Carlos Lopez

ENC 2135
Erin Workman

prior to the semester starting , when I would get ready to begin writing a
paper I would begin by looking at the prompt provided and just simply write
about what the prompt wanted us to talk about. I am now glad to say that
this isnt the case anymore after having spent a good amount of time
learning in ENC 2135 about the intricacies and components that come with
writing. I now know that all writing has to have a specific structure in the way
that its written and a different approach has to be taken depending on the
type of genre.
At the beginning of the semester, I felt like I had a vague understanding of
what writing actually is and the different processes that are involved when
composing a good writing piece. When I look at my theory of writing from the
beginning of the semester, its pretty evident that I had little understanding
of the components that are essential in writing. My theory of writing and
what I believed writing to be changed a multitude of times as we engaged in
different assignments that tested and challenged our knowledge of writing. A
set of five key terms were required from us in the beginning of the semester
in which these terms were to define what we thought writing to be. The five
key terms that I thought defined writing consisted of purpose, reflection,
understanding, situation, and experiences. My theory of writing for ENC

2135 at the beginning of the semester was developed through these five
key terms and it was defined as Being able to reflect on past experiences
through writing helps individuals understand situations in which they were
not a part of. Writers always have to engage the audiences with the purpose
of capturing their attention enough in the writing to make them feel as if
they were in the situation themselves. This theory of writing is not a theory
that i would recommend to anyone thats trying to get a good understanding
of what makes a good piece of writing because it doesnt reflect any of the
components that are essential when writing. Rather than talking about
different criteria like the structure, genre, and the components that are
essential when coming up with a main idea, it talks about how it wants the
reader to understand past experiences that the author the author
experienced, which is not the main point of writing.
As the semester progressed, we developed another list of key terms in
which they represented what we think about before writing and these terms
were significantly different from the key terms at the beginning of the
semester. These revised set of key terms reflects on what we have learned
about genre, rhetorical situation, purpose, reflection and shows my slow but
obvious development in my understanding of writing. The revised key terms
consisted of feelings, thoughts, audience, main ideas, and purpose. Now that
were reaching the end of the semester I feel like the ENC 2135 course has
rapidly developed my understanding and theory of writing largely because of
the knowledge that I have acquired through the different readings and

writing assignments that were engaged in the course. Now my current theory
of writing reflects what I have learned in this course and what I now believe
writing to be.

My current theory of writing is that an author writes to freely express his/her

thoughts and feelings into a multitude of ideas that comes up with the main
idea of the writing through a specific structure, and this writing is directed
towards a specific audience with the purpose of persuading or informing the
audience. When coming up with my current theory of writing , i heavily
considered my final map of key terms. This final map of key terms consisted
of the words that i think about before coming up with what to write about
and the terms consist of main idea, purpose, audience, thoughts, feelings,
structure, and genre. These key terms arent much of a difference when
comparing it with my second set of revised key term but it does show that
my understanding of writing deepened even further which is what makes this
final map significantly important. The two important key terms that
implemented into my final maps are structure and genre. i feel like i should
have added these terms from the beginning because its obvious the
importance that genre and structure play in the quality. No piece of writing is
written without having some organization to it. I believe these two
components are essential because the structure of how a piece of writing is
composed is largely dependent on the audience and what one wants to focus
on in their writing, which is where i believe genre comes into play.

What has contributed to my theory of writing is all the assignments that i

have engaged through the course of the assignment, particularly the major
assignments that were required from us. These assignments each helped me
develop different a lot of the essential components that are in my final of key
maps, and my theory of writing. Although i think that the final two
assignments were the two that contributed most to my evolvement of writing
, the first assignment was a substantial step to my development as a writer.
The first assignment was a group project in which we were assigned a
particular term that was related to writing and we were required to explore
the genres in which these terms are presented. My group was assigned
genre, and throughout the process of this assignment i learned how the
different sources in which the key term is expressed can affect the way in
which i interpret the key term genre.
The second assignment was a research paper that focused on the recent
advances in the tools and procedures of dentistry. This assignment allowed
me to gain more knowledge in the field of dentistry, and i feel like i have a
more profound interest in my major because of all of the information
gathered when researching for this assignment. In this paper I freely
expressed my thoughts on the subject matter giving my opinion on one of
the main questions proposed in the research paper which was Are these
new advances in the practice of dentistry beneficial at all or is it just a
product of fancier equipment?. The paper required me to develop a
research question and investigate information on the subject matter, in

