Peyton Cole Fall 2022 1

English 1301
Dr. Frances Johnson
01 October 2022

Synthesis Project
The purpose of writing is to show readers that the author thinks much more profoundly

than what they are writing and how to write. Writing is a long and complex process; a writer

must think about many things to convey the message. Writing is an unnatural process (Dryer,

2016) that gives pathways to help a writer out. The main point of writing is to be able to convey

a message that is suited to a target audience.

When people think of writing, they think of it as a single-minded activity. However,

writers are constantly engaged with writing for a targeted audience and interconnected with

others (Roozen, 2016). Knowing what audience the writer wishes to speak to and knowing how

that audience will react is impossible for someone to know by experimentation; however, it is

possible by imagining how that audience will react based on the writer's personal experiences.

This shows that writing is not just a one-person activity but a group activity as it draws

conclusions based on experiences with many different people. It is best to view writing as

rhetorical since this helps a writer to understand what their audience would be intrigued by the

most (Estrem, 2016). All kinds of writers, from bloggers to novelists, went through an

experience of stumbling upon something new when writing; therefore, writing can be thought of

as a way to gain knowledge a writer did not have before. In short, writing can be seen as a

concept with both rhetorical and social aspects constantly intertwined.

Speech and writing are similar but very different. The main difference between speech

and words is more significant than one might think. Words have a solid definition; however, they

can mean two or more things depending on their context (Dryer, 2016). For example, the word
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Dr. Frances Johnson
02 October 2022

‘bar’ can be one of two definitions; it can mean a solid piece of a substance or a place where

people go to drink. A writer can creatively use certain words to appeal to a specific audience.

Words do not have a definitive meaning, which can confuse them since anyone can twist an

individual’s meaning to something completely different. However, writing has its advantages.

One such advantage is that writing mediates activity (Russel, 2016). Writing allows for

organization between different activities, like emailing instructions or texting invitations. It can

help resolve conflicts, like court proceedings (Russell, 2016). Writing’s other advantage of

lasting longer means it can reach a much bigger audience over time. Speech has been an aspect

of humans for generations; it has become a simple task for small children to learn multiple

languages (Dryer, 2015). Many people consider writing speech, but that is incorrect; writing is

simply symbols representing sounds and phrases (Dryer, 2015). Unlike speech, writing is learned

over time, meaning it is not “natural” compared to speech. Overall, a person must learn writing,

as it is unnatural, to use it effectively for mediating activities or other things.

One of the most important aspects a writer must consider is their audience. The concept

of writing could be seen as a play; each group is given a specific role. There are three roles; the

writer is known as the speaker, the audience is known as the receiver or listener, and the text is

known as the message (Lunsford, 2016). However, the only way a writer can consider the

audience's feelings is by imagining said audience. In this day and age, where technology is

evolving rapidly has made writers aware of the need for closer consideration of readers

(Lunsford, 2016). A piece of writing may have the main message it is trying to convey that is

only true based on how the reader interprets it. A writer will firmly believe that their writing is

consistent with the message they are trying to convey; however, that is only sometimes the case
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English 1301
Dr. Frances Johnson
02 October 2022

(Bazeman, 2016). A reader cannot possibly read the writer's mind, so they must decipher the

message of the writing based on their mind alone. This means that writing may have an original

meaning. However, based on how it is interpreted, it could mean a whole new concept.

A writer can call a targeted group by combining specific topics or words. To be able to

convey an author’s message in a way it would appeal to someone is what writing is for. Although

it may be a complex and unnatural process (Dryer, 2016), writing can get the job done. While a

writer may mean that their work has one meaning alone, that is just not possible, as other readers

will interpret it differently.

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Dr. Frances Johnson
02 October 2022

References

Bazerman, C. (2016). Writing expresses and shares meaning to be reconstructed by the

reader. In L. Adler-Kassner & E. Wardle (Eds.), Naming what we know, classroom

edition: Threshold concepts of writing studies (pp. 21–23). University Press of Colorado.

Dryer, D. B. (2016). Words get their meanings from other words. In L. Adler-Kassner &

E. Wardle (Eds.), Naming what we know, classroom edition: Threshold concepts of

writing studies (pp. 23–25). University Press of Colorado.

Dryer, D. B. (2016). Writing is not natural. In L. Adler-Kassner & E. Wardle (Eds.),

Naming what we know, classroom edition: Threshold concepts of writing studies (pp. 27–

29). University Press of Colorado.

Estrem, H. (2016). Writing is a knowledge-making activity. In L. Adler-Kassner & E.

Wardle (Eds.), Naming what we know, classroom edition: Threshold concepts of writing

studies (pp. 19–20). University Press of Colorado.

Lunsford, A. A. (2016). Writing addresses, invokes, and/or creates audiences. In L.

Adler-Kassner & E. Wardle (Eds.), Naming what we know, classroom edition: Threshold

concepts of writing studies (pp. 20–21). University Press of Colorado.

Roozen, K. (2016). Writing is a social and rhetorical activity. In L. Adler-Kassner & E.

Wardle (Eds.), Naming what we know, classroom edition: Threshold concepts of writing

studies (pp. 17–19). University Press of Colorado.