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How to Reading  like a Writer

While reading this article, there were a few things that caught  my attention.  How the author talked about the same topic in two  paragraphs  using different words and phrases to express himself.

 

He was very descriptive when telling his story about working in the theatre. How he drew you in to make you feel as if you were part of his experience.   The writer also encourage the reader,  that  when writing to include  idea’s that would  lead. questions,  that the reader wants answers to, which  prompts the reader to continue reading to get the answers.

 

However,  this article gave me a different perspective on how to decipher passages and rebuild them using  different  words and phrases when I’m  writing .

 

 

Reading Like a Writter (summary)

  1. Instead of reading for context or to better understand the ideas in the writing, you are trying to understand how the author put together the piece of writing.
  2. When you read like a writer, you are trying to figure out how the text you are reading was constructed
  3. Reading like a writer can help you understand how the process of writing is a series of choices and by doing so it can help you recognize important decisions you might face and techniques you might want to use.
  4. Get the context surrounding the assignment and the text you are reading.
  5. Because the conventions for each genre can be very different, techniques that are effective for one genre may not work well in another.
  6. Knowing ahead of time what kind of writing assignment you will be asked to complete can help you to read like a writer. Is particularly helpful because you can look at a piece you’re reading and think if you want to adopt a similar style.
  7. As you’re first learning to read in this new way, you may want to have a set of questions written or typed out in front of you that you can refer to while reading
  8. Mark up the text, make comments in the margins, and write yourself notes and summaries both during and after reading. Often the notes students took while reading became ideas or material for the students to use in their papers.

Reading like a writer.

Janel S King

Janel S King

RLW

 

It was the setting he was in which helped him focus and understand the author’s purpose. Once learning how to read like a writer the technique used can influence one as a writer also. If an essay began with a quote would that be helpful? He was trying to see if someone else’s technique worked for himself. Instead of reading normally the author is explaining that reading word by word sentence by sentence helps with comprehension. Reading like a writer is a series of making choices and in doing so it helps you see things from a broader perspective. It becomes an opportunity to think and learn about writing.

What are some questions to ask before reading ? consider the context around what you’re reading. It’ll be easier to answer the questions you asked before. Depending on the writing, there are different ways to understand the writer’s purpose as well as feeling connected to it. When you understand what type of genre you’re reading you would be able to determine which technique is best for that specific text. For example; a student said “If i’m reading philosophy, i always look for signaling words (however, therefore, furthermore,despite) indicating the direction of the argument”

When reading fiction or creative nonfiction, he looks for how the author inserts dialogue or character sketches within narration or environmental observation. He realized how these different approaches are utilized to achieve an author’s overall effect. Knowing what you’ll be writing yourself can also help you prioritize. Another former student said”

“The reading that i have done in college writing courses has always been really specific to a certain type of writing and it allows me to focus and experiment on that specific style in depth and without distraction”

When thinking about questions to ask as you are reading. Remember, for most students this is a new way of reading , and you’ll have to train yourself to do it well. Also keep in mind that youre reading to understand how the text was written and how the house was built more than you are trying to determine the meaning of the things you read and assess whether the texts are good or bad. Taking notes, the most common suggestion made by former students. Students found that highlighting, underlining and marking up the text are all great techniques when it comes to reading like a writer. Keeping the readers intrigued can be difficult. Finding synonyms and other interesting words to replace common or other basic words can help keep the reader’s attention. overall as u can see from the text you’ll learn to notice techniques that seem newer and pay less attention to the ones you’ve thought about before.

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