Chapter One Review

After reading Chapter One, the topics covered were a great refresher for the fall semester. Despite the fact that most of the information was things I have previously learned in my english courses, it was full of information that I often forget to ponder upon as I write on a regular basis. Many times I neglect the basic rules of writing such as conventions, purpose behind the written piece, who the article speaks to and ways to keep the audience/readers involved, so reading this chapter really helped to refresh my memory and sharpen my skills.

Often times, in high school, I felt that we did not touch all genres of writing in core English classes, and that we stuck to the basic research papers and memoirs. Because of this, I had forgotten about how much potential lies in the ability to create so many different types of work and the different ways in which one can get their point across. I enjoyed reading specifically about the use of style in writing, because it emphasizes the fact that writers are encouraged to differentiate themselves from one another based on the way they chose to compose their work. Reading about style, along with design, reminded me of how important it is to make my writing my own and to allow it to look and reflect the way I want it to.

Because I took classes that were heavy on research-based assignments, projects and papers, I was familiar with reading about the genres that include the citation of sources. In my case, sources always had to be of “scholarly” merit, coming from encyclopedias and certified, credible websites. It was interesting and rather refreshing to read about sources being described as more than that: people, books, movies, journals. Finally graduating from a time where I often only wrote about research, social issues or science, this section of the chapter made me feel excited for all of the new opportunities for unique writing prompts and more relaxed topics in the future.

I found it interesting that in the section that discussed Scott McClouds “Understanding Comics”, the writer touched on the importance of not only producing great art, but art that helps catch the eye of the audience and “hold their attention”. Not being much of an artist myself, I found it interesting that not only do artists and drawers focus on their art being of quality, but that it captivates the audience in a way that it stands out among other work.

In whole, chapter one, regarding genre conventions, was a great way to help refresh my writing skills and reintroduce old skills and tricks that will be used during my time in ENC2135.