3.3: Reading Like A Writer
- Page ID
- 315242
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)It is a good rule of thumb to read every text as if you will be asked to write about it because, in college, you will often be asked to write about what you read. The first step to reading like a writer is to annotate or take notes on what you write. Annotation is covered multiple places in this book (pp. 17-19, 126-129), but it simply means to underline and make notes on what you have read. If you don't want to mark on a text itself, you can keep a notepad and make notes about what happened in the text, what your questions are, and what your reactions are to different sections.
Recording your own reactions, questions, objections, etc., to the text is very important to helping yourself write about a text in the future. If you have a record of your thoughts and reactions on the text, it is much easier to see your ideas for an essay over the text.
A good rule of thumb for learning to read like a writer is to practice the process of summarizing and then responding. So after you have read something, work on writing a brief summary of it (2- 3 sentences) and then your response. This can help set up the main pieces of an essay over a text.
Chase was asked to write a discussion board post over "The Danger of a Single Story" before he was assigned his essay. His teacher simply asked him to summarize and respond to the essay and use examples to prove his point.
In her essay "The Danger of a Single Story," Chimamanda Adichie argues that having a narrow view of the world or a group of people can dangerously skew a person's worldview and lead to them harboring stereotypes that negatively affect others. The example I really liked from her essay was when she went to Mexico and had certain preconceptions about the country because of the media. I have never been out of the country, but after some reflection, I realized I have a lot of negative stereotypes about certain countries because of news coverage. This made me wonder how many "single stories" have influenced me. Thinking about the war between Ukraine and Russia, it is easy to see how a single story has fueled that conflict. Adichie says that being able to tell a single story and control it is true "power," and I can see her point in looking at the world today. She says that the way to combat this is to tell many stories-- to see the world as complex and multi-faceted. But I also wonder how much of rejecting a single story means working on yourself as an individual-- learning to resist building stereotypes on the narrow worldview you are handed.
Discussion Board Writing
Though the example discussion board post above is brief, Chase does a few key things that makes this an effective discussion board post, including the following:
- Introduce the text and/or concept the discussion board is addressing as it begins
- Gives a broad overview of the post as it begins
- Uses evidence from the text to show their point
- Digs into the topic and goes past making surface level observations