Writing Studies, like any other field, involves raising questions,
testing data, building hypotheses, engaging with new knowledge, and
solving problems. Your task here is to copy and paste an excerpt of
writing into the original posting space. You can pick any piece of
writing you like. For example, you might really think the lyrics of a
particular song represents good writing. Perhaps there is a scene of a
movie that has always captivated you. If so, find a copy of the
screenplay and copy an excerpt to paste in. In sum, it doesn't really
matter what you pick. Just be prepared to defend the piece of writing
you choose as 'good writing'.
After you post your excerpt, be sure to reference the author, writer, or producer of the text.
Next, draw a line on the page.
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Deliver a paragraph or two underscoring your reasoning for why it is good. Why do you believe this represents good writing?
*Note: This is not a test of your knowledge about what you have learned in the past about writing. I want you to present your opinion. Deliver reasons, details, and examples to help support your position.
After you post your excerpt, be sure to reference the author, writer, or producer of the text.
Next, draw a line on the page.
__________________________________________________________________________
Deliver a paragraph or two underscoring your reasoning for why it is good. Why do you believe this represents good writing?
*Note: This is not a test of your knowledge about what you have learned in the past about writing. I want you to present your opinion. Deliver reasons, details, and examples to help support your position.
“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.”
ReplyDelete― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
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The first time I read J.D. Salinger's, Catcher in the Rye, I was mesmerized how well it was written. The way Salinger captures the corruptness of adults and the innocence of children is incredible, and the approach Salinger uses to communicate with his audience is even more exceptional. This quote was my favorite from the book, it demonstrates why I love Salinger's style of writing and how he tells the story. Authors do not write how people talk and think, and Salinger writes as if he is talking to you and he is telling the story himself. It makes the story more relatable, and you are able to connect on another level compared to a writing that sounds so formal. Good writing does not mean big fancy words, or perfect grammar or any of those things. It is being able to tell as story, and helping your audience understand and relate to what you are thinking and feeling, and you can see that in this quote. He (the main character) feels as if he has to save all these children from making the transition into a reality where the world is flawed and imperfect compared to the troubles children face, but he knows he can't no matter how hard he tries.
"But above the yellow land and the spasms of bleak rust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T.J.Eckleburg. The eyes of Doctor T.J.Eckleburg are blue and small - their irises are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over an existent foot. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Kings, and then shank down himself into external blindness, or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many pant less days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground."
ReplyDeleteF. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
My idea of good writing is that as your reading the words they paint a vivid picture inside of your mind of what is going on. You don’t even really have to try and picture what you’re reading, but the words are already doing that for you. This excerpt from the Great Gatsby is a great example of vivid imagery being used and just by reading it, you can envision the rundown billboard of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg very easily. Fitzgerald describes everything on the billboard including just how big it is by saying “their irises are one yard high”, good writing talks about even the smallest details. He even takes into effect of it being old and weathered by talking about how the sun and rain has affected it.
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ReplyDelete"Luke's Wall / War Pigs"
ReplyDeleteGenerals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerers of death's construction
In the fields the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds... Oh Lord yeah!
Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor, yeah
Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait 'till their Judgment day comes, yeah!
Now in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs of the power
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of Judgment, God is calling
On their knees the war pigs crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings
Oh Lord yeah!
Black Sabbath 1970
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When it comes to coining something as a piece of good writing I tend to look for certain aspects that may come as a surprise to some people. The first thing I look for is not if the writing uses a vast vocabulary, instead I look at how easy it is for the masses to understand. The whole point of putting words down onto paper is so that your thoughts can be past around from person to person, if you make it so the average person cannot understand a single word besides the title it is almost useless writing it down. The song War Pig’s was released in the middle of the controversial Vietnam War, and with just a glance over the lyrics it is quite easy to tell how Black Sabbath felt on the matter. Going back to the fact that good writing means the message can clearly be delivered to any audience, is what makes this song so golden. The lyrics “Politicians hide themselves away, they only started the war, Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor, yeah” are a perfect example on how it is better to be blunt and use simple words that get the message across rather then making readers try to interpret and get lost in the translation.
“We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less traveled by — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.” Rachel Carson Silent Spring
ReplyDelete_________________________________________________________________
Good writing is defined differently by many, and when the question of what defines good writing is posed, it warrants an unknown and infinite universe of answers. For me, what makes a writing selection good is when the writing selection has a message that speaks to people beyond just text on a page. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is an example of good writing because she had a message so powerful about the environment and what the people of her time were doing to it that Congress was forced to make changes to the way agrarian practices of our nation were being executed. She felt so horrified by the pesticide DDT that were going into our foods, our animals, and our bodies that she wrote about and made her writing a tool. While reading the book, it is very apparent that she wrote it to attract the attention of the people who believed in the same things she did and by doing so, she has made a change that has saved all of our lives. If DDT were still in the crops that we eat, we would be ridden with medical problems. So to me, what makes writing good, is having a clearly defined message and using that message to evoke some sort of change whether it is a small change or a nationwide rule and regulation system.
