To Begin
Have you ever put serious thought into the meaning of something that you do on a regular basis? Such as why do people feel the need to do something that seemingly has no real purpose, such as playing video games, or watching TV? Because it’s fun? That time spent doing a hobby could be spent doing something seemingly more productive, like work or cleaning, yet most people will choose instead to do something they feel is more “fun”. I bring this up because of the ideas posed in Elizabeth Wardle’s “You Can’t Teach Writing in General” and Catherine Savini’s “Looking for Trouble: Finding Your Way into a Writing Assignment”: The ideas of teaching writing, and what to do when you are struggling with writing. Both of these contribute to the overall idea of studying writing in general, and what an answer could be. The reason one may study writing is to improve your skills in problem solving and asking questions.
Conflict
Throughout life, whether it’s big or small, you will be faced with conflict. Whether it’s a conflict between two people, a person and a piece of technology, or some other form of conflict, you will need to understand how to solve these kinds of problems. Although you may not think so at first, studying writing and literature helps you understand how to solve problems. In Savini’s article, she discusses how creating a thesis statement is tied into identifying a problem, and how finding a problem filled with potential for discussion can help you create a good thesis. The idea of the thesis can be related to real life by identifying the root or cause of a conflict, such as why, say, two co-workers are at odds with each other, and finding a solution to that. Overall, the benefits of studying writing in relation to problem solving comes from analyzing writing helping you exercise your ability to recognize problems both in real life and in text, and that helps you practice finding solutions for when the time comes.
Asking Questions
Questions are the basis of progress and evolution. They are what lead us to discovering new information, breaking free of outdated processes and methods, and building on what we already know and understand to make a newer and better conclusion. The way the ability to ask significant questions connects to studying writing is that reading and fruitfully thinking about the writing helps you create deeper questions that go beyond a simple “yes” or “no” answer. In Savini’s article she talks about how she analyzed a picture she saw, and asked deeper questions about it. She asked herself questions about the subject’s story, why she chose to display this picture, and how ethical it was to take pictures of tourist while you are on vacation. The significance of this is that when you think hard about something, such as a photograph or writing, you are making yourself put genuine though about a topic, and asking deeper questions that have more substance to them. Overall, when you analyzed writing in this manner, you help exercise your brain and improve your skills at asking meatier questions.
To Conclude
So why study writing? It’s not like a concept such as algebra or biology where you can just teach it. Rather, what it means to “study” writing is to think about it more comprehensively and try to understand what importance this has to one’s real life. It is easy to just skim though a text and say you have “read” it (like I do with most text I have to read) and that you understand the points the text is trying to get across. But by studying writing, you actually digest what you are reading and understand how you can learn new information from what you read, and how that information can be allied to your real life. Overall, writing is a media that offers millions of peoples voices to express whatever they wish too, in infinite possible ways, whether by fiction or nonfiction, subtle or obvious, or by book, tweet, or in a blog post such as this.
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