Through this piece I was able to be reflective in a way that leads to the “finalized” version of your theory of writing. This piece taught me the importance of consolidation and revision. It also allowed me the opportunity to play with style and genre which helped me find my voice as a writer.
Theories of Writing
WRIT 2000
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Dr. Kara Taczak
The purpose of the course is to introduce you, the student, and you the writer (and knowledge-maker) to different perspectives on writing in order to teach you the ways that writing enhances people’s ability to effectively communicate. The answer to the central question surrounding this course – what is writing – stems from a long line of theoretical inquiry into the components of writing, the practices of writing, and the knowledge(s) that comes from it.
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How this question is answered depends on who you ask and who or what that person is most influenced by: for example, a compositionist (one who studies writing) might define writing based on the theorists who most heavily influenced his/her own thinking and teaching while a freshmen in college might define writing based on what he/she learned in a high school literature course. Thus, to answer the question driving the course, we will read and engage with various readings, writings, and reflections that keep coming back to that question.
Some of it will be historical to help to lay the foundation for where writing came from; some of it will be on what has impacted it along the way as well how theorists view it, including the tensions felt among them, and some will be what writing means to various people. Both reading and writing heavy, the course will follow you, as a student, a writer, and a knowledge-maker (and, of course as a result of all of these, a reflective writing practitioner), journey as you explore your own relationship with writing and your identity as a writer by theorizing about writing.