a coma where it should be and the appropriate punctuation at the end of sentences have to be correct. I think it's very hard for readers to follow your writings if you hardly use any punctuation. He hasn't really done much to change my mind, just because I feel like it's just something that will always stick with me.

MM:    
I think my professor wanted me to read this because he wanted us to better understand on how to become better writers and Dawkin's does a pretty good job of explaining all these things through his examples. 


Reflection:
This article was kind of tough for me to read, but I got the gist of how he is saying that punctuation can be used in different ways, depending on the readers. It gave me a better understanding on how there are different ways to use punctuation and hopefully this will help make me a better writer.