Brendan Bolasingh

UWRT 1102
Professor Rothwell
5/5/15
Thoughts on Writing
Writing is a method of representing language in visual or tactile
form. Writing systems use sets of symbols to represent the sounds of
speech, and may also have symbols for such things as punctuation and
numerals. Writing has been around for many years and centuries.
Humans seem to have long felt the need to express themselves. Cave
paintings show stories and experiences of the earliest civilizations. As
humans began to live in larger communities and began to
overpopulate, the demand to document information, rather than just
express it, became necessary. We have now learned to effectively use
writing as a tool of communication. Learning to write is almost like
learning to read. These two life-tools both involve a process. Writing
requires and combines more basic skills than any other subject area.
The procedures that writers follow differ from writer to writer. I feel that
the writing process is not a step-by-step procedure, but a repetitive
method where the writer reaches levels of indecisiveness, and typically
tend to rewrite, reorganize and rethink their strategies before
producing a final product.
My Beginning
Writing is an effective means of communication to the audience at
hand. Thats where I find writing successful. If you can get an
audience to understand and relate to what you are implying, then you
have accomplished what I find as the hardest task of writing. Everyone
thinks differently. Therefore, it is usually down to the author to decide
upon a relevant topic with a little bit of controversy. What is a topic
without a problem? Theres no good discussion without conflicting idea.
There must be a agree or disagree feel to a piece of writing for it to
be effective and impact your audience. In this class, problems were
being studied in order to find thoughtful solutions. Therefore, we
engaged in the process of problem solving.
IN my discovery of a topic that I thought was a problem, I wanted to
keep my eyes peeled out for something that is a potential problem. I
thought of problem most individuals can do/does. Shopping. But I dug
further behind the idea of shopping, and spoke directly of the
materialism and consumerism that comes with it. I saw this picture
back in high school for another project I was doing and it made me
question if it was true. It suggests that when we see, we want. I
couldnt think of a reason as to why it wouldnt be true. We are all

college students. I felt that college is where we spend most of our

money upon materials that are needed or not.
I typically found and used information based off of the concrete
experience. For example, I like to list specific examples from songs or
general information that everyone should know. In one of our very first
assignments, we were to respond to a poem written by Audre Lorde. In
forming my response, I took from my understandings of problems in
the real world. In an excerpt from my Audre Lorde response I stated:
Speakingyourminddependsonthecircumstanceforme.Itdependsontheauthority,
situation,andtopic.IfIspokemymindtoanofficer,Idprobablyendupinprison.IfI
spokemymindtoateacher,Idprobablygetkickedoutofclass.IfIspokemymindto
mymom/dad,Idprobablygetbeatandthenkickedoutofthehouse.SoIdrathernot
voicemyopinionincircumstances.ButifthetopicstandsbehindsomethingIstrongly
believein,youbetterbelievemyvoiceisbeingheard
WhilereviewingthismaterialInoticedthatmythoughtswereamateur,butrelatable.I
feelthatanyonecanputthosesituationsintoaperspective,andgenerallyunderstandmy
reasoningforutilizingcircumstance.
TheThinkingGame
WhenwritingmyessaysInormallytriedtomakesureIgotmypointacrossinthe
beginning.IdontliketokeepmyaudiencewaitingtodiscoverwhatImtalkingabout.
Thesweettalkisunnecessaryinwriting.Inmyweeklywritings,Itypicallystartedmy
firstsentencewithThis week I wanted to talk about and list what the
subject at hand was. I tried to be straightforward. This way of writing
was derived from my many Architecture presentations where I was
required to be as forthright as possible. It is drilled in my brain to Get
to the Point. After listing my idea, I would then gather my experiences
and thoughts together and organize them into a logical, yet sequential
form to make sure I wasnt all over the place. My inquiry process likes
to travel. I managed to have a lot of different ideas, but I couldnt seem
to stick to one. Eventually I taught myself to choose a topic that
anyone can take a stance on. I learned how to do this through the
personal proposal.

I feel that this was the turning point in my writing. Instead of trying to
organize and collect thoughts in my head, I laid them out onto a
document. I was directly labeled who my audience was, resources,
preconceptions, etc. My thoughts were more organized.
I noticed that when I spoke of mildly controversial topics such as
materialism in this world, it made the writing more interesting. I also
learned that I would have more information to speak of. There was
never a moment where I caught writers block. My biggest
involvement in this course became the audience. I never grasped that
if the audience understood the issue, then the subject would make
sense.
Strengths?
My biggest strength when writing was gathering information or
experiences. I never had trouble discussing what or whom to talk about
in my writing. It seems it just came naturally. But sometimes I would
ramble about everything but the topic. In an intro to one of my Weekly
Writings on a person I admire, I spoke more about my thoughts on
whom to choose as my subject, which made up most of the first
paragraph.
I decided to do my weekly writing assignment on a topic that suggests
I express my feelings toward a person that I admire. After grazing
through fourteen possible writing subjects, my mind was hooked on
the thought of admiration. Not only did I think the assignment was
easier than the rest of them, but I felt like this was a topic that I could
actually enjoy writing about. I saw it as a theme that enables me to
express my feelings and thought towards someone I care about. I
thought the idea of writing about someone, while making it
anonymous as to who the persons true identity is, would intrigue me.
After reading the question, I quickly thought of one person who is very
opposite to myself, but it makes our relationship more fun. I met this
person in high school, but it feels as though Ive known them forever.
Weaknesses?
My weaknesses when writing came was showing and not telling. I bring
up good points when writing, but tend not to elaborate any further to
re-enforce the connection trying to be made. This could easily be
solved via use of audio and images. It is not illegal to incorporate
something other than text in a paper. In fact, I feel it enhances the
paper, as some of us are visual or auditory learners. If I would explain
the evidence I presented, I could come off more clearly in my ideas.

Most rap songs today, seem to encourage trapping and making a

living off songs. Trapping is just another way of saying that you deal
drugs. A well renowned song that released on the 13th of October
named CoCo encourages the idea of cocaine. It is now 5th on
Billboards Top 100 within the week of February 28th, 2015.
This excerpt from my weekly writings about music explains what I am
speaking of. It wouldve been great to hear a verse or chorus from the
song that encourages the use of cocaine. In later writings, I
incorporated more audio and more visuals to effect the audience in a
different manner, and it made a difference. They could hear and see
the points I was trying to make.

Projection:
My goals now are to continue in elaboration of ideas, and revise my
essays. I feel that I am not a bad writer, I just have to find a way to get
the audience more involved when reading. In reading my final drafts of
essays, I realized the difference the visuals make. Successful visuals
can make your writing memorable, direct your reader, provide clear
emphasis, convey your message, set a particular tone, build credibility,
and help persuade your reader to take your argument seriously. Every
piece of writing has potential to be great, its all based on the effort
you put into it. After revision of my drafts, I was able to distinguish why
this is such a critical step in the writing process. I have enjoyed using
technology as a part of my literacy in college. There were many
different methods that could be used to get work done. We used it in

different forms. We utilized our technology to gather information

through the database system that is united with the campus. We also
used it to study up on readings and watch videos that pertained to our
learning. It also enabled us to retract images or more information when
we did not have it in hand. Its only forward from here out with
technology!