Friday, July 20, 2012

Learning to Write

Question: How did we learn to write?

Answer/Quote: “I can’t remember ever learning to write a critical essay. How do I know how to do the things I do? …. The obvious answer—the one I would give my own students if they are asking me the same question—is that I’ve learned by reading. But I am not satisfied with that answer Because the kind of writing I have written as a graduate student is not the kind of writing I’m reading. I read scholarship that is innovative and surprising, work that expands my perspective and work that I admire. And though my writing at times approaches innovation and surprise, I am not always sure how I have achieved that effect and how I can replicate it. More often, my writing feels tired, overwrought, self-conscious…. Where did I learn to be boring? How can I unlearn it?” p. 485.

Comment: Good question. RayS.

Title: “Toward Graduate-Level Writing Instruction.” Laura R Micciche with Allison JD. Carr. College Composition and Communication (February 2011), 477-501.

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