This PowerPoint will help you understand why and how we are studying writing in this course.

1. CONSTRUCT-
ION
AN INTRODUCTION TO STUDYING WRITING

2. WHY STUDY
WRITING?
• Changing what you know about writing can change the
way you write
• Writing is relevant to all of us
• What you learn about writing now will be directly useful to
you long after the class ends
• You have a lot of experience: you are already a
knowledgeable investigator of these topics relating to
writing and reading, being a writer/reader yourself
• Doing research on writing will give you a chance to
contribute new knowledge about the subject

3. TWO WAYS OF
LOOKING AT WRITING
• The traditional story:the rules of
writing don’t change. “Good writing” basically means
that you exhibit good grammar.
• The new story:writing is not just HOW
you say something (form) but also WHAT you say
(content), how you COME UP WITH your ideas
(invention), how you GO THROUGH THE ACT of writing
(process), and whether what you’ve said and how you’ve
said it MEETS [FITS] THE CURRENT SITUATION
(rhetoric)

4. CONCEPTIONS AND
MISCONCEPTIONS
1. The rules of writing are
universal and do not
change.
Actually, the rules of writing DO change…they
depend upon several key elements of the situation:
audience, purpose, exigence, context

5. CONCEPTIONS AND
MISCONCEPTIONS
2. Writing can convey facts
without “spin,” and thus can
transmit information without
changing it.
This is related to….

6. CONCEPTIONS AND
MISCONCEPTIONS
3. You can write
objectively/impersonally.

7. CONCEPTIONS AND
MISCONCEPTIONS
4. Texts inherently “mean”
something all on their own.
There’s a “correct”
interpretation out there, just
waiting to be discovered.

8. CONCEPTIONS AND
MISCONCEPTIONS
5. It is easy to distinguish
which ideas are a writer’s
own, and which ones are
borrowed from another
source.

9. CONCEPTIONS AND
MISCONCEPTIONS
6. Writing is mostly about
getting the grammar right—
following the rules.