Coming into English 1001, i think my theory for writing was simple: Writing is a way of communicating or expressing yourself. Throughout the semester, i think my theory has become more mature and refined. With each assignment we’ve had, I’ve learned a new component of writing and how to use it.

I genuinely think that the readings we’ve done along with the discussions in class contributed greatly to my theory of writing. Specifically learning about genre by reading Bazerman , rhetoric by reading Bitzer, and discourse community by reading Swales have broadened my horizon of learning.

When i read Bazerman- Speech Acts, Genres, and Activity Systems, in the first couple pages he made my general idea of genre dense. i didn’t realize how much went into explaining or understanding genre. To me, its always just been sort of a label. But when Bazerman states “Each successful text creates for its readers a social fact. the social facts consist of meaningful social actions being accomplished through language, or speech acts. these acts are carried out in patterned, typical, and therefore intelligible textual forms or genres, which are related to other texts and genres that occur in related circumstances.” was really when i stopped and notice, i never really thought that deep about genre!

Learning about the rhetorical situation and what rhetoric was was very challenging for me to be honest. I had NEVER heard the definition of a rhetorical situation. This was all brand new for me and frankly, I was embarrassed by that. I’ve always thought of myself as an English lover. I love to read and write, by my goodness I didn’t know what one of the basic concepts of writing was! When I read Lloyd Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation, I was honestly confused. I had to re-read a lot of it, and ask my classmates for help making sense of rhetoric. What really spoke to me in the reading was one line that stated “Rhetorical discourse is called into existence by situation; the situation which the rhetor perceives amounts to an invitation to create and present discourse. The clearest instances of rhetorical speaking and writing are strongly invited – often required.”. The “often required” portion of that made rhetorical situation click in my head. The rhetorical situation is important regarding genre because the genre could be what calls for the rhetorical situation.

Lastly, reading Swales – The Concept of Discourse Community was more of an overview for me. I could already make an assumption to what a discourse community was, so this article was nice to read yet not much new information. However, i think discourse community is a huge concept connected to genre. I think a lot of discourse communities appeal to the same genre or vice versa.

I would say that my theory now is communicating and expressing information, ideas, questions, education to different or the same audience. My relationship between my theory of writing and how i create knowledge are hand-in-hand. I think knowledge is derived from writing in a way. It’s a way to relay knowledge and share information. I think my theory of writing can be applied to, of course, my future English classes. I also think it can be applied in the work field. Communicating with managers, colleagues, and possibly clients/patients would be put to a more professional manor using my theory in writing.