Connor Soutter

December 1st 2014

ENC 1145

Theory of Writing
My theory of writing has not changed much from the beginning of the year.
However the course did help me understand how different parts of writing are all
connecting to each other in ways that I did not realize. So my final theory is that
writing is a way for us to communicate our knowledge to one another through
different genres and mediums. Genres and mediums allow the author to get his or
her message across to their audience. The audience will then interpret the message
differently due to their reflection about the topic. Through everything we have gone
over reflection has had the biggest impact on my theory of writing. Prior to coming
in to the course, I thought that reflection was simply how an event affected us.
However after reading Reflection in the Writing Classroom by Katleen Yancey, I
realized that reflection is a huge part of writing. In fact, reflection can be defined as
trying to understand our cognitive processes and how we interpret our
environment. At first this was hard to comprehend but I overcame the confusion by
comparing different pieces of writing. For example, if one were to write a letter to
three different people but used the same scenario, each letter would seem different.
This is interesting because each letter has the topic but since the authors reflection
on his or audience is different there is a change in the writing.

As I have stated, my theory of writing has not changed much from the
begging of the course. I still believe that the main purpose of writing is to transfer
knowledge and is used as a form of communication. I also feel that each work has a
different purpose such as a research paper is used to inform an audience about what
you have discovered in your field. The research paper we wrote had a huge impact
on my theory of writing and I felt that it was the most beneficial assignment for me
as a writer. The paper allowed me to step into the field of neurology and made me
feel that I was actually influential. The paper also helped me realize that writing is
not just used in stereotypical writing jobs such as a journalist. I learned that the
field of neurology could not operate without writing. I also learned that writing is
not just pencil and paper or formal documents but is rather a form of transferring
information. An example of this can be seen through the famous MRI machine. The
MRI is the biggest piece of writing used in the field of medicine. My key terms map
has also helped me with my theory of writing by showing me how different terms
connect with others. The map helped me understand how many different terms are
actually involved and that the terms cannot be effective by themselves. For example
the context that the author creates could not exist without his or her knowledge and
research.
The research paper contributed to my theory of writing the most because it
really forced me to go deeper in to what writing is. Writing has always been difficult
for me to fully comprehend because to me there is no logic in it. Im not saying this is
necessarily a bad thing either because thats what makes the discipline so special. In
fact this lack of logic is most likely how authors can display such strong emotion

through text. When one doesnt have to cohere to logic it allows us to express our
feelings and emotions so much easier. The course made me realize that to
understand what writing is I have to give up on trying to make logic out of
something that isnt one hundred percent logical. The research paper really made
me push past that road block. I feel that I was able to do this because I could relate
writing to my field. When I started the paper I was confused on how I was going to
relate medicine to writing. In my mind there was no correlation between the two
and this caused me to become frustrated. Thanks to my professor and a lot of
connecting I was able to draw out conclusions about how the two intertwine with
each other.
My theory of writing relates to knowledge because my theory talks about
how knowledge is passed on. Writing allows knowledge to live forever because it
gives us a way to teach. Without writing, it wouldnt matter how much knowledge is
created because if it isnt given the ability to be passed on then was it really useful?
Writing gives us the opportunity to emphasize the importance of some theories and
ideas such as calculus and physics. Imagine if Isaac Newton never wrote Principa
Mathmatica, without those few hundred pages differential and integral calculus
would not exist. My theory also explores how knowledge is not just one simple
definition but is put together by different pieces. Also what is knowledgeable is
different for everyone and varies from culture to culture. Such as some cultures
believe that the elders in their community tend to posses more knowledge due to
their experience. For other cultures, material objects such as money and education
judge knowledge. Now some may ask, what is the best form of knowledge? To

answer that is extremely difficult since there is no definite answer. The best way I
could answer it is that there is no best form of knowledge because they are all
different. For example what if money was the best way to judge knowledge? Then
we would be stating that people like: Albert Einstein, Dr. Michio Kaku, and Gandhi
are not knowledgeable. We need to judge knowledge holistically rather than
categorically. Unfortunately it tends to be human nature to categorize things so we
can make sense of them. However categorizing something as powerful as knowledge
is simply impossible.
In the classroom my theory can be put to use by having pupils create works
and present them to their classmates. This will force student to actively learn by
creating knowledge through their writings and it will also help students understand
why writing is so vital. Professor Workman did activities similar to this throughout
the semester. A key example was when a few of my classmates and I made a
presentation about reflection. This presentation helped me go deep into what
reflection is and how it can be seen in everyday life. She gave us a list of sources to
use to learn about reflection and this allowed us to scratch the surface about what
we were going to be talking about. My group mates and I then had to come up with
our own sources and explain why we chose those sources and how they helped us
understand reflection.
A source that I chose derived from the University of New South Wales. It
talked about how reflection helps us understand things that could initially be hard
to understand or Make meaning out of meaningless. The article made me think
about evolution and how hard it would be to go with life if we couldnt make sense

out of things through reflection. Since reflection altered my theory of writing the
most it is important to see that my theory is also talking about life outside a
classroom setting. Life couldnt exist if there was no reflection or transfer of
knowledge. How would we teach our young to fish and hunt without formal
direction and the writing of direction? And when we make mistakes how could we
not reflect on the consequences that come and how to solve our problems? We
simply need to transfer knowledge to survive in this mad world and without out it
we could not evolve and succeed.
In conclusion writing is an enigma that is extremely tough to understand.
Even scholars who have been studying the discipline for years cant understand its
mystical beauty. Writing has so many terms and parts that are associated in to some
of its most simple works. All of these terms connect to each other to create one
piece. The terms cannot operate without the others or else the piece would fall
apart. How could context work without its audience? It couldnt. Context needs to
talk to the audience in order to transfer the knowledge that it posses. These terms
also allows writing to flow making it easier for the reader to digest the material. My
concluded question is where would be today if writing didnt exist? Chaos would
replace knowledge and wisdom. We wouldnt be able to function as a society and we
surely would lack the intellect that we posses now. From experience, I can verify
that all fields of medicine would not exist due to its reliance on writing. Writing has
opened my eyes in more ways then one and I am ecstatic to see where else it will
lead me.