My Final Theory of Writing

At the beginning of this course, my main theory toward writing was what I referred to as ‘bullshitting’. I believed that the easiest way to complete an assignment was to get it over with by “bullshitting” and making up the entire thing from start to finish. Through this course, my beliefs toward writing have changed. It is true that quickly writing whatever popped into my head might have been the most effective way to complete an assignment in the quickest time, but this lead to low quality writing that I was not passionate about. Through this course, I realized that I could use my original theory as a more legitimate method for completing assignments.

The ‘Bullshit Method’ could actually be implemented as a hypothesis for my research. Seeing my first draft as ‘bullshit’ can take away from some of the seriousness and stress that comes along with writing an important assignment. In truth, the first ideas that come into my head are a legitimate start to my assignment. They can be used as a lead in, a template, and a hypothesis.  

Therefore, within this course I found a new way to prepare for writing tasks. I often began with the ‘bullshit’ part by quickly jotting down several ideas I wanted to put into my essay. I would look at the questions posed in the assignment and write down whatever answers and ideas came into my head. I would continue by doing research to learn more about the questions being asked and I would expound on my own answers. I would answer the questions by asking myself more questions in order to delve deeper and create a complete essay through analysis.

My theory of writing is that creating hypotheses – what I used to call bullshitting, asking a multitude of questions, and researching answers, is the most effective method in creating skillful writing. I developed this theory of writing because of the multitude of assignments I had in this class. There is often a lot of pressure that comes along with completing an assignment by a certain time, and in order to actually complete assignments without causing myself too much stress I found myself using this method, and starting assignments by freewriting whatever ideas first entered my mind. When trying to create a well crafted assignment, it is very easy to get stuck on a single word or idea, but when I implement this method, I find that I get stuck a lot less. It takes away a lot of the pressure and allows my writing to flow freely.

By looking at my writing within this course, the undeveloped theory of writing that I had at the start of this course and how it evolved into something more meaningful is evident. My original theory was prevalent in the first writing assignment from this course, a discussion post in which I did a rhetorical analysis of an online article. The assignment was to choose an article relating to social justice, but because of my ‘bullshit theory’ which led to a nonchalant, ‘do whatever’ attitude, I chose a philosophical article that didn’t really have a strong connection to a social issue. Throughout this assignment, I often left out important analysis. For example, I wrote that “The main audience for this writing is likely Jewish people and people interested in Judaism all around the world.” However, I did not explain what about that article led me to make that conclusion. Additionally I concluded my arguments without adding much analysis. I wrote that the author “likely hopes that his readers will become more accepting of others,” but I don’t provide any reason for why what I am discussing is important and therefore the conclusion to my writing feels incomplete.

As the course went on, I was able to learn more about the importance of following and understanding the assignment guidelines. For my Source Based Essay, I did some research on what was considered a social issue and came up with a topic that I wanted to know more about: the opioid crisis. Within this essay it is clear that I began to see the importance of asking and answering questions to further my analysis. When writing that an author’s purpose in his article was to “spread awareness and refute stigmas surrounding potential solutions to the opioid crisis,” I chose to delve deeper and add analysis. I did this by asking myself how I knew that that had been the purpose, and therefore I was able to add to the depth of my essay by answering this question along with other rhetorical questions that I asked myself while revising the essay. 

I also began to get a greater understanding of the importance of researching my ideas and explaining my own analysis. My progress in these areas is quite prevalent within my Inquiry Based Essay.  In this essay, once I had jotted down the core ideas of what I wanted to say, I had to do a significant amount of research. Several times throughout my research process, I realized that what I originally had wanted to say was biased or non legitimate and I therefore had to redraft my writing in order to remove inaccuracies. For instance, I found that there was lack of research to prove that safe injection sites were the best way to solve the entirety of the opioid crisis, which is what I had originally intended to claim. Therefore, I wrote my essay from the angle that safe injection sites would be a way to solve some of the issues that the opioid crisis creates. Instead of just leaving things to be interpreted by the reader, I used thorough explanation within this assignment to maintain clarity. After explaining why it is a positive thing that safe injection centers help 10% of their users get into treatment, I reiterated why this was important. I explained that these “sites are made for decreasing harm caused by opioid addiction, if the centers are also helping several hundred people become interested in recovery, that is an extra positive side effect.” This explanation of why my analysis is important shows that I was using the methods of my theory of writing to ask and answer questions within this assignment.

Within my Composition in Two Genres Assignment, I was able to further develop my use of question based analysis by asking myself questions to create non-written genres. I asked two main questions when crafting this assignment, firstly, who would benefit from knowing about safe injection sites, and secondly, how could I reach those people in the most effective way? Asking myself these questions, allowed me come up with specific and targeted genres based my intended audiences. I had to think about what would and wouldn’t be effective in targeting my chosen demographics. I had originally thought about using a video as a genre to target those addicted to opioids, but I soon realized a Youtube video would have a very limited reach, so I chose instead to do a subway car advertisement so that even people without access to the internet could see it.

Throughout my life, even when I am not in school there will be many situations in which I have to write. When I write in an engineering career, I will likely come across many instances in which I don’t have the motivation to write, even when it is part of my job. Writing computer programs or a tech reports are large tasks and it can sometimes feel too overwhelming to even begin. By applying my method of writing in these cases, it would allow me to feel less pressure and I would be able to begin writing by starting with whatever ideas pop into my head. Then through analysis and asking questions I would be able to expand and improve on my original ideas to produce a significant result.

Over the past few months, my methods for writing have drastically changed. While in the past I saw writing as something to ‘bullshit’ or get over with quickly, my theory of writing has very much evolved throughout this course. I now see writing as a process of theorizing, questioning, and researching. Through the assignments I have done in this course, I have come to realize this theory, and I believe that this method of writing will be very useful when it comes working in a technical field. What this course has taught me is that asking and answering questions through analysis is the most important and necessary part of writing.