Reading Response

When asked to write and think about what writing is to me, what good writing is, etc., I

always thought that it was simple. Writing to me was a way to express how you feel about a

certain topic, something that required several hours of research and studying. In order to write

well there should be no grammatical errors and a good understanding of the issue which would

be backed up with several sources. What surprised me the most when reading Writing About

Writing was that writing was so much more complex than that and it was more than what

teachers in school have taught you.

Writing is so necessary in all aspects of life; everyone needs it, whether it be to

communicate, at school, work, etc. You don’t always have be so formal and you don’t

necessarily have to use everything that you learned about writing in school everyday as long as

you are able to get your point across and make sure the audience, or whoever is responding is

understanding.

A very good point that was stated in the book that I would have never thought of was

about texting your friends. In pages 13-14, it explains how when having a conversation with your

friends through text messages, your friends aren’t going to judge your texts or think that you

don’t know how to write well just because you didn’t use complete sentences or have the best

grammar. The book explains that as a good writer, you need to know how to differentiate the

purpose of certain types of writing styles in different situations. For instance, the book describes

the writing style you use during a text message conversation would not be appropriate during an

interview and vice versa. Just because a certain way of writing something in one situation could

be considered as well written doesn’t mean it will be described as well written in another
situation. That’s all apart of being a good writer—knowing what’s appropriate for a certain

circumstance.

While reading, I also came across some ideas that did confuse me. The word “threshold

concepts” were mentioned several times throughout the reading, however, I didn’t really follow

the concept or what the author was trying to say. The text states that they are ideas that are so

important to a topic, that without the reader really knowing about them, they can’t move on to

the rest of the parts of the topic. That broad definition that was given to me really didn’t help me

to understand it. Some of the examples given to me did help me comprehend more about the

main idea of the concept, however, I failed to recognize specific concepts that it introduced

which is why I couldn’t answer that question.

The examples that the book gave me about the threshold concept made me realize that

sometimes specific things aren’t necessary to fully grasp a concept. Instead of focusing specific

dates, you should look into how the story really connects. As I explain it now, I feel like I didn’t

fully understand what the author was trying to say. If I am right about just looking at the bigger

picture instead of specifics, than I would understand how it would be difficult for those trying

break out of that, as we are all taught at a really young age to remember certain events and

periods, and the specifics of an event. However, I feel as if the concept in itself is just overall

confusing and needs to be more specific on what is actually the purpose of it because to me, as I

was reading it seemed very vague and not very helpful.