Dear Future Student,

One of the main focuses of this class is learning to read like a writer, and using the skills
you learn from that process to inform your own writing. Reading like a writer means reading
others’ work in such a way so that you are constantly aware of the particular writing techniques,
strategies, and concepts they are using to construct their argument. Which strategies work, and
which don’t? Have they ultimately convinced you of their argument? Are you even able to tell
what it is? What, specifically, did they do to draw you in? Does their writing employ specific
details and personal emotions or stories to maintain your interest and prove to you that they have
an invested, personal interest in their writing? Does it seem like they are taking joy in their
writing? How can you tell?
These are all questions to be asking yourself as you read any piece, not just the ones you
are specifically asked to analyze. Getting ideas about what techniques and strategies to employ in
your own writing comes largely from what you have learned and observed from the writing of
others. If you make a conscious effort to read actively, and try to get to the emotional center of
the piece and put yourself in the story or situation that the writer is painting a picture of, you will
gain a plethora of new skills and ideas about how to write effectively and what it means to be a
“good writer”.
One of the most interesting concepts that I have learned in this course has actually been
about the peer review process. My outlook on peer review and my peer review process in general
has also been shifted throughout this course; before beginning to reconstruct the way I went
about doing peer reviews in this class, I was positive that the most I would be learning about
myself as a writer and the effectiveness of my writing was through reading the peer reviews that
others would write about my work. However, I quickly learned that I was very wrong. I actually
ended up learning more about the effectiveness of my own writing strategies, techniques, and
anecdotes by reading and writing reviews on my peers’ work. By seeing what strategies and
ideas my peers chose to try to make their writing meaningful, personal, and impactful, I learned
much more from seeing what was actually effective, as well as what wasn’t, about their work,
and applying it to my own writing in future drafts and assignments. To this effect, one of the
other best pieces of advice I can give you before you even begin this course is to make sure that
you always put just as much effort into doing peer reviews for others as you put into your own
writing process, because it will definitely pay off. Pay less attention to trying to ensure that your
peers put the same amount of effort into peer reviewing as you do (because those amounts will
never be exactly even), and more effort into making sure you are putting enough time and energy
into your peer review process for others, because chances are you will actually learn more from
this part of the process.
In addition to strategies, methods, and skills I learned in this course to make my writing
stronger, another interesting thing I learned in this course was how to close read effectively.
Coming into this class, I was under the impression, without really even recognizing that I was,
that close reading was the same thing as rhetorical analysis. However, these processes are
inherently different, and quickly recognizing and learning what these differences are and how
they affect how you go about both processes will ensure a great start in this course. First of all,
the biggest way that close reading differs from rhetorical analysis is that, unlike rhetorical
analysis, close reading is based on the actual ​language​ of the piece, and how the author’s
linguistic and syntactic choices influence the meaning of their writing. In order to begin
discovering how the close reading process works and how it can be so meaningful if you do it
correctly, here are some questions I have found it extremely helpful to ask myself during the
close reading process: Who are the social actors? Which social actors have agency, and which
ones don’t? Why does the author choose to structure sentences in this way and create this
syntax? What effect do these techniques have on the reader? How does the syntax, and the way
does or does not change throughout the piece, emphasize certain ideas or change the meaning?
How does the syntax of the story reveal the author’s motivations or biases? How does word
valence effect who the audience is meant to empathize with? How does word valence affect how
we as readers interpret the overall story, as well as certain characters and their actions? Focusing
on these questions, instead of the author’s broader ideas or arguments, will help you truly
understand how the specific language affects the meaning of the text, which is what close
reading is all about.
One of the other main focuses of this course, and something I have learned is quite a
significant part of writing, is learning how to write to the emotional center of things, and why
that is so critical. If something inside you is real and is based in raw emotion or personal
experience, that is an individual, valuable experience and piece of insight that only you have.
However, others will without a doubt be able to connect and relate to your message if you are
writing honestly. This class involves many assignments that give you the opportunity to be
creative, and to be personal. If you choose to be authentic in your writing and employ personal
narratives and emotions that are real to you, you will certainly be successful. However, if you
write what you think others want to hear and use experiences, stories, and emotions that are not
yours and are not real to you, that will be evident in your writing and you will be depriving your
readers of the opportunity to connect with you. You will get much more out of this class if you
make a conscious decision to infuse real effort and personal experience into your writing. You
are given the opportunity to be real, authentic, and emotional, and I implore you to take it.

Best of luck!
Jacquelyn