The essay by Mike Bunn “How to Read Like a Writer” points out how you should read articles, poems, essays, and books to identify the written decision the author has made. For example, did the author use the right quote, was the structure of the words formal or informal? Do you have a good understanding of the author’s purpose of the writing, who is the target audience? These are some of the techniques you can use to read like a writer. On page 75 the last paragraph Mike Bunn stated, “You are already an author, and that means you have a built-in advantage when reading like a writer.” Bunn is pointing out in our past tense writing inside a classroom, on the job correspondence, written reposts, or general e-mails has prepared us to read like a writer. Due to the fact we have written things in the past, we have developed a skill set on identifying what an author is trying to establish in their text. This will influence our decision to follow the author’s written pattern or use a different approach to reach the reader. Each time we write we are trying to find the best method to captivate the target audience.
Generally, with my written assignments, I do a quick scan read, I will read the first and last sentence of each paragraph to get the concept of the main idea. This practice helps me with my note taken and annotating. After reading Bunn’s “How Read Like a Writer” from page 77 the second paragraph the title “In What Genre Is This Written?” I will add this method to help me read like a writer. The Genre will help me identify the type of writing. Once the type of written is discovered I will look for keywords. Bunn’s former student Mike made a convincing point when reading philosophy on how to identify signaling words. Mike points out how certain words will develop the direction of the argument. For example, words like therefore furthermore will support the argument, and words like however, despite would be clue words against the argument. I think this is something that will benefit me when I annotate the text. I also think it will help me formulate my thesis.
