The author states that college level writing should demonstrate the writer's ability to write effectively to his or her particular audience; essentially to write reader-based prose. The author's basis for this conclusion is the fact that a paper that would be considered exemplar for a composition class would be interpreted as innappropriate for an engineering course. His assertion is that novice writers write writer-based prose, prose that only takes the writer into consideration whereas experienced writers keep thier audience as thier priority when constructing thier essays.
I'm not too sure where i stand on this. As a writer, I do take my audience into consideration, but i'm not writing for my audience. my writing must meet my standards first before i care what the audience thinks. on the other hand, i've written attempting to elicit a specific response from my audience and i consider myself successful when i've done so.
To begin, I like the fact that we actually have some attempt to define the term. A lot of the essays we have been reading are skirting around the question they were asked to respond to. Although opening with "you know it when you see it" (121), we eventually get to the author's opinion that college-level writing is reader-based or audience appropriate. While I do not think this is a complete definition, it is made clear that reader-based prose is clear, logical, and not littered with grammar errors (also not perfect). I think this goes a long way, but still leaves room for varied interpretations by different instructors from different departments or campuses. But as Daniel mentioned, this can be necessary due to subject matter and purpose of the writing.
ReplyDeleteI also like the emphasis on maturation. The author states that "college-level writing needs to show maturation from year to year as students progress through their academic career" (131). I think this is a very important aspect that needs to be evaluated.
One final plus for me about this article is that not only was a definition attempted, a solution was given. If your students are struglling with writer-based prose, make sure you give them assignments that have a real audience and purpose, and that you clearly outline your expectations. This can be used by teachers of every subject and level.