7 Chapter 4: Writing for Different Rhetorical Situations
7 Chapter 4: Writing for Different Rhetorical Situations
Part 2: Chapter 4
An important part of developing academic writing skills includes developing your own writing process. Your writing process includes all the steps you take from the time you receive a writing prompt to the time that you turn in a final draft for a grade.
One teacher who helped compile this textbook, she shall remain nameless, described her own writing process as an undergrad: reading over the assignment prompt, stuffing the prompt into her backpack, losing the prompt, asking her teacher for another prompt, complaining that her teacher was mean when she asked for a new prompt, waiting until the night before the due date, writing until far past her bedtime, getting only three hours of sleep, and turning in the assignment.
That is not an effective writing process.
Her current writing process is different, and reflects years of experience. Now she reads over the expectations of her writing situation, considers her audience, develops her tone to match her audience’s expectations, writes in multiple sittings, asks a friend or colleague to read what she has written, and then makes her writing public.
That process works for her; however, that process might not work for you. We are all different. Our brains respond differently to the task of writing. Some people like to outline, some people like to create idea maps, and some people like to write all their ideas down and organize later.
Each one of these processes is perfectly acceptable–your job as a college writer is to determine which process works best for you. What circumstances provide you with the best opportunities to write? Once you figure out what works best for you, try to repeat that pattern each time you find yourself in a situation where you must write. Then you can proudly say that you have a writing process.
The first step to developing a writing process is considering why you need to write and what you need to write. With that in mind, here is a section on analyzing assignments from the textbook Rhetoric and Composition: A Guide to College Writing.
Analyzing Assignments
You will likely encounter many different kinds of writing assignments in college, and it would be nearly impossible to list all of them. However, regardless of genre, one can use some basic strategies to approach these assignments constructively.
Read the assignment sheet early and thoroughly
An assignment sheet may be lengthy, but resist the temptation to skim it. Observe and interpret every detail of the text. Moreover, it is essential to focus on the keywords of the subject matter being discussed. It would be unfortunate to hand in an incomplete or misguided assignment because you did not properly read and understand the guidelines. Since you can easily overlook details on the first reading, read the assignment sheet a second time. As you are reading, highlight areas where you have questions, and also mark words you feel are particularly important.