Streamlining Out Writing Styles

There has been claims that texting can adversely affect students’ formal writing skills. Michaela Cullington, author of “Does Texting Affect Writing”, responds to these claims by saying that texting does not affect students’ formal writing but helps them improve it. She mentions that texting teaches students’ how to write concisely, students’ know that textspeak is only appropriate when texting and not when writing formally, and that texting allows students’ to have a casual setting to practice their writing which help improve their formal writing. All of Cullington’s arguments are invalid; texting does harm students’ formal writing in multiple ways such as: writing texts “concisely” is not beneficial since students will forget how to expand

In high school, I took both AP English Language and AP English Literature. These courses prepared me well for college composition courses, but left me in the dark regarding the personal style development in writing and writing patterns. I was trapped in the high school, five-paragraph essay form that constricted my thoughts for so long. Discourse 300 enabled me to move past the form and explore new ways to compose writing. This in turn has made my thoughts more complex and concise. I have learned to sustain a logical argument in a much more organized manner and justify it as well. My writing was finally rid of all the “fluff” and “padding” that was a necessity in high school to reach a word count. Another improvement I made

Whenever I get a writing assignment for class, it seems like a chore. I don’t have a problem with writing, but papers always seem to take more time than they should. Maybe this is due to poor planning on my part, but essays are usually an ordeal, and I dread actually doing the work to finish one. The task is simple enough, but putting it off always seems like a better alternative to writing. I do think about the paper that I have to write, but I do not put thoughts and ideas into a paper or outline until I absolutely need to do so. From the moment I am given an assignment sheet, I begin brainstorming about the paper. I may not use any of these ideas, but I think of them. I also have a tendency to forget good ideas, which leads me to think

Although, it does help with fictional writing where you do not need to be as precise. In academic writing, the writer must use proper grammar, and spelling, while in this exercise, these are lost. If you use this method in academic writing you will end up with a horribly written, informal piece of writing that will not be taken seriously by peers. In addition, this exercise is supposed to make the writer have a stronger voice in their writing, but in reality this may actually hurt the writer. Having too much of a voice in a paper can make it sound too informal.

Throughout this class I have learn many different writing styles. We used APA form of writing to type our paper and essay. I have also learned that it’s good to take your time and spend more time thinking about what to write, other than just righting a paper right off back. I have learned that it’s not a good idea to write a paper on the day it’s done, that’s more like a ruff daft. My teacher have helped me understand different point of writing. Which all writing deal with an ethos, pathos and logos, either one or all of them will run through anything that tell you anything in writing. From what emotion are there to who have the rights to speak at the moment to what are the facts to agree with this person. As a class we have read articles, bio from many people to understand that it’s more then what the person is writing. Reading between lines and analyzing a part of the story can tell you more then what the writer is saying. Working together to understand something and work better than being alone thinking about a situation you can’t understand.

When people speak to one another they usually do so very rapidly, and subconsciously. The opposite can be said of writing as it is more slow, and deliberate, often requiring intense thought. As demonstrated already in English 101 it is necessary to visualize, plan, and draft while writing. The principles of oration were separate from those of writing until the Age of Information, with the development of modern technology. The proverbial gap was abridged with texting. It allowed writing to catch up to the speed of speaking. Unfortunately while it did match the speed, it took away formalities used in writing such as spelling, punctuation, and using capital letters.

“Harold Evans Defends the English Language” is an article in “The New Yorker” written by Charles Shafaieh. The piece discusses different writing technics, especially that of Mr. Evans and his push towards the simplification of writing; in his opinion, “English is being mangled!”. Evans has produced many works covering his agenda on the need to produce concise, clear and comprehensible texts. What is it about this style that would aid, or hinder, our expression of language in writing?

Zinsser describes clutter as “the enemy.” He references multiple examples of how “verbal camouflage” is used to divert attention from the real issue. For this reason Zinsser teaches his students to simplify their message; he makes the point that clear content is what matters and to not give into using new fad words to inflate one’s writing. The method Zinsser how found to be helpful to his students at Yale is inserting brackets around words that seem unnecessary and coming to the conclusion whether or not a sentence can do without the bracketed words. Zinsser states that with this proofread method, about 50% of a rough draft can be reduced without the expense of losing information or the author’s

Plain style is effective in historic writing because it can help the reader get to know the words used during the time period and feel like they are in that historical time. Bradford’s use of plain style helps the reader compare past time everyday language and today everyday language. Instead of saying meeting place William Bradford uses the word rendezvous and sentinel in place of a guard when he says, “So, night coming on, they made their rendezvous and sentinels… (Bradford 9).” The common man in 1620 can understand plain style, but the common man of 2015 has difficulties understanding plain style. The use of plain style teaches us how different writing has changed therefore it is effective in historic

“Avoid the passive voice; eliminate redundancies; watch your pronouns; don’t succumb to monologophobia” quotes Charles Shafaieth in his recent article. Shafaieh explains the case of Harold Evans, a published author and avid writer who staunchly promotes the idea of “writing what you mean and moving on”. Evans believes that a no-nonsense approach, with clarity and brevity is the single best way to convey your thoughts. He holds the idea that simplifying prose and using clear simple words such as those in everyday life make his and others lives easier.

There are many writing styles that many people pick up as they go through there many years of schooling. Each person picks up the same type of writing styles but as years go by people seem to pick up there own little types of writing style that separates them from everyone else. As I have gone through many years of English classes I have acquired more and more skills and many more are sure to come as I continue my education. My writing skills have only gotten better from the time of ninth grade English class until today. Since my days back in junior high school I was only taught the basic skills to write papers and since then they have grown to make me a decent writer. I have many strengths and also

Another option to make writing more uncomplicated is to understand and research the topic you are writing about. In the passage “Curriculum as Conversation” it states, ”You should be learning HOW to use language and research effectively in all of your intellectual work.” (3). Understanding what your topic is about will make it easier to write and form ideas. Writing without any information or research can often cause you to not fully understand the positives and negatives of your topic. Personally, researching for me has aided me in my writing. I am able to have a much clearer view of what to write and I have more information to cite. Nonetheless, once you view is clear and you have researched your topic, you must enforce your views. For example,

Simplify your writing was a tool we learned this semester that improves the way we write. When you are simplifying you are removing any excess words that are not necessary for the sentence. Doing so we are able to write our stories, papers, and essays without rambling on. Once we practice simplifying we were able to get to the all of the points in our writing without a bunch of filler words. Simplify writing makes our job

There are many different forms and styles used in writing. Writing is a form of communication that is used to document and express ideas people have. Through the years as people grow and learn knew ways of writing, writing awareness of a person will evolve into a much higher level of thinking. From the first term paper a person writes in high school to the papers they hand in at the college level, the writing will have matured over the years. The authors of writing develop new and more sophisticated ways in expressing themselves through the words they use in writing. Throughout history writers have found ways in which they can achieve the goals of gaining the readers attention and keep them interested. A good form of

Style in writing is similar to style in any other kind of activity due to several reasons. Having style means every action looks effortless. It is the ability to do make a difficult activity look easy. Additionally, this effortlessness is not something people are born with; it is something people learn. This holds true in both writing and other activities.