Writing 2

Allison Bocchino

June 9, 2024

Fruits of Different Labors

By Jared Hamm

Writing 2 has been a very introspective journey for the past few months. All my prior

classes with writing have been English or literature. This is the first time I have been

introspective as well as transformative about my own writing. My approach to thinking is very

different. It is all about viewing questions and content from different angles. Having multiple

perspectives within myself to help broaden my writing. As for reading, it is simple. I take notes

now, small but informative notes to look back on later after I have read. Lastly, my writing is

better, all due to one fact. Taking breaks then looking back at my writing to create the most

thought out edited clear writing of my life. Being able to identify “Free exploratory writing, on

the other hand, though we must learn to use it, is always available”1 While it is easy to use free

writing it is not always the best for myself for aspects such as clarity or concision. I learned

mostly what writing conventions are, genres is something I typically understood and naturally

picked up on. However, the process to write different genres with their little rules on citation,

titles format or even evidence was mind blowing. It was very weird to learn that there are so

many different rules that change depending on profession or genre for a piece of literature. This

was learned through the identification of different genres in everyday life, specifically noticing

1
Peter Elbow, Embracing Contraries: Explorations in Learning and Teaching (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1986), 59.
genres such as signs all the way to my mom’s thirty page thesis for graduate school. The idea

that there are so many types of writing truly amazed me.

The CLICK for me was active thinking and application. To take time and not just

passively let the world, writing or experiences happen around you. Instead, observe them or take

mental notes. This brought me out of my everyday life trance, turning me much more self aware.

I define my style as abstract or crazy. While all the required colors and lines may be included

there is no particular order nor law for my writing. The lawlessness is what I enjoy about my

own writing however it does not do well in regards to assignments or strict policies for format.

Combining abstract writing with organization is what I am currently working on, with the hopes

it will mix well so I can incorporate this style into my everyday writing assignments. To express

myself through writing I use humor or creativity. Putting funny titles or even outrageous

comparisons in my writing are my icing on the cake. Such as comparing newspapers articles to

the writing of second graders, coupled with poking fun at my fathers addiction to reading

newspapers. Incorporating humor into an essay is how I show my individuality.

In my writing projects this quarter the biggest revision was my clarity. The ability to turn

my abstract writing into cognitive direction following paragraphs was a tough challenge. Making

sure I knew to use language that would make sense to a clueless reader, who cannot read my

mind was my foremost thought. While expressing one's feelings is important “Choosing how to

express your meaning is every bit as important as the message itself.”2 Janet Boyd uses this

ideology in an effort to improve translation. In my own instance this line tells me to take a

second and express myself in a way where the message can get across with the same impact as
2
Janet Boyd, Murder Rhetorically (New York: University Press, 2003), 87.
your writing. While focusing on language in my writing there was special intent to work on

changing how my sentences are started. Particularly not using the, next or it as a way to open a

sentence. This helped my writing become more complex and less repetitive. Next I took special

focus to understand the proper way to cite in Chicago format. It took me multiple writing

projects, and practice but I do believe I have gotten it correct. In my writing style all my

revisions have less commas, semicolons or colons. They are cheap ways to avoid the word “and”

or to create run-on sentences. I used synonyms such as consequently, in combination with or

jointly to help remove this bad habit from my writing. Using capitalization and incorrect

punctuation is apparent in my earlier projects, this is something where I took additional time to

go over citations and use of commas to correct them. In the end the most visibly improved part

of my writing is readability. Having an essay that is easy to read through with little to no

deciphering needed was my main goal. I believe this has been achieved and is what I am most

proud of within my essays. Feedback that helped the most was small circles that identified

missing punctuation as well as identification of specific sentences that did not make sense. This

feedback allowed me to streamline my essays and smooth the rough edges in terms of creating a

readable essay. My favorite aspect of my work is the inclusion of humor. Humor in my essay is

not overbearing, but there are a few lines which carry the entire funny bone in my body. A cake

is only good because of the frosting. I believe humor to be the frosting coating my essay. In the

end I would like to improve upon “First order thinking is intuitive and creative doesn’t and strive

for conscious direction or control.”3 I wish to train and improve my first order thinking to a point

where it is creative and intuitive, but also makes sense and is readable. This improvement would

allow my writing to be the maximum level of creativity I possess.

3
Peter Elbow, Embracing Contraries: Explorations in Learning and Teaching (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1986), 55.
 I can apply the methods for translation to all the aspects of my life. Whether it be my lab

work for biology or chemistry papers or even texts on my phone. Translation from one genre to

another will be more of a conscious decision. It will improve my clarity as well as allow others

to understand my writing better. I can also use strategies such as putting myself in others' shoes

or combining first order and second order brain to turn my writing into a masterpiece. In the end

application of writing 2 to my future endeavors will be easy, however they may not be fully

conscious. They may blend into my normal thinking preventing me from giving this class the

credit it deserves. Conceptually, bibliographies, and citations were hard for me to grasp. I did not

fully understand how many different styles of citation there were or where to find the

information required to build such citations. My favorite strategies from this class, put yourself

in others shoes, peer reviews and the creative freedom we were allowed. This class was super

awesome and my writing has drastically improved from my first day in class. I am

recommending this class to anyone who needs help with writing.

Elbow, Peter. Embracing Contraries: Explorations in Learning and Teaching. New York:

Oxford University Press, 1986.

Boyd, Janet. "Murder! Rhetorically Speaking." In Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing,

Volume 2, edited by Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky, 87-97. Anderson, SC: Parlor Press,

2010.