Chloe Kayser

English 1301
Dr. Frances Johnson
1st October 2022

Synthesis Project: Identities and Ideologies Can Be Developed By Writing

Writing is a skill most people learn from an early age. Such skills are taught throughout a

person life and are vital to everyday life. Writing is used everywhere, from the menu read at a

restaurant to the organic chemistry textbook used for class. Writing gives a person a way to

express their identity; gives them a creative outlet. Such an outlet helps solidify a person’s

identity. So, while some people write for fun, others write to complete an assignment, but it does

not matter because each person must use their creativity and writing style to do both. Everyone's

style of writing should be unique to them, hence why writing has so much personality enveloped

into it. Since writing is about the author, it should be no shock that writing can help others create

their own identity. As stated earlier, writing is an essential and lifelong skill, so it should never

be overlooked or have its importance argued. Writing is vital to the society we live in today and

should no longer be underappreciated.

Writers are able to develop their own identities in relation to the interest, beliefs, and

values of the communities they engage with when writing. (Roozen 2016) Writing is an excellent

way to connect with others, especially today. Book clubs and fan pages are used today to

collaborate with others. Most fans do this to interact with others since they can bond over the

love of a book or other things such as artists or tv shows. So, someone’s life may be changed by
Chloe Kayser
English 1301
Dr. Frances Johnson
1st October 2022
a book (like how some people grew up with Harry Potter), but that change also added to their

personality and self-identity. An identity is whatever a person wants to make it.

Writers can help create a group of like-minded people whose values and beliefs can be

used to contest and resist others. (Roozen 2016) In history, it is seen that people use writing to

spark rebellions and change; one example is Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” written right

before the American Revolution. Events such as that are not talked about as much in history,

however, it is clear that writing had a huge effect on the events. Moreover, in today’s world we

see people using social media pages such as Instagram and Facebook to send out petitions and

informational articles about issues facing the world. As we develop identities, it is important to

realize what has shaped them such as religious beliefs, activism, or even fictional characters.

(Yancey 2016) Writing is done for the individual, but as we can see, it is also used to socialize

people. (Yancey 2016) Since writing can be used in this way, people are able to express their

true feelings and emotions with writing, hence why it has been used throughout history to

congregate people and spark change.

Writers should not entirely rely upon creativity to write a piece. In most cases, especially

in college, writers need to have accredited sources and evidence. A vital aspect to remember is

that a writer must write with confidence and optimism. Writers who are not enthusiastic tend to

have less character in their writing and tend to be monotoned/dull. This is one of the reasons why
Chloe Kayser
English 1301
Dr. Frances Johnson
1st October 2022
a writer should not rely on the same strategy for every single piece because they become lazy.

Most of the time, those same strategies don’t work as well for new pieces or assignments since

everything is different. (Lunsford 2016) Furthermore, a writer will need to have in-depth

evidence, sources, and compelling evidence to complete college assignments; this will be very

difficult if they cannot include their own ideology to the topic. In most college cases, writing is

about writing someone else’s findings and research in their own words. However, they should

view it as a way to process findings to make their own conclusions, their own ideas about the

subject. (Estrem 2016) Whenever an author or writer is able to connect their own ideas to a

finding or debate, they connect with the readers. By connecting with the audience, they can get a

following and make a difference. Or they could find like-minded people; maybe even opposing

people who can open the writers ideas to the other side of the coin.

Writing is a creative outlet that all who can write should use. As stated earlier, writing

can give people a group and help them form their own identities. Writers should be able to

present the reader with the world's construction from their point of view. The readers should be

able to debate their views from the authors. Readers should be able to think critically, and the

writer can see how others are depicting their work with differing viewpoints. (Villanueva 2016)

Initially, I believed writing could help writers express and find their identities. However, it does

much more. Writing can help the writer and the reader, connecting people who otherwise never

would have met. Writing is a powerful tool that has been used throughout history, as learned by

Roozen, and should still be used even in this technological age. Furthermore, writing is
Chloe Kayser
English 1301
Dr. Frances Johnson
1st October 2022
something that shall never go away; it will extend from generation to generation and will always

be a tool to help others connect and find themselves.

Chloe Kayser
English 1301
Dr. Frances Johnson
1st October 2022
Works Cited

Estrem, H. (2016). 3.4 Disciplinary and Professional Identities are Constructed

     Through Writing. In L. Adler-Kassner & E. Wardle (Authors), Naming What We

     Know, Classroom Edition: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies (pp. 55-57)

     [JSTOR]. https://www.jstor.org/stable/

     j.ctv1vbd1v0.9?seq=8#metadata_info_tab_contents

Lunsford, A. A. (2016). 3.3 Writing is Informed by Prior Experience. In L.

     Adler-Kassner & E. Wardle (Authors), Naming What We Know, Classroom

     Edition: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies (pp. 54-55) [JSTOR].

     https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1vbd1v0.9?seq=7#metadata_info_tab_contents

Roozen, K. (2016). 3.1 Writing is Linked to Our Identity. In L. Adler-Kassner &

     E. Wardle (Authors), Naming What We Know, Classroom Edition: Threshold

     Concepts of Writing Studies (pp. 50-52) [JSTOR]. https://www.jstor.org/

     stable/j.ctv1vbd1v0.9?seq=3#metadata_info_tab_contents

Scott, T. (2016). Writing Enacts and Creates Identities and Ideologies.

     JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/

     j.ctv1vbd1v0.9#metadata_info_tab_contents

Villanueva, V. (2016). 3.5 Writing Provides a Representation of Ideologies and

     Identities. In L. Adler-Kassner & E. Wardle (Authors), Naming What We Know,

     Classroom Edition: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies (pp. 57-58)

Chloe Kayser
English 1301
Dr. Frances Johnson
1st October 2022
     [JSTOR]. https://www.jstor.org/stable/

     j.ctv1vbd1v0.9?seq=10#metadata_info_tab_contents

Yancey, K. B. (2016). 3.2 Writers'', Histories, Process, and Identities Vary. In

L. Adler-Kassner (Author) & E. Wardle (Ed.), Naming What We Know, Classroom

Edition: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies (pp. 51-52) [JSTOR].

https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1vbd1v0.9?seq=7#metadata_info_tab_contents