Introduction

My theory of writing is having the motivation and inspiration to want to express something into words, whether it be to induce a visual thought, a consideration about the topic at hand, or just to grow the knowledge of the audience. For example, someone who makes a speech may decide to write it on paper first, driven by their motivation to express their topic to their audience and inspired by the desire to bring their topic to the attention of their audience. 

There is a difference between wanting to write and writing because you have to, i.e. for an assignment, though one may be writing for both reasons. When you write because you want to, you have the desire not only to actually write, but you also have the inclination to learn about the topic for reasons besides the text one is writing. When one writes because they have to, they don’t have such a strong desire or the same motivations as one who would be writing because they want to, they usually write because it is required, and if they happen to not do the writing, then they will suffer certain consequences. 

My writing process this semester improved greatly from my previous semester. In my previous year in school, I was given the topic and the question that I needed to answer, so I didn’t necessarily have that deep of a brainstorming step as I had before. I was given my question, the way that the information should unfold, and all I really needed to do was make a claim and support it. This semester, I thought deeply about what my topic would be and how I would relate it to the objective of what my paper is supposed to express. During my brainstorming process, I not only took topics into consideration that fit with the objective of the essay, but I also took into consideration on how attracted I am to that topic and how interested I am in writing about it, whether I will be able to write the amount that I have to write without losing interest, and if I would be eager to be able to complete the essay and be able to share it with others. If my topics reach all of these points then I choose that topic, and afterwards I move into the process of thinking about the sequence that I will write the information in and proceed to writing a draft. After receiving feedback and editing on my draft, I finalize my paper by developing more on underdeveloped relevant ideas, removing irrelevant ideas and revising based on the feedback and edits received. 

The ideas that I have about writing shape my writing in the way that I recognize in what cases I will perform my best work and in which cases I will not, simply due to the amount of interest that I have in the topic at hand. When given the topic like I had been in my previous school year, I do not perform my best work in the way that I do not pervade myself into research to support claims and due to my lack of interest, I often face the obstacle of not knowing what exactly to write about, i.e. what side of the argument to take, how to connect one thing to another, etc. When I am interested and motivated in what I am writing, it allows for me to apply my entire ability to think deeply about what I am writing because I have the desire to do so. This semester, I have written three papers that I have been both inspired and motivated to write, and greatly eager to share. I’ve shared my literary narrative and my inquiry based essay with people outside of my school environment. 

Going into my first semester as an Early College Program student, I was not sure to expect when it came to writing. Having my previous year as a full-time high school student, I was used to the high school regime when it came to writing; reading a book and proceeding to write an argumentative essay about the theme, analytical essay on one of the characters, or comparing and contrasting the text to another text or a film. 

During this course, it was a completely new thing to have the freedom to be able to choose what my essay will be about, and so when writing the literary narrative, it took me a few days to brainstorm my topic. Coming into this class, I hadn’t enjoyed writing that much, as all of my past writing assignments have never grabbed my attention, so it felt more of a chore than anything. After writing the literary narrative, I grew a different perspective about writing and I learned that I have the capability of being able to enjoy writing. The source-based essay opened up the idea that I am capable of being able to deeply analyze a text for things besides the theme. This essay also was the first essay I’ve written with the length that it was required to have.

 My goal for the semester was to be able to write a 10 page essay, something that I never thought I’d be able to do. My inquiry based essay is ten pages, and it was very challenging for me to do that extensive of a paper, but I still managed to complete it with my complete interest throughout the entire process. My writing is different now than it was before because I feel like I have a deeper way of analyzing and describing things. 

Studying rhetorical terms and strategies helped me dive deeper into my own writing and into the writing of others. Previously, I would look into a text just to read the story and the context in itself. With thinking about rhetorical terms and strategies, not only did I analyze the context that the text contained, I dove into the writer’s mind to try to understand the actual purpose of the author writing rather than just the simple desire to write. I took the time to understand who the text was for specifically instead of just thinking all text was created for the general public. I took the time to acknowledge those different rhetorical elements that the author took part in their writing rather than just having a general idea of rhetorical elements within all texts. 

In terms of writing my own assignments this semester, I’ve taken rhetorical elements into account along with the context of my writing, rather than just thinking about the context. With the idea of taking rhetorical elements and rhetorical strategies into consideration, it helped me deeply analyze my topic in order to give clarity to my writing. Taking those elements into consideration, I make my writing more descriptive with the goal to allow the reader to go through my own process of thinking themselves. 

In this semester, I’ve been exposed to various methods, forms of writing and goals for writing. With this exposure to various elements and capabilities for writing, I’ve been able to reach abilities much greater than I thought I would ever be capable of.