“All I'm trying to tell you is to be strong. Don't ever let nothing get you down. Don't be afraid or ashamed to love, or to grieve when the thing you love is gone. Just don't let it throw you, no matter how much it hurts.”
ReplyDelete― Patrick D. Smith, A Land Remembered
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This quote is inspirational to me because it has taught me that it is alright to grieve over loved ones that were lost. As males, we were always taught to never cry or show any kind of emotion. This quote has shown me that everybody, males and females both, have emotions towards something in their life and that we should not be afraid to grieve or mourn. If a person is hurt by somebody that they love, that person should be entitled to grieve. Grieving is an important process for an individual because it allows us to become stronger. This quote is an inspiration to me and has helped me through some tough times in my life.
“He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced--or seemed to face--the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.”
ReplyDelete― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
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I believe that this excerpt of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is good writing because of the superb imagery that Fitzgerald used in this piece of writing. The description of the importance of Jay Gatsby’s smile is tremendous to the character development of Gatsby. He has an enchanting smile that could pretty much win over any person who he looks at, even though it may only be for a moment or two. The vast imagery in this excerpt makes the reader feel like her or she is actually be looked upon by Gatsby himself and that he could be looking at anyone else in the world with his addictive smile but yet, for some reason, is staring at only you and that can make any man or woman feel special in some extraordinary way. The reader is captured by Fitzgerald’s great writing technique and sucked into the story in a way that the reader would not want to escape. Whether it is relating to the audience or capturing the reader’s attention, that makes not just good, but great writing.
Khai Ho.
ReplyDelete“When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem's fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury. His left arm was somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh. He couldn't have cared less, so long as he could pass and punt.”
― Harper Lee, To kill a mocking bird.
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This is an example of good writing, not just because it is written by a great author but also because of the way the author structures the sentences so well to represent the physical descriptions of the character in an easy to read manner. The use of punctuation in this excerpt is exceptional, the commas are placed at the right place and the way is third sentence is punctuated, the semicolon is nicely inserted to link two independent clauses and connect the related results of the character's left hand and other parts of his body. From my point of view, the simplicity of the wording provides it with great details and works as it advantage. The paragraph is structured with easy to understand sentences and plain vocabulary that are easily defined. For example: “Jem's fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury.” for those who don't understand he word “assuage”, we can easily guess that “assuage” is a positive word because the sentence then states that Jem is seldom self-conscious about his injury so the word assuage must mean something positive. A good writing doesn't have to be fancy; as a bilingual who English is the second language I find a plain and concise writing is a good one, it helps me to build my vocabulary knowledge and interest my mind into reading it.
“Some say the world will end in fire,
ReplyDeleteSome say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.”
- Robert Frost
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In my opinion this piece of poem is good writing because is not only making you think but its making you think of how there could always be different ways to end something no matter how different. In this poem there is a comparison between fire and ice and it’s being compared as to which one would be best to be “perished” by, and it shows how even though it will probably end the same people have different opinions about it. No one can really say how it’s going to end or how they want to end it, because everyone is different and will probably think of the end differently. But in the end although they’re different from each other it makes no difference once the end is here because either way it’s the end.
"All My Best Friends are Metalheads"
ReplyDeleteDo you think its strange?
That there's this way
Of how you look and how you act and how you think
Pretend they're not the same as you
Did you know about his strength of conviction?
Or how she puts all her faith in religion?
Did we take the time?
To really discover
How little we know about each other
Keep us from saying anything
Can't separate from everything
yet all this really means is
You're one in a crowd and you're paranoid of every sound
You're not the friend you won't miss anyhow
-Less Than Jake
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I believe that this song crafts the lines into a convincing argument to convey the underlying message, that societal groups and norms are so insular they become their own cast for people to fall into. The lines support it by subtly calling attention to the similarities in groups and their ignorance of differences in others. For example, the first verse calls attention to the similarities between members of a group to the point that they become indistinguishable from one another on outside but remain individual; say patches in a quilt, all are woven differently but perform the same purpose and shape. by casually addressing societal norms and assimilation the main message that all people are individually different no matter what uniform or group they may frequent in a slight angst filled song.