Week 1 and 2 Reading Response

“Teaching Thinking by Teaching Writing” 

Elbow argues that there are two types of thinking through writing: first order and second order. First order thinking is creative, lacks control, and can be described as “exploratory writing.” This type of writing can accompany first drafts, unplanned speeches, and even lead a person to gain “conceptual insights” that would otherwise be unfound. Second order thinking is more direct, controlled, and often carefully constructed. This type of writing is logical, accurate, and often contains consistent insights. There are positives and negatives with each type of thinking. First order thinking doesn’t always have organization or reflections on the actions being done. Thus, it cannot be counted on to give “valuable” insights.  Second order thinking, in contrast, doesn’t provide enough rich material, so first order thinking should supplement second order thinking, and vice versa. First order thinking allows the creative muscle to flex, and Elbow insists that most writers have an aversion to looking silly, and thus the free writing that first order thinking allows, is often avoided. Elbow recommends starting with first order thinking, and progressing to second-order thinking, and then allowing yourself to go back and forth between the two once you have mastered each one separately.

“Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis”

This article explores rhetorical analysis and the ways in which to use it in our daily lives. Carroll asserts that media is one of the most important places in which rhetorical analysis should be conducted. This is due to the fact the media always encourages the purchase of something, and thus learning how media influences us daily. Media uses Aristotle’s  three modes of persuasion: ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos  is credibility, pathos is emotional appeal, and logos is logical appeal. There are three elements of rhetorical messages: exigence, audience, and constraints. Exigence is the circumstance of the rhetoric, audience is the intended receiver of the rhetoric, and constraints refer to how the message is delivered.  Exigence is often thought of as a response to a problem. Audience determines many factors of the rhetoric used. Constraints mostly depend on the intended audience.

“The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors” Chapter 2 and 4

Chapter 2 focuses on introducing the steps of the writing process and breaking it down to understandable pieces. Prewriting is the first step, and consists of planning and inventing. This stage tries to plan the audience and purpose that will follow throughout the entire piece. Next is the writing stage, which is when the first draft is born. After the initial draft, revision and editing take place. Bedford mentions two types of revision styles. Global revision is the “bigger picture” and sentence-level revision, is miniscule and focuses on each sentence within the writing piece. Writing tutors must take on many roles, such as a coach, ally, commenter, collaborator, writing expert, and counselor. Chapter 4 explains how to execute the ideas that were discussed in Chapter 2. During prewriting, the tutor is encouraged to help the writer during the first draft by brainstorming a list, free writing, and clustering. During the writing stage, it is best to start with global revision first, and this includes looking at the details of the paper.