which I had full control of what I wanted to focus on while providing factual
information that supported my ideas and opinions on the subject matter. I
was of the belief that regardless of all the new tools and procedures that
have come out in dentistry, I dont believe that a dentist needs fancy
equipment in his office in order to get his job done efficiently. The fact that I
had total control of what I wanted to focus on in this paper and the ability to
freely express my thoughts on the subject matter helped me to include
expression in my theory of writing. Expression is an essential component of
how humans are able to depict their emotions and feelings towards a
particular subject and the reason why every single individual is unique. I
believe that expression brings out the creative and unique side of writing and
is the reason why there is such a diverse set of writers in the community of
writing. This assignment also better developed my understanding on the
different things that are happening in the community of dentistry, and i
thought it was really interesting in getting to know the different opinions that
dentist have on this particular subject which made me feel a part of the
community as well.

The last assignment was centered around three genres in which we

presented to the class with the intent of informing them about what we wrote
in our research paper for assignment 2, which in my case was the advances
in the tools of dentistry. I feel like ive learned a great deal about audience
and purpose with this assignment. This assignment helped me really

consider what genres would be best appropriate to present to the audience

with the intent of informing them. The three genres that i decided to use for
this assignment were a brochure, a magazine article, and an advertisement
campaign. Each of these genres were approached in a particular manner that
addressed specific audiences and served different purposes. A brochure is
supposed to inform the reader about a specific topic that the brochure
focuses on. For the first genre, the brochure, i wanted to inform the audience
about the new available tools and procedures that are available for a dentist
and how they work to better improve the profession of dentistry. Not only did
this brochure include the uses for these new tools in dentistry, but it also
included the risks that may arise when using these tools. The intended
audience for this particular genre was made for dentist that are interested in
implementing these tools and procedures in their own practice offices, that
way the dentist will be better informed when making a decision in whether or
not to implement these new tools in their offices or not. The second genre
that i used for this assignment was a magazine article and magazine articles
usually inform readers about specific topics depending on the magazine that
they correspond to. The magazine article that i came up with was focused on
invisalign and if whether these advanced teeth aligners are as effective as
they should be when compared to a regular set of braces. In this article , i
gave the audience a general idea of the purpose of invisaligns and how they
are supposed to used for the best possible results. The intended audience for
this genre is for anyone thats interested in wanting to get their hands on

these advanced teeth aligners so that they can better decide on which
treatment is better suited for them, whether its the regular set of braces or
the more advanced invisaligns. The last genre that i decided to use for this
assignment was an advertisement campaign. Advertisements campaigns are
used for a multitude of reasons that are supposed to persuade and convince
the reader to buy the product that one is advertising. In the advertisement
campaign for this assignment i decided to promote the use of whitening
strips. In this advertisement campaign i placed the smile of a woman next to
the picture of a whitening strip and in between both images was an equal
sign showing that if one uses whitening strips then theyll be able to obtain
teeth that are as white as the womans teeth in the advertisement. In this
last genre, the intended audience was supposed to be for anyone interested
in obtaining white teeth , and i tried to convince the audience through this
advertisement. This great emphasis that was put on purpose and audience is
a big reason why i decided to implement it into my current theory of writing.
These assignments have significantly altered my interpretation of writing and
is the main reason why the current theory of writing has developed.

I believe my theory of writing is unique and separate from other peoples

writing of theory because it can be applied to a multitude of different
scenarios when specifically used for writing purposes. I see my theory of
writing as being applied in classrooms across different schools because it's
straightforward and not complicated for a regular high school student to

understand. It could be easily be used for a class discussion in trying to

understand what writing is, just like our class discussed and explored the
different parts that make a good piece of writing. I see my theory of writing
as being applied to a lot of different scenarios outside of the classroom as
well, like in books that focus trying to get people to understand writing in an
in depth way and a lot of other scenarios.
I am glad to have been able to learn about writing with professor workman
and for having made the ENC 2135 course as interesting as it was made, i
learned a lot through the journals and the different assignments that really
challenged us to learn what writing is really all about. My understanding of
writing has completely changed and will forever alter the way i see writing
when considering the components that a piece of writing.