Authority is defined as having the ability to make important decisions and to give orders to others. When thinking about authority, you are likely to think about someone shouting orders at other people, but authority can be more broadly defined and used in the context of writing. Aside from having power over others, authority can be used when referring to doing something with confidence and without doubt. To write with authority is to be unafraid of questioning the claims or stances made by another author and be willing to state your own thoughts that go against generally accepted thoughts. This idea was gone over in Penrose’s and Geisler’s article, “Reading and Writing Without Authority”, in which two authors who come from different areas in their careers who’s writing styles are analyzed based on how much authority they write with.
The first student, Janet, is a college freshmen, while the other student, Roger, is working to complete his doctorate work in philosophy. When we are looking at their writing styles, you are able to tell that Roger has a firmer grasp on writing with authority compared to Janet. This is due to Roger having several more years of college level writing experience compared to Janet, who is only just starting to practice writing at a college level. When looking through their papers, Janet notably excludes herself from her argument writing it as though it was from a third person perspective instead of a first person perspective. This prevents her from writing with authority as she doesn’t fully commit to taking a stance like she means it, not wanting to take the risk of disagreeing with someone who has the opposite viewpoint. Roger on the other hand, is much more elastic and able to do things like change his thoughts when convinced, as well as being the leading “voice” in his writing, as the stance that is being conveyed is his own, unlike Janet, who doesn’t commit to taking one.
Overall, the main takeaway I got from this article was that, in order to have authority in our writing, we need to be first able to commit to the stance we are taking. If we don’t we just fall flat and miss the point of having our own voices. We have our own opinions, and are able to express those if we back it up with effective support. The next major idea I learned was that it is okay to question or go against what something like a textbook says, as not questioning anything and being stagnant will not lead to progress and help us learn. To conclude, I, as a student, am able to have my own voice and I am able to express that with authority if I put my mind to it.
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