How to Read Like a Writer- Page 16
“Questioning why the author made certain decisions. Considering what techniques could have made the text better. Deciding how to include the best attributes of what you read in your own writing. This is what reading Like a Writer is all about.” I believe that this passage is a very important point in the article. It is the last couple sentences of this particular article, and it basically sums up everything I learned from reading the article itself. It is the shortened version of everything I learned by reading twelve pages, but I wouldn’t have understood what each part of this paragraph meant had I not read the passage itself in whole beforehand. I learned that questioning why the author made the decisions he or she did was a very important step in reading like a writer. Thinking about what could have been changed in the article to make it better and how I personally would have changed the article if it were written by me are also other important aspects of the process. Altogether, I felt that this paragraph was an important paragraph to wrap the paper up and explain in less detail exactly what I just read about.
“In addition to figuring out what the text says, rhetorical reading strategies ask us to focus on how the text delivers its message. In this way of thinking about texts, there is not one right and perfect meaning for the diligent reader to uncover; rather, interpretations of the reading will differ depending on the questions and contexts readers bring to the text.” First and foremost, I felt that this writing passage was way more interesting than the first one I read tonight. I was able to easily grasp the concept of what the writer was telling me to grasp. I felt that the passage I quoted above stood out to me when I was reading because it summed up what the entire passage is telling me to do. Basically, I need to analyze more into what I’m reading. I feel the quote ‘never judge a book by its cover’ explains this passage very well. I cannot just read through a book without giving it my full attention, because then I may be missing key points or concepts that may be very important. Also, when reading a passage like this one or an entire book, I should pay more attention to how it is making me feel throughout, and I should ask questions as to why I’m reading it and what purpose does it serve for whatever I may be reading it for.
After reading these texts, I completely agree that reading is a very important part of writing. In the first article How to Read Like a Writer, Mike Bunn stated “Reading like a writer can help you understand how the process of writing is a series of making choices, and in doing so, can help you recognize important decisions you might face and techniques you might want to use when working on your own writing. Reading this way becomes an opportunity to think and learn about writing.” This basically explained to me that in order to understand what I’m reading in depth, I have to focus on the writing as if I were the actual writer and not the reader. If I do this, I may be able to better understand where the writer is coming from and why he or she thought like they did about a certain topic. In the second article, Karen Rosenberg stated that an important part of reading is asking questions when you have them. I agree with this completely. How would I be able to write a paper on a chapter in a book or a newspaper article I read if I was confused about the main point of the article? I believe that in order to write a completely thought out paper, or to be a good writer in general, you have to know how to properly read first- like a writer.
