Reading Response #1

When reading the article about academic writing I learned there are many different ways approach writing. The author, L. Irvin, starts out by telling the reader some of the myth behind writing. One of the myths he said was that you don’t have to stick to the five paragraph essay format all the time, it is okay to stray away and have more or in some cases even less. I still like the structure and security of a five paragraph essay. The writer then goes on to say how important it is to communicate the tone. Tone I believe is one of the most valuable pieces of an essay, the tone sets the mood for the essay. Another useful tip the author gave was to do lots and lots of research. Along with digging deep for research you also need to be able to read and understand complex texts. There are three common college writing assignments: closed, semi- open, and open. Overall I like closed the best because I believe it is the most straight forward one. Next on the list was the characteristics of academic writing which consists of: clear evidence, dominance of reason, and rational reasoned responses. The main point of the text was to provide the reader with a better understanding of different writing styles and assignments and to get them comfortable addressing them. Overall the author gave many good reasoning and examples of all sorts of important writing tools that some may never even knew they had within them. The article is a good read for anyone confused on what college writing is like and all about.