Please read Donald Murray’s “The Maker’s Eye” and answer these 4 questions (also included at the end of the text) and post them here, below in the comment section.
Answer these four (4) questions, in detail.
- How does Murray define information and meaning (13-14)? Why is the distinction between the two terms important?
- According to Murray, at what point(s) in the writing process do writers become concerned about the individual words they are using? What do you think Murray means when he says in paragraph 24 that “language leads[writers] to meaning”?
- The phrase “the maker’s eye” appears in Murray’s title and in several places throughout the essay. What do you suppose he means by this? Consider how the maker’s eye could be different from the reader’s eye.
- According to Murray, when is a piece of writing finished? What, for him, is the function of deadlines?
I could have WENT on and on******
1. Murray says information is the facts or ideas in writing, and meaning is the message or point behind those facts. It’s important to know the difference because writers need to go beyond facts to make their writing meaningful.
2. Writers start caring about the exact words they use during revision. When Murray says “language leads [writers] to meaning,” he means that finding the right words helps writers understand what they’re really trying to say.
3. “The maker’s eye” means the writer’s own careful look at their work. It’s different from the reader’s eye because the writer looks to fix and improve, while the reader just wants to understand the message.
4. Murray believes writing is never truly finished—it can always be made better. Deadlines just tell writers when to stop working on it.