• In his article, Mike Bunn writes “You are already an author.” He’s talking to you.  What do you think he means by this? What are some of the things you write already?  (Hint: “Nothing” is not an acceptable answer.) Think of all of the ways you already use words in your everyday life.  That’s authorship! How will that existing expertise help you in your college reading and writing career?
  • Was there anything you noticed in Bunn’s article that you would like to try to do in your own writing? What, in particular? Please be specific!

In “How to Read Like a Writer” Mike Bunn describes reading like a writer means to carefully consider the choices and techniques the author made to then decide whether or not we want to make those same choices and techniques in our own writing. In other words, reading like a writer is the best way to improve our own writing. Mike Bunn provides several examples on how to read like a writer throughout his essay. Overall, reading like a writer is also an opportunity to think and learn about writing in a different way. By “you are already an author” Mike Bunn means we have already written literature pieces of our own whether it be in school or in our spare time. Some of the things I have written already are summaries, research papers, essays, letters, and creative writing pieces. This existing expertise helps me in my college reading and writing career because it helps me progress my critical analysis, observation, and interpretation skills. Altogether, this existing expertise and improvement of these skills will eventually help me become a better writer. Something I noticed in Bunn’s article that I would like to try to do in my own writing is his use of italics or his italicized writing. As an example, he uses italics in the sentence “Notice that in these questions I am encouraging you to question whether aspects of the writing are appropriate and effective in addition to deciding whether you liked or disliked them.” I feel the use of italics can help me with emphasizing the important ideas in my writing since there are times where my writing can become rambling and long winded. I believe the use of italics will allow me to keep the reader’s attention, as well as keep my writing concise and comprehensive. 

Article Annotations:

-I notice Mike Bunn’s examples of the process of reading like a writer. He compares it to the job of an architect.

-RLW becomes an opportunity to think and learn about writing.

-Bunn and his former students give insights and suggestions on how to read effectively in the writing classroom.

-All writing, even published writing can be improved.

-Prioritizing while reading is important.

-Ask questions before and during reading.

-Annotating helps coming up with ideas/material for students to use in their own papers.

-Mike Bunn uses his own writing as an example of how to RLW.

-The goal of RLW is to carefully consider the choices and techniques the author made to decide whether you want to make those same choices and techniques in your own writing.

During reading: Mike Bunn explains reading like a writer is to learn about writing. RLW means identifying writing choices the author makes so we can better understand how these choices can be used in our own writing. Carefully examining things we read helps us decide if we want to adopt similar writing techniques. During the essay Mike Bunn shows several examples on how to read like a writer. 

After reading: From reading this I learned reading like a writer is one of the best ways to learn to write well. RLW is not reading for information, it is to help your own writing. In the words of Mike Bunn “You are reading to see how something was constructed so that you can construct something similar yourself.” RLW helps recognize important decisions and techniques that can possibly be used when working on our own writing. Ultimately, the goal of RLW is to locate what the most important writerly choices represented in the text are in order to influence your own writing.