Amarlis Vazquez
Prof. Peele & Geoghan
FIQWS: 10008
09 May 2019
Theory of Writing
What I believe is important to know about writing is the different styles. Essays could be persuasive, argumentative or just informative (no claim). Each style of writing has their own rules and tricks in order to have a well-done essay. For this to be possible, I believe a writer needs to be interested in the topic. If you don’t like your topic, how well are your arguments going to be? With an argumentative essay, there are so many possible ways to form your essay. You could write about your claims, then the counter claim and then refute it. This tactic is good because it makes the audience agree with your argument even more.
My mentality of writing hasn’t changed in many years. I’ve always enjoyed writing, more so when I started high school. Writing is an amazing way to prove the way you feel or to argue your argument towards anything. Joining this class has expanded my love for writing due to the analysis of many arguments. I enjoyed arguing my claims and explaining why my arguments were, in my opinion, correct. When I was writing my post reflection of my inquiry-based essay, I said “This sparked my interest into racism in sports and how it affected Native Americans.”. Being able to explain why I chose my topic is why I really enjoyed this class. I’m able to use my opinions and explain why I chose to write certain things. I’ve never had the chance to do so in other writing classes offered in City College.
Reflections, in my opinion, are the easiest parts of a writing assignment. I get to gather all my thoughts about my essay and explain how and why I wrote it. It’s all opinionated and no research needed. Writing a reflection hasn’t necessarily helped my writing, but it has expanded my writing experience. I’ve written plenty of reflections in my academic life, and each one was enjoyable.
My process of writing is by starting from the introduction and going all the way down to the conclusion. I like doing this because it’s the same way I started my thought process. I have to write my thesis and background so I can have a base to start researching my topic. Then I typically write a paragraph for each source. I try to reach at least one or two pages for an assignment if page requirement isn’t mentioned.
Brainstorming only takes me a few minutes because I constantly have topics hidden in my thoughts that once I have one idea, I typically stay with it. The peer-review process is, in my opinion, one of the best types of writing processes. It shows the writer what not to do and they learn new ways of writing. I had my Inquiry-Based research essay draft reviews and the comments consisted of how to word things differently, explain more of my arguments, and add more sources. This helped me learn how to write differently and better. If I’m not peer-reviewing as an assignment in class, I am doing it at home with friends. I ask them to review my essay and tell me what they think of it. It helps me improve my grammar and how to synthesize. Revising is difficult for me because once I’m done writing an assignment, I typically don’t want to go back to it and rewrite any paragraphs.
In my non-academic life, I read a lot. Reading as many books as I have, I tend to pick up on the different types of writing styles. I still write in my writing style, which is simple, but while I’m doing so I compare it with different authors. Everyone likes to explain their arguments so differently and it amazes me. Everyone can tell stories it just different in the way they do it.
